Nono

 

Activities: musician, writer and environmental campaigner

Artist name: Nono Gigsta – not Gigsta (UK), nor GIGSTA (UK)

Position: Born in Belgium, grown up in Brittany (France) and currently based in Berlin (Germany).

Positionality: Grew up able-bodied in a rural environment in a white middle-class family in France.

Pronouns: She/they

 

“i dance, it’s what i do” 

 

Nono Gigsta gets as much joy dancing to music as she does reflecting on it – either as an academic researcher, DJ, producer, promoter, radio host and zine maker.

Her DJ-sets range widely: from the very slow to the very fast, the old to the brand new, the silly to the ultra-serious (often incorporating her own collages), in a sweet spot between eclecticism and coherence, all mixed with precision and consideration. In 2024, her mix at Freerotation was selected best mix of the year by Resident Advisor and Nono’s show on Cashmere Radio, Fictions, gives you a feel for the breadth of her enthusiasm (themed shows have covered bell sounds, mycelium musings and mountain meanderings). 

Currently based in Berlin, but born in Belgium and grown up in France, she was a resident of the queer femme and non-binary forward collective Room 4 Resistance and has been promoting her own Fictions parties across town. In the Sameheads basement, Nono regularly invites friends for all-night-long sweaty and bassy b2bs, sharing free zines and getting on the mic. Her reputation for playful, sometimes obscure sets has been spreading across Europe too, leading her to play at festivals and clubs such as CTM, Dekmantel Selectors, Freerotation, Horst, La Machine, Le Sucre, No Symbols and Panorama Bar. 

However, Nono Gigsta’s schedule is organised at train-pace. She is currently not flying for climate justice reasons, embracing “slow gigging” and enjoying a sustainable approach to her passion. Train journeys have brought her all the way to different corners of Europe and even Morocco. Nono regularly reflects on this commitment via her newsletter and entertains a somewhat abrasive relationship to social media –  she doesn’t share any pictures of her face online.