https://stayservice.de/roster/nkisi/
Nkisi is the pseudonym of Melika Ngombe Kolongo, whose activities as a producer, live musician, DJ and curator are channels for an on-going investigation into invisible forces, using sound. Musically, this manifests in a captivating cross talk of African rhythms, uncompromising European hard dance tropes, foreboding synth melodies and a relentless, galvanising energy, as harnessed for her increasingly kinetic live performances. Nkisi co-founded NON WORLDWIDE, a collective of African and African diaspora musicians and honed her sonically marauding DJ style at London’s mythical Endless parties and through a monthly NTS residency, Nkisi’s most complete statement as a solo artist came this year in the form of the 7 Directions LP for Lee Gamble’s UIQ. This and ‘The Dark Orchestra’ EP ‘The Dark Orchestra’ (on Warp offshoot imprint Arcola) nailed Nkisi’s standout, polymorphous aesthetic, and has served as a blueprint for a live set that has resonated hard through landmark appearances at Unsound, Donau Festival and Terraforma among others…alongside deeper explorations of the themes of her work and collaborations via residencies at Cafe OTO and Vooruit in Gent, and as a 2018 SHAPE Network alumni. Nkisi uses her sonic research to cross over genre and discipline, many of these sonic manifestations can be found in her sound installations and collaborative projects as ‘Initiation’, a radical and visceral interrogation of the AV show format in collaboration with visual artist Charlie Hope and ‘Sènsa’, a performance work developed alongside Paul Maheke & Ariel Ashbel Efraim.
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DJ KITOKO VOL.1 / self-released, 2024
DJ KITOKO VOL.4 / self-released, 2023
Avebury / self-released, 2022
When The Smoke Clears / self-released, 2021
are you free? / self-released, 2021
Peeling / Climate of Fear, 2020
INT001 / Initiation, 2020
DJ KITOKO VOL.3 / self-released, 2020
BLK SPLLS / self-released, 2020
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE / self-released, 2020
7 Directions / UIQ, 2019
The Dark Orchestra / Arcola, 2018
Flush/in / self-released, 2017
DJ KITOKO VOL.2 / self-released, 2017
Kill EP / MW (4), 2017
16 / Doom Records, 2014