One of our closest French counterparts, Nicolas Bartko, aka Keikari was born and raised in the quiet seaside town of ‘La Rochelle’ in western France.

He moved to a near by town called Angoulême, where his first real introduction to music came from an unlikely source. Starting out listening to Rock music and playing his guitar he later began listening to Jazz at local bars, but it wasn’t until he ventured over to Bordeaux that he first discovered electronic music.

Influenced by many talented producers and experiences at venues such as the iconic IBOAT club, Keikari moved to Paris to begin a course in sound engineering and experienced more of Paris’s nightlife which helped him to develop his understanding of Techno music and to begin developing his productions.

Now based out of Simplon in Paris’s 18th Arrondissement, Keikari focuses on his artistic development to expand on his existing discography of music which started with his first release on American label ‘Monocode‘ and includes several releases on Spanish label ‘NewRhythmic’, renowned French label ‘La Chinerie’ and a remix for Scan X’s vinyl release on another French label ‘Volphonie’.

In defining synergy between his roots in live music and the electronic music that he now calls home, Nicolas is now forging a new path for his sound that is depicted through his rapidly developing collection of modular gear. Focusing largely on his performance as Keikari [Live], Nicolas has graced the dance floors of several clubs across Europe including venues in Belgium, France, Germany, Kosovo and Spain.

Nicholas’ ever-evolving performance as Keikari [Live] is the main cornerstone to his development as an artist and this was clearly demonstrated during our first collective trip to France back in 2016, when the team travelled to Paris to meet a group of ABYSS artists.

Over the course of the week we spent time listening to Nicolas talk about his deliberate and deeply artistic approach to his creativity. On a sunny Saturday afternoon we joined Nicolas at his place in Simplon to film for his upcoming ABYSS | Artist Feature where we witnessed his [Live] skill and ability in person for the first time.

Over the next few years, we will continue to develop our relationship with Nicolas and to work collectively on other projects together. Before we present our first ABYSS | Artist Feature with Keikari, we introduce an incredible hour of ABYSS Presents featuring a driven club-oriented DJ mix.