Nicola Cruz

Nicola Cruz began crafting electronic music at age twelve and has since established himself as a charting producer and DJ whose work fuses South American folk instruments, African percussion, dubwise techniques, sitar, and electronica into hypnotic streams of harmonics, polyrhythms, and layered melodies. His productions channel the terrains and ceremonial practices of his Ecuadorian lineage while reinterpreting ancient mythologies and folk traditions within contemporary frameworks. Active from 2012 onward, primarily through Nicolas Jaar’s Clown & Sunset imprint, Cruz surprised audiences with his debut album Prender el Alma, released by ZZK in 2015 and distinguished by its organic approach. The 2018 EP Inversions foregrounded historical instruments, after which Siku and its companion remix set Siku Reworks both surfaced in 2019. A split EP with Pigmaleão arrived in 2020, followed the next year by the six-track Sentimientos Encontrados and several singles; Self Oscillation appeared in 2022, the same year Fabric Presents Nicola Cruz showcased a 26-track DJ collaboration. Arpejos da Floresta, a five-track EP, emerged in 2023, and the full-length Kinesia followed in October 2024.

Born in Limoges, France, to Ecuadorian parents, Cruz relocated with his family to Quito at age three. Immersed from toddlerhood in both indigenous customs and Western musical theory, he received initial formal instruction on percussion instruments. By twelve he was simultaneously drawn to electronic music and Ecuador’s ritual rhythms, prompting his earliest mixes and subsequent entry into DJ booths at sixteen. His pivotal introduction came in 2012 via New York-based producer Jaar, who, after receiving a demo, invited Cruz on a U.S. tour. Post-tour club sets merged Cruz’s “Andean Step” aesthetic with traditional Colombian vocal styles exemplified by Totó La Momposina and Petrona Martínez, deploying cumbia rhythms alongside keyboards and drum machines. The 2013 Noise Within Us EP included an A-side collaboration with Fernanda K. International club recognition arrived in 2015 with the single “Colibria,” featuring vocals by then-emerging artist Huaira Ukay; Prender el Alma followed on ZZK that October and earned widespread acclaim. Over the ensuing three years Cruz supplied remixes for more than fifteen artists, among them Sabo, Xique-Xique, and Viken Arman, while ZZK commissioned a full-album remix project featuring contributions from Umoja, Captain Planet, and Ninze & Thomash. Further singles and EPs appeared, including “Tzantza” on the Cantos de Vision EP, accompanied by a psychedelic video created with Brazilian artist Renata Chebel. The single “Espiritu” and the Puente Roto release, containing two Quantic remixes, both surfaced in May 2018.

That summer the Inversions EP presented the title track alongside earlier material and fresh remixes. Pre-release singles “Sieta,” spotlighting sitar and balafon, and “Arka,” built around bansuri flutes and sikú, generated extensive international coverage ahead of the January 2019 album Siku. Beyond Andean sonorities, Siku incorporated samba rhythms on “Criançada” with Brazilian singer and poet Castello Branco, African field recordings on “Esu Enia” realized with Portuguese musician Marcio Pinto, and flamenco elements on “Hacia Delante” featuring charting Spanish vocalist Chato. Billboard named Cruz among its “10 Latin Artists to Watch in 2019,” and Siku Reworks followed later that year. A five-track collaborative EP with Brazilian artist Pigmaleão (Daniel Lucas) opened 2020, containing the joint cut “Formante.” Hybridism, another five-track tribal EP, appeared in February before pandemic restrictions halted live activity. Cruz resumed with Subtropique in February 2021, issued the Hybridism Remixes EP and the four-track Nuevo Fuego in March, and closed the year with Sentimientos Encontrados in November; Isabella Lovestory contributed vocals to “Oh Sea, Si Te Quiero,” while Ehua supplied a remix of “Sin Retorno.”

Dancefloor singles “Vai Sentir,” “Cadera,” and “Surface Tension” arrived in February, May, and June 2022 respectively, the latter two forming part of the six-track Self Oscillation EP released in July. Fabric Presents Nicola Cruz appeared in November. Arpejos da Floresta followed in January 2023. After extensive touring, Cruz returned with the Data Passenger EP in June and the album Kinesia in October 2024, the latter featuring vocal contributions from machina on “Miso” and Marcela Dias on “Echo Distante.”