Artists & performers

The talented DJ, singer, songwriter and producer Virginia has been deeply involved in electronic music for over a decade. Growing up in Munich, she soon found her feet in music. Her career kick-started in the late 90s, she soon began to tour as a DJ, discovering a real passion performing in front of crowds.

Following up on residencies in Munich and Frankfurt she relocated to Berlin where she's holding a residency at Berghain's Panorama Bar since 2012. Her DJ sets fuse warm analog house and electro of the 80s and 90s with off-kilter swinging grooves, layered with spontaneous live vocals that add a unique third dimension. With a careful mixture of peaks and valleys, her hybrid DJ/live performances command attention. Few, if any, do what she does.

The same can be said for her productions. Her inspiring 2008 crossover LP, Twisted Mind, was co-produced with Eye-Q Records' Steve B-Zet and found its way into film and TV airplay. The electro-pop project saw Virginia touring live on stage with a 5-piece band. She has also been involved in numerous co productions and guest appearances alongside the likes of Steve Bug, Butch and Abe Duque, including the vocal-led collaboration “Reasons” on Jus Ed's acclaimed Underground Quality imprint in October 2010.

Since then, she has gone on to produce with friends Steffi and Dexter. Steffi's debut album Yours & Mine (Ostgut Ton, 2011) features two tracks led by Virginia's vocals (the album’s hit “Yours” and the touching “You Own My Mind”). She also teamed up with Steffi and Dexter for the uplifting, percussion-driven vocal track “Treasure Seeking” off of Steffi’s Power Of Anonymity LP (Ostgut Ton, 2014).

Virginia's rich voice has brought a golden touch to her widespread catalogue. She has released her first solo production, the Loch & Hill EP, on Ostgut Ton in 2013, followed by her My Fantasy EP in January 2015. Her debut Ostgut Ton LP, Fierce For The Night, was released in May 2016 and showcases even more of her musical facets, including more narrative songwriting. Co- produced by Dexter, Martyn and Steffi, Fierce For The Night offers some personal insight into Virginia while drawing from club culture's long and rich history.

In September 2019 Steffi and Virginia returned with Work A Change an eight track double EP on Ostgut Ton, inviting us into new dimensions of the sonic world they have crafted together over a number of years.

Nesa Azadikhah is a DJ and music producer. She is also known for her work as founder and artistic director of Deep House Tehran, a platform dedicated to shining a light on her country’s thriving electronic music community. 

She has been playing traditional Iranian instruments since she was six and began DJing around a decade later. In the years since, she has established herself as one of Iran’s most in demand DJ / producers, regularly touring across Europe and the SWANA region. Her musical influences span from 90’s techno  all the way to ambient and experimental music. As a DJ, she spins techno and house.

More recently, as a co-founder of Apranik Records & Makhunik Records, She’s also resident DJ at Tes club, Tbilisi (Georgia).

For some DJs, music will forever be in the foreground of their mind; every free moment is spent searching for new music or conceiving ways to blend new discoveries. Italian born Budino is one of these DJs, hers is a constant quest for fresh material to weave in her sets – sets that exist in clubbers minds as glorious psychedelic tapestries sewn from dark trance-inducing beats, tribal percussion and rich cosmic textures.

Given this dedication and dexterity it’s unsurprising that praise is heaped so readily on Budino’s sets. After moving to Berlin and playing throughout the city since the age of eighteen, she was soon co-running the party series Oscillator at the now defunct and much lamented iconic club Griessmühle, along with its sister vinyl only label. She soon became a mainstay behind the decks at the infamous institution of queer hedonism that is Cocktail d’Amore and has since held a residency there for many years. With a diligence to seek out the perfect music for every moment, Budino has spent many years honing her craft creating unique edits that breathe versatility into the music she has dug deep to find. This often means when you hear her play, it may well be the only moment ever in which will you ever hear that version. However, a handful of these edits have seen the light of day on New York vinyl label JustWhatTheWorldNeeds. 

Budino has also been responsible for curating the fourth edition of Love International festival’s compilation series "The Sound of Love International". It reflects her interpretation of the ideal soundtrack for an endless and idyllic day into the night on the beaches of Tisno on the Adriatic coast, nodding to her comprehensive taste as a selector. 

With her enthusiasm, devotion and impeccable ear for music, Budino continues to go from strength to strength as a DJ and has plenty more of her passion to share with dance floors around the world.

Anna Gavrilidi aka Annga is part of Lesbian* Resistance, a commune uniting queer feminists from different parts of Georgia. Her musical journey kicked off with classical piano, took a detour through rocking the guitar, and now she’s fully immersed in the DJ world.

The thrill of spinning tracks has become her absolute favorite thing. Anna brings hard techno bits to the lesbian* nights and transforms the dance floor into melodic rebellion.

Dolly Vara is a rap artist from Thessaloniki, Greece. Currently based in Athens, she offers a modern approach to rap music, influenced by pop and electronic sounds, exploring themes such as feminism, revenge and the modern queer experience in contemporary Greece. Known for her funny, aggressive and sexual rhymes, she aims to radicalize the underground Greek rap scene. Her last body of work titled "I Hronia Tis Skylas" [The Year of the Bitch] was released in September 2023.

Sumayyah is a parisian dj who has been working since 2012. Her melodic, catchy musical universe is a blend of oriental, rnb and eurodance influences.

