Gabrielle Kwarteng

Seven hours at the Panorama Bar closing

At Panorama Bar, you immediately understand the craft of Gabrielle Kwarteng: sets that traverse 80s and 90s New York house, reinterpretations of disco from the diaspora, and a physical, emotional techno with the pulse of contemporary queer rave culture. At Berghain, she has gone from Klubgarten to Klubnacht, closed the room for seven hours, and been part of the club's major parties, such as CSD and New Year's Eve. Her way of mixing does not chase a single BPM: she tells a story and keeps the dancefloor moving.

The Mixcloud award and the move to Europe

Born in Brooklyn and raised in The Bronx in a Ghanaian household soundtracked by highlife, afrobeat, and disco, she absorbed hip hop, funk, bachata, reggaeton, and freestyle. At Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, after a year in London with nights at Cargo, XOYO, and Heaven, she found in college radio the map for her later work: each week a country or a city, artists from different eras and genres. In 2017, on The Lot Radio, she won the Mixcloud Online Radio Award for best eclectic show. A meeting with Gilles Peterson in Paris in 2019 led to Worldwide Festival; that date was followed by Field Maneuvers, Westival, and Lost Village, and the leap to Berlin when New York began to pigeonhole her.

Dekmantel, fabric and Glastonbury

In 2023, she debuted at Dekmantel with three sets of different energies. fabric, which includes her among its residents, programmed her for its 25th-anniversary celebration alongside Ben UFO and Ricardo Villalobos. At Glastonbury, she debuted at Block 9, in the NYC Downlow, and returned in 2024 for a back-to-back with Shanti Celeste at Silver Hayes. She has set the tone for new spaces like Horst Club in Belgium and has toured Australia, South America, and Asia. In 2024, FKA twigs invited her to soundtrack her Met Gala afterparty at The Standard, a few blocks from the Soho Grand, where she had started her first residency. Nowadays, White Hotel, or Melt complete a circuit that goes from the sweaty club to the festival.

NTS Radio, STUDIO and the art of selecting

She remains linked to The Lot Radio and was a resident at Refuge Worldwide. In 2025, she premiered a residency on NTS Radio, ranging from downtempo and deep house to techno. The RA.837 podcast and the Dekmantel Podcast document that intersection of house and techno with a New York accent; Boiler Room recorded her in Munich and, later, at Sugar Mountain (Melbourne). In 2026, her residency at STUDIO, the house room at BASEMENT in New York, was announced. She does not maintain a discography of her own productions: her work is that of a selector, presenter, and dancefloor narrator. The digging continues.