Sarkawt Hamad

Sarkawt Hamad is a DJ whose sets strike a rare balance: they are melodic and grooving narratives that activate a dancefloor’s collective body, but also press the dancer to really listen, to hear a wild range of textures, timbres, bliss and grit. With a fully-rounded sound ranging from leftfield- and dub-techno to sparkling house to breakbeat-derived bumpers, the sum total is a kind of sublime – both eerie and blissful, alien and loving. In drawing out sonic spaces that allow euphoria to coexist with darkness and pensive depth, she tests the limits of how far she can drive the emotional current of a dancefloor; patiently pushing towards sensory overloading intensity’s has become a signature. Threads of warm vocal samples woven in and out come back repeatedly, and pivots from chugging bass to bright and weightless terrains animate the seamless progression. In the artist’s own words, each set is built as a layering of moods and rhythms. Disrupted by switching dynamics directing towards other side paths, she remains reminding of, and building from, the solid foundation of her sonic base. Thus more important than continuity of genre is the fluid transition from one musical side-corner to another, and Sarkawt plays the thin line of keeping these movements both consistent yet unexpected. What one hears and dances to, and what makes her work thrilling, is the real-time experimentation of a DJ with markedly wide and deep taste.