Hitashya or #HXYA is the musical project of globally active artist Kai (Kari) Altmann.

Formerly stationed in New York, she is now globally nomadic with bases in Dubai and Mumbai/Goa, with extensions in Cairo/Dahab and Paris/Marseilles.

Hitashya aka Kai has been trained since a young age in music and performance via singing, instruments, theater, bands (including family bands) and music scenes.

She is now experimenting with her own compositions via singing, songwriting and digital production. She hopes create her own unique vocabulary in the same way her art practice has done for many years.

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As a DJ, Hitashya has played parties throughout New York, Baltimore and various cities in the Europe to SSWANA corridor for years, having an active involvement in music scenes both big and small, and traveling through different cultural music zones.

Her DJ mixes, which hop between genres, languages and rhythms as easily as water (or lava, or plasma?) flows around the world, have always reflected this wide range of influence and love.

She is no stranger to the music industry, having collaborated with many now-famous musicians on visuals and concepts, tours and live shows. She has a lot of scene overlap with artists like Grimes, MIA, Beach House, Kelela and others who were active in the east coast of the US during the late aughts and 2010s. But she has also always felt part of a wider world and scene, which has been solidified by her move to global nomadism since 2017.

She has a major appreciation for what she calls “New World” music, coming from many re-blossoming Post Western and DIY hot spots, especially in the SSWANA region (South and Southwest Asia, North Africa) and its corridors. She also loves artists she grew up with and artists from every era, culture and generation, with an encyclopedic knowledge of different genres and styles. She particularly loves making comparisons and links between them in shocking ways, which is where her DJ practice lives. She always has the aux.

During CoVid she dj’ed private parties in Mumbai and Goa, and is now dj’ing and performing in her new base city of Dubai, where she has a cultural golden visa.

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As a visual artist Hitashya has created installations and performances around the world, and designs her own custom stages, garments, jewelry, music videos, props and media, especially for her Hitashya identity.

She is the music curator for her editorial platform, XLE.LIFE.
She is also the curator of the
New World playlist on Spotify and Youtube.

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