Humazapas (EC), Nuevos Ríos, MONTOYA (COL)

For nearly two decades, ZZK Records has been a driving force in forward-thinking Latin music, reimagining folkloric traditions through electronic experimentation and club culture. Born in 2006 from a renegade party in Buenos Aires, the label helped pioneer the global rise of digital cumbia and launched artists such as Chancha Vía Circuito, Nicola Cruz, and La Yegros. What began as a dance-floor rebellion has grown into a worldwide movement, touring major festivals and releasing over 80 albums bridging ancestral rhythms with bass, beats, and bold futurism. For this special ZZK label night at DURCHLÜFTEN, the evening becomes a vibrant journey through Latin American sound—where heritage, innovation, and the dance-floor meet.

ZZK RECORDS (@zzkrecords) • Instagram profile

Opening Act

Humazapas began in 2010, when twelve teenagers from Kichwa communities at the foot of the Imbabura volcanoes came together with a shared mission: to reclaim and carry forward their ancestral music, dance, and language. What started as a youth initiative has grown into a powerful collective dedicated to keeping Kichwa culture alive — not as folklore, but as a living practice rooted in ritual, community, and cosmovision.

Their debut album Sara Mama (“Mother Corn”) embodies this vision. Sung in Kichwa and built on traditional rhythms such as churay, saruy, danzante, and yumbo, the record traces the sacred cycle of corn — from seed to harvest — as a metaphor for life, death, and renewal. With harp, drums, strings, and celebratory voices, Humazapas share the spiritual and ecological wisdom of their people, carrying it from their Andean territories to new generations and global stages. Sara Mama was composed, produced, arranged and recorded by Jesús Bonilla at ANTA Records in the Kichwa community of Turuku, and mastered by Ecuadorian producer Nicola Cruz.

Humazapas (@humazapas) • Instagram profile
Sara Mama, by Humazapas on Bandcamp

Main Act

Nuevos Ríos is the meeting point of Afro-Colombian traditions and futuristic global bass. Rooted in the music of Colombia’s Pacific coast, the project blends ancestral rhythms, marimba, and powerful percussion with electronic and amplified textures, creating a sound that is both deeply embodied and irresistibly danceable. The result is a journey — moving between tropical ritual, poetic introspection, and the energy of contemporary dance floors.

The project brings together Canalón de Timbiquí — home to the unmistakable voice of Maestra Nidia Góngora — and the Toulouse-based collective Reco Reco. Emerging from improvised sessions in Timbiquí, along the Río Timbiquí, their collaboration grew organically from shared musical roots and mutual curiosity. Released on ZZK Records, Nuevos Ríos channels life shaped by nature, community, and resilience, offering music as both celebration and collective response to the realities of the region.

Nuevos Rios (@nuevos.rios) • Instagram profile
Nidia Gongora (@nidiagongoramusic) • Instagram profile Reco Reco (@recorecomusic) • Instagram profile
Nuevos Rios, by Nuevos Rios on Bandcamp

DJ-Set

Jhon William Castaño Montoya, known professionally as MONTOYA, was born in Colombia and has been based in Italy since 2001. Classically trained in violin and electronic composition at the Conservatorio Agostino Steffani in Castelfranco Veneto, he moves fluidly between roles as producer, composer, researcher, multidisciplinary artist, and DJ. Since 2019 he has been part of ZZK Records. Through ZZK he released Otun (2019) and El Nido (2023), and has collaborated with internationally renowned artists including Aterciopelados, La Chica, and Ricky Martin.

M O N T O Y A (@montoya_music_) • Instagram profile
Montoya — Radio Raheem