Nicola Cruz

Born in France and raised in Ecuador, Nicola Cruz has built a distinct career in electronic music from Quito, at the intersection of downtempo, ambient, house and rhythms inspired by Andean and broader Latin American traditions. He began DJing in 2005 as a resident at the Blues club in Quito, while the local electronic scene was still finding its footing, and gradually developed a compositional approach focused on percussion, hypnotic loops and organic textures. After several releases in the early 2010s, he issued Prender el Alma in 2015 and Siku in 2019 — two albums that illustrate an evolution between listening formats and club usage, with an increasingly expansive emphasis on atmosphere and repetition. His career also includes collaborations with musicians from diverse backgrounds, reflecting an open-minded approach to exchanges between traditional repertoires and contemporary electronic production. As both a DJ and live performer, Nicola Cruz has played at festivals and clubs such as Sonar, Primavera Sound, Berghain and Bassiani.