Manuela García Aldana
MANUELA GARCÍA ALDANA aka AMULETO MANUELA was born and raised in Colombia, now living and working in Berlin as a sound artist and DJ, as well as a cultural worker at SAVVY Contemporary and educator at MA Raumstrategien, Weißensee Kunsthochschule.
Her work as a sound artist includes the crafting of sound scapes, sound sculptures, DJ sets, and listening collective practices, all revolving around listening as its core principle and the quest for spaces of encounter. She addresses questions of narrative, memory, diaspora and non official archives from a decidedly positional stance. Among her topics of interest are: Liminal spaces enhanced by sound, the sonic as a place of transformation, temporality, water as a sonic archive, and learning to listen to human and non human beings. She proposes ways of unlearning imposed structures and hierarchies, and instead remembering and imagining alternative ways of inhabiting our collective life experience. Her sonic structures draw as much from her academic studies and research as from her experience as a DJ, from music and sound archives (like vinyl records), field recordings, audio effects, and her own voice, utilizing techniques such as loops, echo, repetition and juxtaposition.
She has been featured in various institutions, ranging from Kunsthaus Dahlem Brücke-Museumin Berlin, Ultima Festival in Oslo, Real Jardín Botánico Madrid, and the 2021 Listening Biennial at Errant Sound to the Venice Biennale and the 13th edition of the Bamako Encounters – African Biennale of Photography in Mali. Amuleto Manuela hosts the monthly radio show ‘Music Shrine’ on Berlin station Refuge Worldwide, and is a sonic researcher and curator at SAVVY Contemporary.
Her highly danceable DJ sets combine music from various African diasporas with a carefully curated vinyl selection of silky Afro-Latin Funk, Soul, and Disco, along with Latin American styles as dusty Boleros, classic and contemporary Cumbias and other genres such as Samba, and Guguancó. Each song is chosen from the heart and played with love, transitioning in unexpected ways without ever losing that groove. Amuleto Manuela has played some prestigious festivals in and around Berlin including Fusion, Garbicz, Melt, IN.habit.ans and the Pluri-Rhythm Festival at HKW Berlin, as well Clubs like Yaam, Sisyphos, Kater Blau, Klunker- kranich, Sameheads and Arkaoda. Bookings abroad have led her to play to clubs in Bogotá (KB, Paradisco, Matik Matik, Super Rayo) and share with crowds in Barranquilla, Bamako, Oslo and Amsterdam among others.
Manuela @ DAI:
2024-2025 COOP study group ~ An Invitation to Action - A Basis for Hope