Diesel

INFO

Also known as	Kartar
Country of Birth	Aotearoa
Place of Residence	Naarm Melbourne
Ethnicities	FIlipino, Indian
Artform	Music, Club nights
Decades Active	2020s

ABOUT

Kartar, widely known as Diesel, is a non-binary DJ, makeup artist and co-founder of NYMPHO – a queer club collective based in Tāmaki Makaurau.

As an aspiring DJ going to house music events and clubs in their formative years, Diesel was inspired by the music but noticed the lack of local queer spaces, despite the genre having been created by queer artists. In an interview with Satellites, Diesel shared their thoughts on the city's club scene back then:

As someone queer who goes out and sees music a lot, I wanted more for the city. We have a lot of unsafe spaces for the queer community in Auckland. It is getting more gentrified and dangerous for us. And if you want something more from your city, you will have to be the one to start it. As a DJ, I knew that it was something that I could initiate and achieve.

In 2019, they found their queer family through the local ballroom scene when they joined The House of Coven-Aucoin (formerly The House of Coven-Carangi). Being in an arts collective with performance at its core was a formative experience for Diesel. This further enriched their music practice as performance art – opening up new and experimental ways to engage with audiences. Regarding their success as a DJ, Diesel says:

As a DJ, you have to be constantly evolving and receptive to new ideas, new music, as well as the changing attitudes and tastes of your audience. The musical and cultural landscape is always changing and as a DJ you are synthesising that information. It also helps that you find a collective. Finding like-minded people is one of the most important things. Music is all about sharing with community. To have a group of friends to share and springboard ideas off. I love seeing peers succeed, and I think a little healthy competition facilitates growth in art.

In 2021, Diesel co-founded NYMPHO with their friends and fellow DJs monoga.my, Teddyyy and Atarangi, creating events that celebrate the talent in the Aotearoa queer nightlife scene. In an interview with Metro, the collective says:

Our kaupapa is ‘sexual liberation and gender euphoria’ – we wanted to hold space for our communities to come together and revel in that. The handful of permanent queer clubs on Karangahape Road were becoming unsafe, especially for our most marginalised communities, but club nights like Filth and Fully Explicit have shown that we can create our own spaces instead.

Since its inception, NYMPHO has successfully brought international acts to play at their events including DJ G2G, TAAHLIAH, HorsegiirL, Jasmine Infiniti and the Pxssy Palace collective. Paying homage to their ties to the ballroom community, NYMPHO brought Kevin Aviance and MikeQ, pioneers of the US ballroom scene, to perform at their 700-person capacity, double-venue Auckland Pride party. In an interview with Metro, the collective share their positive outlook on the future:

We’re in a golden age for queer club nights and collectives in Tāmaki right now – all the incredible events like Lychee Baby, Dollhouse, and the Filth Residency in the past month alone are testament to that. We think this is just the beginning.

NYMPHO is currently exploring expanding to become a record label with the release of their first single 'Turn2Light' by Teddyyy. When asked about the future of NYMPHO, Diesel says:

We want to hold larger scale events up to the thousands and tour larger artists. We brought Kevin Aviance and MikeQ for our Auckland Pride Party this year [2024] which was big for us and a first for the ballroom community. We also want to explore touring internationally like in Australia and Asia. And we are also dreaming of opening a permanent club along Karangahape Road that is a safe haven for our community.