The queen of progressive house and one of the most sensuous DJs on the planet, Tamara Hunkeler, better known by her stage name “Dinka” recently flew down to India and performed live at Kitty Su, Delhi. Dinka is a rare personality – matchless talent and a musician who is just next to impossible to restrain. Quite evident from her musical styles, she has made an outstanding impact in the industry.

In the last five years, Dinka has spread her wings and boosted house and progressive enthusiasts everywhere with her ethnically distinct sounds. Tamara, the instigator behind Dinka puts together her profile bringing in a marvelous universal mix of electronic beats. We can simply say that her music is inspired by a plot of symbols from Enigma to the ambient sounds of classical music. With releases on Unreleased Digital, Pinkstar Records and Anjuna Deep, uplifting progressive house fans get a golden gift of happiness every time her tunes are out.  Highly influenced by house music and its progressive side, this Swiss pioneer has amazed audiences from New York to Ibiza.

For the progressive house fans, the night Dinka performed at Kitty su became a night to remember. As I entered the club area, the speed of ever pounding beats started to measure with my heartbeat. After one of the resident DJs warmed up the audience, DJ Mash took over the decks and went on to throw some of the best techno and underground music I’ve heard in a long time. DJ Mash is known for his foot-stomping sets and has opened for big artists like Tiesto, Zedd and played in several editions of Sunburn Festival as well. He ensured that everyone in the club was on the dance floor and all present were grooving as one track progressed to another. As the crowd moved and danced, their minds were already blown away by some uplifting music but the queen was yet to come.

It was around 11.30 when Mash announced that he’s then giving over the control for the night to Dinka. With her shimmering white feathery wings on, it was time for everyone present in the club to just lose control, the excitement took over and the rest was history.

Kicking off with a wonderful Alex Kenji Remix of Milk & Sugar’s ‘Tell Me Why’, she proceeded with Lucas Reyes & Rude Vinyl’s ‘Step One’ to one of the most anticipated track for the night; Dinka & Leventina’s ‘Elements’. A big treat for the Dinka fans, it was that moment which brought a wide smile on everyone’s face out there.

As she dropped some huge progressive house tracks and singles like Krewella’s ‘Alive’ and Avicii’s ‘Last Dance’, Dinka made sure that nobody would be standing rooted to the ground and added a little kick to her set with the anthemetic ‘Platinum Chains’ by Michael Woods. As if it was not enough, ‘Blood Pressure’ by Helvetic Nerds just blew people’s mind off.

The audience was united in celebration as people sung together Lana Del Rey’s ‘Summertime Sadness’ and it was time for Dinka to shower the crowd with her native productions like ‘Violet’ and ‘My Love Will Surround You’. With the ambient sound of ‘Reach For Me’ and ‘On The Beach’ the crowd went a bit dull but Dinka definitely had some more to offer. For all the young ladies and girls out there, ‘Rumor Has It’ by the Oscar winner Adele happened to be a magnificent delight followed by Calvin Harris’s ‘We’ll Be Coming Back’ which again brought that spunk in the audience, leaving everyone in a perfect gratification.

As we moved towards the end of the night with already 1.30 am, Dinka turned the atmosphere in a diverse direction when she dropped Coldplay’s hit song ‘Fix You’ remixed by Swedish House Mafia & Alesso. People immediately began cheering and praising Dinka out loud. To add to the fire, Eric Prydz’s ‘Everyday’ was thrown in.

Some other productions included in her set were Dinka‘s ‘Lotus (Soundprank Remix)’ and ‘Inseparable’, which were as impactful as the previous ones. At about 10 minutes to 2, a tune rolled out of the big-horn speakers of Kitty Su after which everyone present danced with joy and happiness; it was Gareth Emery’s ‘Concrete Angel’.

Who thought that they would hear a Trance track in a progressive house set, but the lush angelic vocals of Christina Novelli and the brooding sound of Gareth Emery brought a spanking good end to a fabulous set by Dinka. We are sure that we’ll never be able to forget this memorable night.

Thank you Dinka for everything and we hope to see you again soon!

Special thanks to Kitty Su! 

Reviewed by Varun Luthra.

Edited by Angelica Pereira.