False Harmonics #24: Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones, Omar Ahmad, sinonó (feat. isabel crespo pardo, Lester St. Louis & Henry Fraser)
False Harmonics #24 closes out 2025 with an ecstatic lineup of Pioneer Works alumni music residents. The concert features a live-album-release performance by Working Artist Fellow '25 Amirtha Kidambi's band Elder Ones, along with sets from electronic musician and Resident '25 Omar Ahmad and the Latin free folk trio sinonó, led by Resident '25 isabel crespo pardo, with Resident '23 Lester St. Louis (HxH) and Resident '25 Henry Fraser.
About the artists
Elder Ones is comprised by vocalist, composer, improviser, organizer, and educator Amirtha Kidambi (Mary Halvorson, Darius Jones, Luke Stewart), soprano saxophonist Matt Nelson (Tune-Yards, Flying Luttenbachers), tenor saxophonist Alfredo Colon (Henry Threadgill, Moses Sumney), bassist Lester St. Louis (jaimie branch, Wendy Eisenberg, Sinono), and drummer Jason Nazary (jaimie branch, Helado Negro) — all of whom contribute their share of electronic textures and electroacoustic treatments.
Celebrating the release of Live in Vilnius, Elder Ones' searing new album was recorded live in Lithuania in a galvanised quintet formation, fomented during a year of international touring amidst global tumult. This protest performance agitates and awakens those who encounter it, prompting them to become active in the struggle for collective liberation. While tackling dire subjects, the performance is boisterous, blistering, joyous, and cathartic—an avant-garde dance music for uncertain times.
Omar Ahmad is a Palestinian American composer and sound artist. He is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist whose sound evokes immersive emotional worlds, globally-influenced storytelling, and instinctive experimentation.
His debut record, Inheritance (AKP Recordings), was released to a wide spectrum of praise, including Electronic Sound, Bandcamp’s Best Ambient Music, and DJ Mag. He was a 2025 Pioneer Works Music Resident, where he outlined and developed his forthcoming album reflecting on the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.
Explosive and wistful, sinonó draws on Latin American folk, chamber music, and free improvisation to create a space of crackling aliveness. Described as “middle-of-the-night music” (Dada Strain), the trio features vocalist and composer isabel crespo pardo, cellist Lester St. Louis, and bassist Henry Fraser. Together, they perform crespo's "poemsongs" — pieces built around metaphor and improvisation that shift in performance, but always remain tied to poetry and breath.