Carlita

Circuits between Istanbul and the global dancefloor

Between Turkish psychedelia, the house pulse, and a classical background rarely seen in the DJ booth, Carlita has built an identity that unites instrumental precision, melodic sensitivity, and international club culture. Born and raised in Istanbul, with Turkish and Italian roots, she began playing the piano at age three and studied cello at the conservatory from childhood, before adding bass, guitar, drums, and electronic production to her language. That musical education appears in her sets and records: it doesn't function as an ornament, but as a way of organizing tension, emotion, and surprise within a danceable narrative.

From Bijou to large-format booths

Her university years in Boston were decisive in moving from obsessive listening to the DJ booth. At the Bijou club, she learned to work with CDJs, integrated into the local scene, and ended up performing as a resident, developing a way of DJing based on narrative transitions, broad selection, and a very physical reading of the audience. Later, her circuit expanded to New York, London, and Ibiza, with performances in spaces and festivals such as Cercle, Tomorrowland, Burning Man, Coachella, Printworks, Village Underground, and Circoloco. The Cercle set in Cinecittà, Rome, consolidated a very recognizable image: elegant house, cinematic melody, and club energy with references that can range from rock to the Anatolian sound.

Songs with club memory

As a producer, Carlita has released music on labels such as Life And Death, Higher Ground, CircoLoco Records, and Counter Records, the label associated with Ninja Tune. Works like Bon Trip, Life alongside andhim, Cash For Love, and Time showed her affinity for warm grooves, vocal motifs, and hypnotic progressions. Her debut album Sentimental, released in 2024 by Ninja Tune, expanded that palette with collaborations from DJ Tennis, SG Lewis, Cleo Simone, Elderbrook, Orofino, and Julietta, and placed her facet as a composer on a more emotional level without abandoning the dancefloor. In 2025, she reinforced her profile as a selector with fabric presents Carlita, and in 2026, she continued opening up her pop and dance repertoire with Manhattan alongside SOFI TUKKER.

Fashion, community, and borderless scenes

Beyond the club, Carlita has turned curation into a central part of her project. With Senza Fine, she connects music, fashion, art, food, and design in itinerant experiences that reflect her interest in visual culture and social gatherings around electronic music. She has also developed Astra Club alongside DJ Tennis, a format that mixes artistic affinity and the spirit of a shared session. Her current position is that of a crossover artist: club enough to sustain a large dancefloor, musical enough to work with the album as a narrative format, and transversal enough to dialogue with fashion, brands, festivals, and the underground scene without losing her own aesthetic.