Knistern Juli

Knistern returns with a fully packed summer Sunday special on 05 July 2026 to Richten25:
We welcome 3 (!) amazing artists to present a musical idea in sound and then be in conversation together:
Abadir
Abadir presents a live set suitable for listening using Maqam scales, Arabic playing techniques and sound design emulating instruments.

Rosa Pistola
Rosa Pistola brings and discusses her fusion of contemporary electronic music with regional Mexican sounds like tribal, Andean instruments and Indigenous folklore, as well as considers collective presence and spiritual connections on the dancefloor.

Wanton Witch
Am I alive or just breathing? is a composition that unfolds in the suspended space between survival and existence, subtracting layer after layer of accumulated existence until only a bare vibration remains, an oscillation of bare existence between presence and disappearance.

Conversation hosted by:
Nischal Khadka

Brunch by the Richten25 crew

Mark your calendars and spend your summer Sunday afternoon with us for a special extended edition of Knistern.

With premieres and unreleased works.

What is the sound of electronic music for the present moment? Curatorially, we draw from a quote by Abadir from an interview on his current album, where he speaks in favour of music that is present in the moment through empathy with and connections to the hardships many people and communities are going through. Also, questions of working with popular and traditional styles in innovative electronic music are in the air when looking at practices and backgrounds of the four participants.

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12:00 - Doors & Brunch
13:00 - Performances & Conversation
(until about 17:00)

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About Knistern

Knistern describes a crackling sound, and is also a metaphor for something that’s in the air between people, be it a crush or an argument. Something invisible that makes the relational space vibrate and spark. Something magical, intangible and not to be pinned down that is happening in the moment of relation to each other.

The series Knistern each time brings together two artists and a musical idea they are currently working on. They present their current work in a short set, and then have space to share their musical ideas in conversation with each other, a music journalist, and the audience. What happens in the space between the two artistic approaches, and what happens between people in the room in the conversation? And also, what happens between the sound and the review, the thinking, the tuning in, the conversation?

Knistern takes place in collaboration with Richten25, project space for improvised music in Berlin Wedding. What we also like about the idea of knistern is that it’s contingent and ephemeral. It lives in the present, and something amazing may come out, or maybe it’s just a brief moment in time.

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Artist Bios

ABADIR is a music producer, sound designer, DJ and music critic born in Cairo, Egypt and based in Berlin, Germany. His work varies between a large spectrum of styles, combining cinematic, club and ambient music. His concepts deal with themes inspired by fiction, memory and cultural artefacts. He has participated in various festivals like Roskilde, CTM, Rewire, Primavera Sound, Unsound, Nuits Sonores, Lost Music, Lunchmeat, Linecheck, Insomnia. ABADIR is part of SVBKVLT roster, and he previously released his music on many other labels. His artistic practice extends to academia, music criticism and critical theory. He holds a master’s degree in digital media from the University of Arts Bremen and he’s the editor of the electronic music section at Ma3azef.

Rosa Pistola has always operated against the grain, creating her own platforms and pushing the boundaries of what club music means in her context. From her base in Mexico, she has reconfigured the language of underground reggaeton, absorbing its rawness and erotic charge to project it into unexpected spaces. But her work goes beyond reggaeton. Her versatility as a DJ and producer has led her to explore genres such as Guaracha, mexican tribal, cumbia, funk, and dembow, fusing their codes without losing her identity. In a landscape where commercial structures tend to dilute the edge of popular genres, Rosa Pistola has done the opposite: consolidating an approach that amplifies the rawness and physical impact of these sounds, without toning anything down. Her ability to inhabit both the streets and the global circuit, to inject the intensity of underground music into environments that have historically ignored or underestimated it, has allowed her vision not only to resonate but to transform the way Latin American electronic music and its more experimental branches are understood. Her influence is not measured in terms of external validation but in her ability to carve out spaces in an ecosystem that rarely makes room for those who refuse to follow its logic.

Wanton Witch/Miriam Alegria
Born in an isolated community of Borneo Island, Wanton Witch is a DJ and producer with a hyper-sensitive connection and approach to sound through performance. Coming of age in the relative isolation of island life, it wasn't until relocating to Bangkok that she was able to access the different communities of musical genres that she would later travel between. Wanton is also a cofounder and original member of Queer underground creative collective 'Non Non Non' that has become a Bangkok nightlife staple. Wanton Witch creates music that feels like a reflection of the aggregation that already exists within musical internet subcultures and communities. A place where many diverse and contrasting sound palettes, textures, and structures can fit together to create a new, different, queer way of seeing the world. Plumbs the depths of her lived experience to produce a chaotic and scathingly honest portrait of her state of being. Her electrostatic landscapes ruthlessly pursue their own interests, building rickety bridges between the rhythmic propulsion of hardcore and a darkened rave anti-euphoria. A cubist dance floor sensibility unfurls, its protracted beats inviting the throwing of impossible shapes. The complexities inform the structure, or lack thereof, of Wanton's music and results in wildly avant-garde works of sound design formulated to go for the jugular.

Nischal Khadka is an artist, curator, and DJ whose work engages sound, performance, and curatorial practice through Himalayan sonic heritage, Indigenous ontologies, and transnational experiences of labour and migration. Khadka explores listening, ritual, memory, decoloniality, and political resistance through compositions, field recordings, and collaborative platforms. He is the founder of the Transhimalaya Foundation for Transdisciplinary Creativity (TFTC). His recent curatorial project include: State of Disappointment, neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), Berlin, 2026–27; and Threesound Expo: Ring Sound, 2025. His recent performances include those at: Rewire Festival; HKW, SAVVY Contemporary; WORM Rotterdam; Kiezsalon Berlin; NTS Radio; Radio Alhara; Refuge Worldwide; and Baihui Radio. Khadka lives and works in Berlin.

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