Nana Koloda: "Every sound is a fragment of what I feel inside"
- Editorial Staff
- Dec 3, 2025
- 5 min read
Nana Koloda is a rising electronic music artist specializing in melodic techno. Known for her emotive soundscapes and deep, driving rhythms, she crafts original tracks that blend melodic richness with a contemporary techno edge. As both a producer and performer, Nana brings a personal and cinematic dimension to her music, creating immersive auditory experiences. Recently, she began collaborating with artist Sayhelooo, also known as Dima Kelly, marking an exciting new chapter in her artistic evolution. With each release, Nana Koloda continues to establish her distinctive presence within the underground electronic music scene.
How does your background in dance and performance influence the way you compose and produce music? Do you find yourself directly translating movement and emotion into sound?
Yes. When we write, Dima A.k.a Sayhelooo, has one perspective from the side of musicality and "through the ears", while I’ve always felt things through the body. And Dima immediately noticed that I initially try to make sure there is a feeling of "groove", when the body kind of tells you whether it "moves" or not. So yes, my main rule is: until I get up from the chair and start dancing, something isn’t working. And yes, we noticed this right away, and we rely on this first and foremost. It’s important to us because in this style the feeling of dance matters — when the body wants to move.
"Krakatoa" is your latest release on Sunrise8. What’s the story or inspiration behind this track, and how does it fit into your artistic path?
Why is the track called Krakatoa?
Krakatoa is the loudest volcano in the world, and we used it as a metaphor for the strongest energy inside a person — the energy of inner fire and passion that drives them. It also aligns well with the actual sound in the track, and there’s a remark about this in the "drop", where you can hear this reference.
It all started with the name, even before we had any idea for the track. It just came into Dima’s mind. We didn’t know where to apply it, but it kept obsessively following us. When the first sound appeared (the beginning of the track), it instantly hinted at the understanding — here it is, Krakatoa. Then came the rhythm, and already in the musical breakdown everything came together, when we wanted to give that low, powerful sound. At that moment we immediately understood that the track would be called Krakatoa, and the name literally waited for the right moment to happen.
If you imagine how a volcano wakes up in nature, you instantly see the dramaturgy built inside the track: the volcano awakens, the first explosion, the warning, and the lava (a metaphor for energy) that has been stirred.
This is easy to imagine in the moment after the drop — that 7/4 meter, which is unusual for this style, with those hypnotic synths that seem to induce a trance, forming and taming the released energy that is ready to declare itself — in our case, to burst onto the dance floor.
And of course, Krakatoa is also like the musical energy between us.
You and Sayhellooo founded Sunrise8 to create a space for your music without compromise. What are the biggest challenges and rewards of running an independent label focused on melodic techno and cinematic electronic sounds?
To be honest, we haven’t yet experienced all the difficulties and challenges of launching a label, because this is a new path for us. Of course, we want to create this space for our music, but we also clearly understand that we will be looking for artists who are close to us in spirit and helping them make themselves known. Right now we are at the beginning of our musical journey together and are focused on that the most.
Your 2024 release "Gandara" stood out for its emotional tension and intimate rhythm. How has your approach to composition evolved compared to your earlier work?
I want to answer this question very honestly. Gandara was a peak moment in my life. For me, it is a "phoenix" track. Before that, I was writing and searching for who I was in music. And this track became the point of my transformation — both in life and in music. I had to let go of my old self and start creating music honestly. That’s probably why it’s different from my previous releases. It became honest!
In Gandara there is a mystical female voice that, you could say, awakened inside me. That’s why on the cover of the track I am depicted naked and in flames. The old self burns away and gives way to the new — feminine, intimate, spiritual, honest.
Gandara translates as "thought". And everything begins with a thought.
In the future, I want to re-release this track, because it was created in my home kitchen and in headphones. I want to make its sound even better, to convey this depth of thought to the listener. With this track, I want to tell my listener not to be afraid to hear their true inner voice and to go through transformation — which always happens for the better.
How do you see the electronic music scene evolving in Kyiv and Ukraine, especially during such a complex time? What role do you think music can play in moments of crisis or social transformation?
Before humans learned to speak on our planet, we used music and dance to communicate with one another. Music has always walked hand in hand with a person throughout their entire life. Music can inspire, make you think, motivate. In my opinion, there are many musicians and electronic music producers in Ukraine who, despite the difficult period our country is going through, continue to grow, move forward — and quite successfully. And they also motivate many not to give up, even when, literally, your day today could be your last.
Dima and I found our own language in music and our role as musicians. We want to transmit our love through sound and speak honestly to our listener — without masks. To convey not pain, but strength; the energy of life rather than destruction; not victimhood but action.
And in our previous release "Zozulia" this already happened — not intentionally, but very clearly visible in the dramaturgy is the mood of both us and society, its faith and its desire to "fly" and create. In a classic melodic techno track, we gently wove in Ukrainian folklore to show, through melody, the soul that strives to open, to believe, and to fight if needed — again, charging the listener with faith and strength. This track stayed for a long time on many radio stations in Ukraine and across the electronic music world.
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