We chat with Nathan Kofi, co-founder of De Lichting label collective, music maker, educator and nightlife advocate
Amsterdam-based artist, dj and producer Nathan Kofi is the co-founder of De Lichting, a highly intune collective of like-minded artists whose deep, soul-fuelled, machine driven sounds have been resonating far and wide beyond their home turf in more recent times. Together with befriended artists Queniv, Human Space Machine, Eversines, RDS, Kaap and Boris Acket, they’ve been ploughing a much needed furrow of straightforward, diy-inspired leftfield dance music.
An active music educator and nightlife advocate within his local scene, Nathan has spent well over a decade carving out his own space in the sphere of House, Techno and Ambient music. As we emerged from the pandemic back in 2022, he stepped up as one of the new creative heads at the infamous club and cultural hub ‘De School’, envisioning a roadmap for the club which included the development of a daytime/cultural programming division and brought the club to a successful close in January 2024.
A self-confessed House rooted DJ with a varied approach to programming his sets who likes to explore the more ethereal side of Techno and Electronica, he’s accumulated a wealth of experiences from performing and playing at array of appearances at festivals, parties and clubs over the years such as: Low Lands, Down The Rabbit Hole, Best Kept Secret, Breakfast club, De School, Dekmantel, Studio 80 and more. He landed his first bit of production on techno and house pioneer Kevin Saunderson’s KMS records back in 2013. Although his initial forays into music making came under his Nathan Surreal alias. A few years on he made a conscious choice to switch working under his west african name, Nathan Kofi. Changing his modusoperandi and ethos to incorporate hip-hop aesthetics and blend them with the original House and Techno ethics of Detroit, Chicago, New York. A postively grounding change which has led him to explore and research further the sounds and expressions of the black, latino, lgbtq+ origins of club culture. And to our ears, he has certainly been striking the right notes since – having grown in stature and appeal, echoing the music and vibes laid down by the likes Fred P, Ron Trent, Aybee, Jus Ed and co.
Following the release of his captivating LP ‘I Am That I Am’ back in 2024, we wanted to connect and dig a little deeper into his story, and the road he’s been travelling down so far. With De Lichting having just released it’s 4th Edition ‘Vier’, our timing couldn’t have been better.
So, what was it like growing up in Amsterdam?
I grew up in a small town in the shadows of Amsterdam. Both my parents were quite involved in music, theatre and dance, so that transferred organically.
I’m from a mixed-race background; West African (Ghanaian) and Dutch; and that obviously influenced me a lot in terms of the places, the music, the tastes and the cultures I was exposed to while growing up around Amsterdam.
We lived in a somewhat monotonous, small place which wasn’t always easy for a mixed-race kid, figuring out their place within Dutch society.
And how did you first get into music?
Courtesy of mum and dad. My mother is a trained dancer and my dad a musician. So growing up, my brother and I travelled quite a bit with our parents to shows, tours and cultural gatherings, both in the Netherlands and in Ghana. That was my first contact with music and movement, from childhood.
Around the age of 12, I also started to explore movement and dance more and more, through dance theatre collectives. Then from about the age of 15, I switched paths and became obsessed with music production through high school friends (shout out to Joshua, Moodswings, Jesse Sep).
What or who would you say your influences were as a youngster?
For sure both my parents, next to societal influences via TV (MTV), LimeWire, the early days of the internet and such. Friends in general also had a huge influence on me as a youngster. Young people are like sponges and tend to soak up their ecosystems — both the good and the bad.
Some of the artists I looked up to were Michael Jackson, Sisqó, Lil Wayne, Sizzla and Morgan Heritage. My dad was big on Jazz, Soca and Highlife music. Jonathan Butler was someone he loved to listen to. My mother loved James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone, so I listened to that a lot too.
How did you discover Electronic music then?
My connection with electronic music came way later. I never felt that EDM was something that was part of me. I literally couldn’t identify with the genre because of the heavy white representation of the artists setting the tone. I generally had the idea that dance music wasn’t something black or brown people listened to, because of how it was visually represented in mainstream media.
If you’d asked the 16-year-old me whether I was interested in Techno music, I probably would’ve answered that it was white people’s music for people doing drugs. A lot of ignorant judgement on my part… influenced by the music industry and its portrayal of club culture.
It wasn’t until much later, during my music education degree at university, that I started discovering more about the background and origins of House and Techno. Slowly I uncovered what had always been hidden: black, brown and queer bodies who created these genres back in Detroit, Chicago and NYC: highly influenced by gospel, the church, and survival. It was about dancing their sorrows, pain and prejudice off of their bodies, via bodily movement and rhythm.