As an anti-racist queer activist, her dj sets are a way for her to express her support for minoritised populations in a sunny, festive way. Her music has already been heard at parties such as Dykes out and Kidnapping, and in the Parisian queer electronic arts scene (Wanderlust, L'Oeil, la Gaîté Lyrique, le Consulat...).

Magic Dyke* is a masc Dyke* stripping group based in Berlin by and for lesbians, queer women, non-binary, trans, intersex and agender people showing masc stripping from non-cis masculinities and give butches, studs, bois, mascs and genderfuckers a stage to feel sexy in a world that tells them they aren't. Since May 2022, Magic Dyke* creates sensational shows and provide a party that is a safe space for the SLINTA* (sapphic, lesbian, intersex, non-binary, transgender, agender) community in Berlin. A safe door policy that doesn't judge based on appearance, queer SWer-led SLINTA*-only darkroom, sex-positive atmosphere and effort to make it as inclusive an environment as they can. Through them, people get to see butches, studs and other sapphics with masc expression being seen as sexy, creating a sense of euphoria in all those who identify with or are attracted to butchness.

Sarah Cooper divides her time between the UK and the south of Spain where she DJs across genres ranging from no nonsense tech house to uplifting, melodic techno via bouncy, unadulterated disco and old-school jungle/dnb. Sarah has presented an online radio show at Barricade Radio and has played at various festivals and clubs across Europe.

KY Cygni is a trans non-binary interdisciplinary artist who works in ranges from sfx makeup to drag performance to activism. Their experimental approach to disciplines aim to voice FLINTA’s struggles in patriarchy, animals and workers rights in the money-driven society of techno-feudalism and oppose cultural and economic imperialism on their home region. As Cygni puts it about their performances: "it's about researching the act of being of a queer body forced to perform in a dense space. Allegory to the societal and cultural elitist pressure."

Ky Cygne is part of Lesbian* Resistance, a commune uniting queer feminists from different parts of Georgia.

Rakans is a DJ, an Artist, and a visionary. His oriental, experimental, and eclectic approaches to arts and music make his sound choices unique and mysterious. Rakans is also the founder of Rawmantique party in Dresden, a Queer Safe(r) Space that aims at providing a space for explorations whether they’re sexual, social or psychological all within the underground scene offering the alternative and curious mind a non-judgmental surrounding that allows for new unique experiences, whatever they may be, to happen.

Rakans’s daring and mysterious musical choices have centralized his vision between local and European collectives. Bringing with him a different taste to music and arts, Rakans performed on main platforms such as Boiler Room, and Hör Berlin as well as main floors of multiple reputable clubs such as Mutabor (Moscow), Anomalie (BLN) Sektor (DD) Wilde Renate (BLN) Le Depot (Paris) and multiple others. Aspiring to present an evolving sound along with new experiences, playing on the decks of Horovod Festival, Pornceptual, Mala Junta, Popoff Kitchen, Myst Paris, and Flash Cocotte has certainly pushed these endeavours.

His music often takes on an emotional and dramatic character bringing love, sexuality, and tenderness as main topics into the techno sounds. While  remaining true to his identity being connected with his love and admiration to the land, his music doesn’t only make the crowd dance hard, but also groove and go back to their first instincts of sexual desires, primal social connections and pleasures.

Vision Extase Live Recording
https://on.soundcloud.com/KNwTY

Tech Clubbers mix:
https://soundcloud.com/techclubbers/rakans-tech-clubbers-podcast-228?in=rakans/sets/mixes

Socials:
www.soundcloud.com/rakans

www.instagram.com/rakanscom
https://ra.co/dj/rakans

Award-winning filmmaker, drama series showrunner and visual artist Roberta Marques is known for her hybrid work involving visuals, music, narrative and performance. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Roberta had a stint as a VJ in the Amsterdam club scene at classic venues such as Paradiso, Melkweg and the iconic "women only" party Pussy Lounge.

In recent years, Roberta has concentrated on her narrative work, fiction films and drama series, where she works mainly as a scriptwriter, director and producer, but also as a camerawoman and editor. The Queer Ranch Festival is her return as a VJ after years of total dedication to the film industry. About this, Roberta says: “I'm super happy and excited about being invited to VJ at this festival. I've already visited Queer Ranch twice and fell in love with the Collective's project, which is a great inspiration for a nature and animal lover like me. And now I'll be able to project and mix images I created there, and others I'm yet to create, and share it with people to the sound of groovy music! Ahhh, music is my eternal muse... and projecting images that dance is a thrill! And all this in Lesvos, Eressos, Skala... am I dreaming? Let's dance and dream together... even better!”

Roberta lives and works alternately in the Netherlands and Brazil.

pics by Delfina Rocha @delfinarocha

Lot of ideas come from Pepiita’s thoughts but music is really her kind of stuff. Resident of Barbi(e)turix and Rosa Bonheur, also co-founder of the Queer Ranch Festival in Lesbos, she preaches freedom and inclusive on the dancefloor. 

Hope you’re ready, she has this unstoppable sense of fun which hits her dark disco sets flirting with acid house and rave taking you through miles of dancefloor and she has the happiest smile behind the decks.

(Lesbos/Greece)

Coming from Sydney/Athens/now Eressos, organising events and djing at bars, clubs, beach parties for over two decades. From Electronica to indie pop, punk or rock, including 80's 90's. Depends

From forest “doofs” outside Sydney to clubs in Manchester, the Netherlands, Vienna and “the alley” at Brighton Pride – the dancefloor is RP’s church. She plays across the genres: breaks to techno to classic house and anywhere in between – indie-fineable dance music driven by bass and united by melody.