Abdu Ali is an avant-garde electronic music artist, writer, and curator based in Baltimore whose work is an idiosyncratic blend of punk, jazz, Baltimore club music, and rap. Their work is a yielding poetic uprise that often interrogate ideas of identity as well as narrate and promote liberation from oppressive ideologies and systems. Unapologetically black and queer, Abdu Ali’s work is bold, raw, and most importantly life-affirming.
Ali, is also the founder of Kahlon, an iconic underground party that radicalized the artistic climate and made space for marginalized musicians in Baltimore. Ali ended Kahlon in 2017 and created drumBOOTY: a curatorial platform that prioritizes social dialogue via podcasting & interdisciplinary public events in order to nourish black creativity & thought. Abdu has writing published in Niijournal, Art Papers, Afropunk, and more. Through their work as a writer and curator, Ali has been elected as a radical Baltimore cultural figure.
Abdu has done several tours across the U.S. and Europe, and through their energetic visceral performances, spiritualizing audiences, they have been anointed as a cosmic, punk, and soulful tempest on stage. They have shared stages with notable music acts like the Sun Ra Arkestra, JPEGMAFIA, Milo, Mykki Blanco, Dan Deacon, Lower Dens, Blaqstarr, FKA TWIGS, and has been covered internationally by the NY Times, Complex, AfroPunk, Saint Heron, Noisey, The Fader, Mask Magazine, Subbacultcha, Les InRocks, Tracks Arte TV, and many more.