Knistern - Juli

Knistern returns with a jam-packed summer Sunday special on July 5, 2026, at Richten25:

We welcome 3 (!) amazing artists to present a musical concept through sound and then engage in a conversation together:

Abadir
https://www.instagram.com/ramiabadir/
https://soundcloud.com/rami-abadir
Current release (June 5, 2026 on Planet Mu): https://ramiabadir.bandcamp.com/album/the-primitivist
Abadir will present a live set designed for listening, featuring Maqam scales, Arabic playing techniques, and sound design that emulates instruments.  

Rosa Pistola
https://www.instagram.com/djrosapistola/
https://www.rosapistola.com/
Current Release (April 10, 2026 on Eck Echo): https://rosapistola.bandcamp.com/album/incorregible
Rosa Pistola will present and discuss her fusion of contemporary electronic music with regional Mexican sounds—such as tribal and Andean instruments and Indigenous folklore—while also exploring collective presence and spiritual connections on the dance floor. 

Wanton Witch
https://www.instagram.com/wantonwitch/
https://wantonwitch.com/
Listen: https://wantonwitch.bandcamp.com/album/xxuntitledxx
“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
https://www.instagram.com/nischal.khadka1/
https://nischalkhadka.my.canva.site/

Brunch with the Richten25 crew 

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

Featuring premieres and unreleased works.

What does electronic music sound like in the present moment? Curatorially, we draw on a quote from Abadir in an interview about his current album, where he advocates for music that is rooted in the present moment through empathy with and connections to the hardships many people and communities are facing. Additionally, questions about incorporating popular and traditional styles into innovative electronic music come to the fore when examining the practices and backgrounds of the four participants. 

**

12:00 p.m. - Doors Open & Brunch
1:00 PM - Performances & Conversation 
(until about 17:00)

**

About Knistern 

Knistern describes a crackling sound and is also a metaphor for something in the air between people—whether it’s a crush or an argument. Something invisible that makes the relational space vibrate and spark. Something magical, intangible, and elusive that happens in the moment of connection with one another. 

The Knistern series 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 the opportunity 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 the people in the room during the conversation? And also, what happens between the sound and the review, the thinking, the tuning in, and the conversation? 

Knistern takes place in collaboration with Richten25, a project space for improvised music in Berlin’s Wedding neighborhood. 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 emerge—or maybe it’s just a brief moment in time.

**

Artist Bios

ABADIR is a music producer, sound designer, DJ, and music critic born in Cairo, Egypt, and based in Berlin, Germany. His work spans a wide spectrum of styles, combining cinematic, club, and ambient music. His concepts explore themes inspired by fiction, memory, and cultural artifacts. He has performed at various festivals, including Roskilde, CTM, Rewire, Primavera Sound, Unsound, Nuits Sonores, Lost Music, Lunchmeat, Linecheck, and Insomnia. ABADIR is part of the SVBKVLT roster, and he has 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 the Arts Bremen and is the editor of the electronic music section at Ma3azef.

Rosa Pistola has always gone 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 reimagined the language of underground reggaeton, absorbing its rawness and erotic energy to project it into unexpected spaces. But her work extends 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 elements without compromising her identity. In a landscape where commercial structures tend to dilute the edge of popular genres, Rosa Pistola has done the opposite: she has consolidated an approach that amplifies the rawness and physical impact of these sounds, without toning anything down. Her ability to navigate both the streets and the global circuit—injecting 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 on the island of Borneo, Wanton Witch is a DJ and producer with a hyper-sensitive connection to and approach toward sound through performance. Having come of age in the relative isolation of island life, it wasn’t until she relocated to Bangkok that she was able to access the diverse communities of musical genres she would later navigate. Wanton is also a co-founder and original member of the queer underground creative collective “Non Non Non,” which has become a staple of Bangkok’s nightlife. Wanton Witch creates music that feels like a reflection of the convergence already present within online musical subcultures and communities. A space where many diverse and contrasting soundscapes, textures, and structures can come together to create a new, different, queer way of seeing the world. She delves into 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 agenda, building rickety bridges between the rhythmic drive of hardcore and a dark, anti-euphoric rave atmosphere. A cubist dance-floor sensibility unfolds, its drawn-out beats inviting the creation of impossible dance moves. These complexities shape the structure—or lack thereof—of Wanton’s music, resulting in wildly avant-garde works of sound design designed to strike at the heart of the matter.

Nischal Khadka is an artist, curator, and DJ whose work engages with sound, performance, and curatorial practice through Himalayan sonic heritage, Indigenous ontologies, and transnational experiences of labor 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 projects include: *State of Disappointment*, neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), Berlin, 2026–27; and *Threesound Expo: Ring Sound*, 2025. His recent performances include appearances 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.

**

Welcome to ByteFM as a communication partner!

Funded by Musicboard Berlin GmbH.