We Are Okra

OKRA is not a label. It is not a booking agency. It is not a radio station or a film unit or a mentorship program. It is all of those things at once: a single operating system for the artist who refuses to be pinned down.

The collective runs on a simple rule: the people who do the work own the infrastructure. Every strand of the ecosystem, from the label to the bookings desk to the residencies to the radio to the film unit to the mentorship curriculum, exists to serve one purpose: making sure the artist can make the work without the work making them.

There are seven artists on the 2026 roster. Each one was chosen for the room they build, not the room they fill. Here is who they are and where they have been lately.

The architect of the system itself. KA-RABA operates at the intersection of club culture and radical sonic architecture. Her practice bridges visceral dancefloor energy with the precision of an acoustic designer. Afrofuturism meets cutting-edge electronic experimentation.

Recent performances include Spirit Music Festival in Zurich, a b2b with Mânaa at Dachstock Bern, and Nouveau Printemps at the Centre Culturel Suisse in Toulouse. She has also played Montreux Jazz Festival and Gurtenfestival. Her sets are bass-driven, hypnotic, and architectural. She builds rooms out of sound.

Zurich-based multidimensional poet and cultural worker. At the core of their practice is poetic storytelling through re/dis_membering and expansive listening. FONCÉ weaves together writing, sound production, DJing, and curatorial work.

Recent appearances include Spirit Music Festival in Zurich, Denkmal's "Still Not Done After Protest Dance," and Gurtenfestival in Bern. Every set is a conversation between memory and movement.

A breath of fresh air in electronic music. HAUSVRAU grew through their own event FAGDOM in Zurich and now plays across Europe. Brazilian funk beats and ballroom energy sit next to house and Latin electronic music. High energy sets that turn the dance floor into a cardio workout.

Recent gigs include Dampfzentrale Bern (ON HER FEELS Residenz Sharing), Transtronica Festival in Hamburg, and Kultur Matte in Bern.

Rooted in a West African griot lineage, SAHARAA carries ancestral memory into contemporary club spaces. Her sets traverse Afrobeat, Rap, Baile Funk, and global Black diasporic sounds with technical mastery and rhythmic precision.

She has performed at Gurtenfestival, Openair Frauenfeld, and B-Sides Festival. Recent dates include ISC Club Bern and SiAM! Plattentaufe. Every set is a carefully crafted journey from heritage to dance floor.

Canadian-South African artist based in Bern. Her sets are bass-driven and diasporic: sultry percussion woven into deep club rhythms with nostalgic undertones. She has performed across Switzerland as well as in New York, Paris, and São Paulo.

Recent performances include m4music Festival in Zurich, a GIMIC Radio session, and Gurtenfestival 2026. Her work proves the dance floor can be a place of storytelling.

Thai-born, Switzerland-based. Raised in a musical family surrounded by jazz and blues, his love for rhythm and heavy basslines shapes every set. His residency and founding of HOTSPOT in Zurich creates spaces full of youth, playfulness, and charisma.

Performed at Montreux Jazz Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Amsterdam Dance Event, and Milkshake Festival in Amsterdam. His HOTSPOT residency continues to be a vital thread in Zurich's club fabric.

For Maldita Vaina, music is a technology that sustains BIPOC stories history often leaves unwritten. Their sets juxtapose Caribbean riddims, African electronica, and Afro and Arab diasporic club sounds. Centering Black, trans, and queer producers, they turn dance floors into spaces of fugitivity and collective reimagination.

Recent performances: Gyrate at Dorothy in Chicago, Khanistan Airlines in Houston, and Montreal Pride. Their mixes have aired on Rinse France, Oroko Radio, and Foundation FM.