Come check out this new trio of Bashi Rose, Emperor King Bishop Soloman Selassie, and Hunter Batchelder. The two drummers are known for their intense rhythmic drives and the Emperor has impressed us all at the HighZero Festival last September. Their gathering will surely be volcanic. Joining with them are the maverick local trio Breath of the Magi – Che Davis, Orlando Johnson, and Peter Redgrave.

Hunter Batchelder is an emerging Baltimore-based improvisational percussionist and drummer. His approach to rhythm focuses on the deconstruction of recognizable patterns, encouraging the listener to step away from familiar grounds and explore the unknown. By incorporating industrial items and found objects into his percussive practice, he pulls at the relationship between culture and material, generating unique sonic landscapes with symbolic depth. 

As a multidisciplinary artist, Bashi Rose seeks to evoke his ancestors’ love/warrior spirit and to engage in collective improvisation that empowers individual artists to fully express themselves outside of capitalist constructs that tend to extract Black expression of its sacred, rebellious, and revolutionary spirit.  He has performed and has had work produced in numerous venues, including the High Zero Festival of Experimental Improvised Music,  Brooklyn Academy of Music, National Saw Dust, The Shrine, San Francisco Black Film Festival, Black Femme Supremacy Film Fest, and the Black Panther Party Film Festival, to name a few. 

Emperor King Bishop Solomon Sellassie is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and all-around multi-disciplinary artist. Selassie does not consider himself a musician fitting into any particular genre, but knows himself as a sound scientist, a sonic alchemist. Through a divine connection with The Most High and our Divine Ancestors, Selassie utilizes various sound and art forms to heal, ground, ascend, transmute, teach, and connect with the hearts and souls of listeners, observers, Ancestors, and The Most High. Selassie has headlined and performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Keystone Korner, Brooklyn Academy of Music, High Zero Festival, and much more.

Bashi and Emperor King Bishop are both members of the Konjur Collective, a multidisciplinary group that utilizes music, video, and spoken word to create radical, experimental, and spiritual Black expression. 

In May 2025, Hunter released R.G.B., an album featuring three duets with other Baltimore-based drummers, Logan Perry, Darien Baiza, and Bashi Rose. Come listen to Hunter and Bashi celebrate the artistry developed during these sessions as they humbly welcome the stylings of Solomon Sellassie to enrich their journey.  

Event location:

Normals Bookstore