KiNK

Bulgarian DJ and producer KiNK, born Strahil Velchev, has been on the scene for over a decade now and has earned his spot as a crowd favorite. Not only does he perform techno and house under KiNK, he also puts on live shows under his alias Cyrillic, a project he launched back in 2015.

KiNK signed with this first booking agent, Kai Fischer, in 2008 after he had already spent several years making a name for himself in Bulgaria. After signing with Fischer, KiNK built up the courage to start touring internationally but it was no walk in the park. In an interview with DJ Mag KiNK describes the transition to playing for international crowds as being quite difficult.  “It was very difficult to make it work. I think it's because my diverse selection and intense way of mixing didn't fit the crowd's preferences at that time,” says the producer.

Because of his difficulty transitioning, KiNK’s booking agent suggested he start performing live instead of merely DJing. “Playing live was not my first choice, I looked at it more like a door to a DJ career, but meanwhile, I had my live bookings” (DJ Mag). However, KiNK grew a passion for performing live and has been doing it this way ever since. He says that his sets are not planned in advance but in order to perform live he has all of his production elements imported to Ableton for easy access during the performance.

Performing live is no easy feat as a music producer and crowds are usually pretty receptive to that fact. KiNK goes on, “I can stretch boundaries musically in any way, take risks and [make] mistakes, which I could never get away with [in] a DJ set” (DJ Mag)

In 2019, KiNK in collaboration with his buddy Konstantin Petrov (KEi) launched his very own record label named after his hometown, Sofia. The music housed by the label will pay tribute to Bulgarian culture and aesthetics.