That’s when I started to get it, feel it, understand it, and most importantly start to see myself doing it, making and creating it. That was quite a moment.
Who would you say were your biggest initial influences back then?
From that moment on, it was people like Derrick May, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Mike Banks, Underground Resistance, Blake Baxter, Santonio Echols and Santiago Salazar.
Were there any particular records that had a big impact on you and shaped your tastes?
Yes, one that really stood out was Reese & Santonio – The Sound. I loved that record. Derrick May’s Strings of Life also had a huge impact on me too.
When did you decide to start DJing and buy turntables?
Right before moving to art school when I was 19 to pursue a career in electronic music production. My big brother was already DJing. However, I wasn’t that intrigued by DJing itself. I was too busy being obsessed with music production. I just wanted to know how to make the music, not necessarily play it.
The spark for playing it came a bit later, around age 20. That’s when I slowly started creating my own dance tunes, which led to my first gigs. That’s also when I started leaning more into DJ culture.
And how did your initial interest progress into playing at parties and in clubs?
That just grew organically. I was making tunes for that environment and started releasing my first records. I landed my first big record deal with Kevin Saunderson’s legendary KMS Records. That sparked a lot of interest, put my name out there, and more shows started to come in.
What made you decide to come over to the UK to study for a while?
Honestly, after some years in the scene building my name, I hit a bit of a wall when I was around 27. I was just fed up with the industry, the commercial side of it, frustrations about scene politics, door policies, gatekeeping mechanisms, unfairness around booking fees, and the lack of black voices in the scene.
I just wanted to get out. I found a way to escape Amsterdam nightlife for a bit and focus on my master’s degree in Sheffield, where I dove into the steel-city’s history and its rich music scene. I found my niche there, started doing shows, and it gave me the space to reflect on the ecosystem back home.
You’ve been very involved in the Amsterdam scene over the last 10+ years — what makes things tick there these days?
Unfortunately, money, views and likes. The scene has been heavily sedated by big corporate money flowing in, as well as social media tactics dominating the scene and using “underground” merely as a branding tool to sell tickets and the culture.
That’s the situation for many scenes. Not saying there isn’t interesting stuff happening, there are always collectives and people who still value experimentation and want to push the needle further in terms of music, scene creation and connection. Both realities exist at the same time. Shout out to Dweller, Draaimole, really pushing new narratives forward from old Amsterdam to the new.
Would you say there’s an Amsterdam “sound” compared to Rotterdam or Den Haag?
Rotterdam and Den Haag have their own unique history and connections to electronic music genres. Amsterdam obviously is the capital where it all comes together. But those cities definitely created their own unique sounds and historical significance within electronic music cultures and subcultures.
Rotterdam is known for its gritty, industrial vibes, while Den Haag is known for Italo and acid influences.
You were very involved with De School, tell us about that and what you learned from it?
After De School’s closing around COVID, a new team stepped up and I became the Creative Head for DS, helping envision a new roadmap for the club exploring it’s new position within Amsterdam’s ecosystem. I’m very happy that together with the team we managed to bring the club to a final and successful close two years ago.
It was a very vibrant environment to work in, but also very demanding. The club was playing in the big league in terms of its international allure and impact. It really shaped and humbled me, finding ways to create stories and programmes that resonate with a lot of people.
But it also put everyone involved in a pressure cooker. People feel very closely attached to a venue because of their experiences in it, so you have to navigate a very fine line when trying to cater to many different needs and expectations. It was a huge challenge and responsibility to manage.
When and how did the idea for the De Lichting collective come about?
De Lichting is actually a project that started back during our art school days. Most of the De Lichting crew I met during that period. The label and collective itself came into existence much later after graduation, but if you look at it from another angle, it was already in the making during school days. We just didn’t know it yet.
So, we describe it as a project by a tight-knit group of friends, basically music nerds: combining efforts to push forward beautiful, emotional and sexy club and ambient anthems.
And what can we expect from you next in terms of new releases and projects?
We’re now rolling out our fifth De Lichting collective album called Vier (which means “four”). It’s technically the fifth because after Drie (3), we released Drie-Nul-Drie (303). So factually Vier is actually the fifth record.
We’re super excited to share the album with the world. We’ve been a bit quiet for a while, so it’s even more thrilling to finally come forward with a new release. I’m on the b2, with my track Kinesis.
‘Vier’ is out now on De Lichting
