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ThuPanorama Bar welcomes four producers whose revved-up dance ingenuities synthesize disparate musical cultures.
The night will be kicked off by the beat weaving of young producer and Príncipe Discos newcomer Nidia Minaj, whose style fuses kuduro, tarraxinha, batida, and Afro-house. Non Records affiliate Melika Ngombe Kolongo, or nkisi, plays everything from gabber to doomcore to Central- and West African club tracks. She is the co-founder of NON Records, a collective of artists from the African diaspora whose releases are oriented towards loosening gridlocked hegemonies. Third on the bill is Gary, Indiana’s footwork idol Jlin. It took no more than the release of a single (“Erotic Heat”) on Planet Mu’s 2011 footwork compilation Bangs and Works Vol.2, a couple of tracks for Rick Owens’ F/W 2014 runway show, and the 2015 debut LP Dark Energy, which rose to the apex of every notable ‘best of 2015’ chart, to establish her as a glowing standout in a primarily male-dominated scene. While her monolithic sonic structures and rugged rhythms uphold the basic, and strict, skeleton of footwork, her approach makes use of breathing room we didn’t even know existed within the form. Last but not least is Berlin favourite and Janus resident KABLAM, who finding imaginative points of entry into contrasting genres.
Jerrilynn Patton or Jlin is emerged as one of footwork’s most original and unfeigned voices. Her debut LP, Dark Energy, was released in 2015 on Planet Mu to critical acclaim, and she has since followed it up with 2017’s equally ferocious Black Origami.
Spirits @ work: Nkisi is an ambassador of new world music and a co-founder of NON, the politically charged collective championing cutting-edge sounds from Africa and the African diaspora. Raised in Belgium and currently based in London, Melika Ngombe Kolongo has been dubbed "a synthesist of new hardcore sounds."
DJ and producer KABLAM (aka Kajsa Blom) was born by the Swedish westcoast, and moved to Berlin in 2012. She started her career as a DJ, as one of the residents of Berlin’s Janus party alongside co-residents Lotic and M.E.S.H. Janus is now a label and has held parties at Berghain, booking producers and DJs such as Arca, DJ Hvad, Total Freedom, Nigga Fox, and more.
Nidia Minaj is the latest talent to come hurtling out of Lisbon (and its reliably on-point Príncipe Discos label) with her eruptible clashes of kuduro, tarraxinha, batida, and Afro-house.