Anfisa Letyago is a DJ, producer and vocalist born on 5 March 1990 in Mirny, Yakutia, who has spent much of her life and creative career in Naples. Her music grew out of techno and house, but over time expanded to include elements of groove, minimal, trance, ambient and electronic pop. Letyago has released music on Intec Digital, Nervous Records, Kompakt, Drumcode, Defected and her own label N:S:DA (NSDA), collaborated with Moby, remixed Swedish House Mafia and other major artists, and performed at Tomorrowland, Awakenings, Time Warp, Ultra, EXIT and leading clubs around the world. In 2024, Billboard Italia Women in Music named her DJ of the Year.
Anfisa was born in Siberia and spent her earliest years in the northern city of Mirny. Her father is Italian, and the family later settled in Naples. Letyago became interested in music long before discovering club culture: she listened to the radio on her grandmother’s stereo, recorded songs she liked onto cassette tapes and assembled her own selections.
The music that surrounded her during childhood and adolescence included The Prodigy, Massive Attack, Linkin Park, Tiësto and Paul van Dyk. Later, Aphex Twin, Björk, Moby, Frankie Knuckles and Miss Kittin became important reference points. This wide range of influences would later be reflected in her own approach to music. The electronic culture of the 1990s had a particularly strong impact and remains a recurring source of inspiration both in her DJ sets and studio work.
As a child, Anfisa also studied piano. She never received formal professional music training, but her early experience with the instrument helped develop her ear for music and understanding of rhythm.
Naples and the First Steps in DJing
Moving to Italy became a defining event in Letyago’s life. She considers Naples her home and the city where she developed as an artist. The contrast with her Siberian childhood was enormous: a different climate, street culture, art and a thriving club scene opened up an entirely new musical world.
The Neapolitan techno scene played an especially important role, along with artists such as Marco Carola and Gaetano Parisio. Letyago regularly attended parties and gradually became interested not only in the music itself, but also in the way a DJ could control the dynamics of a dancefloor.
She began DJing around 2008. Her first setup consisted of inexpensive Pioneer CDJ-100 players and a mixer. Anfisa spent a great deal of time practising at home, recording sets and sharing them with friends.
In 2009, she played one of her first major shows at Naples’ Duel Club in front of more than two thousand people. After that, she began performing regularly in Naples before receiving bookings in Rome, Milan, Amsterdam, Ibiza and other major European club destinations.
Moving Into Music Production
During the first years of her career, Letyago was primarily a DJ and selector. She moved into full-scale production later, when she felt the need to bring her own material into her sets.
Her first official release arrived in 2016: Stop Talking, a collaboration with Leroy Styles, was released by Spinnin’ Records. Her music later appeared on Natura Viva, Nervous Records and other independent labels.
Carl Cox and Intec Digital
One of the most important professional connections in her career was with Carl Cox. In 2018, during an event in Sicily, Letyago handed him a USB drive containing her own tracks. Cox began playing the material almost immediately and subsequently continued to support Anfisa’s music in his sets.
A few months later, he invited her to release music on Intec Digital. In 2019, the label released her So Good EP, while Bright Lights EP appeared on Nervous Records during the same period. These releases helped establish Letyago on the international techno scene.
Carl Cox became not only one of her earliest major supporters but also a mentor. He invited Anfisa to perform on his Resistance Megastructure stage at Ultra Music Festival Miami. The appearance was originally scheduled for 2020, but after the festival was cancelled, it finally took place in 2022. Letyago became the first artist to perform in the Megastructure during that festival weekend.
N:S:DA and a New Creative Period
The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted Letyago’s intensive touring schedule and gave her more time to focus on studio work. One result was the launch of her own label, N:S:DA, also written as NSDA.
The name is connected to the island of Nisida in the Gulf of Naples. For Anfisa, the island became an important symbol of the city and of one of its less visible sides — a small volcanic island that is both a natural landmark and a place with a complex history.
N:S:DA was never intended to represent one specific genre. Instead, it was conceived as a platform for music with a strong idea and its own story. The first major release of this new period was the Listen EP, issued in January 2021.
It featured Listen, Orizzonte, Deep Water and Gravity. Compared with her earlier club-oriented records, the music became deeper and more spacious, combining techno with house rhythms, dub chords, ambient textures and minimalist use of voice.
The Nisida EP followed soon afterwards. Material from both releases was later reworked by Chris Liebing, Calibre, DJ Seinfeld and other producers.
Cercle, Haze and Rosso Profondo
One of the most notable performances from this period was her Cercle set, recorded in 2021 at the historic Saluting Battery in Malta. The set included Letyago’s own tracks such as Gravity, Nisida and the specially created Saluting Battery, alongside music from other contemporary techno artists.
The recording circulated widely online and became one of the performances that significantly expanded Anfisa’s international audience.
In 2022, she released Haze. The track marked an important step in the development of her own vocal approach: rather than functioning as a conventional lead vocal, her voice became part of the atmosphere and rhythmic structure. The Club Mix strengthened the trance element of the composition.
The same year, Factory 93 Records released Rosso Profondo, which became one of Letyago’s most recognisable club tracks. It is built around a cyclical groove, a dense bassline and steadily increasing tension without relying on excessively harsh industrial aggression.
Working with Moby
Letyago’s collaboration with Moby holds a special place in her career, as she had been listening to his music long before beginning her own professional journey.
On 21 January 2022, her official remix of Moby’s classic track Go was released. Letyago brought the composition into a contemporary club setting while preserving the recognisable elements of the original.
The collaboration continued in 2024 with the release of You & Me on Defected. Anfisa took part in writing and producing the track and also recorded the vocal part.
For Moby, it was his first original release on Defected. Alongside the main version, remixes were released by Deetron, Girls Of The Internet, Moby himself and later SG Lewis.
BBC Radio 1 and the International Stage
As her profile grew, Anfisa began appearing regularly on BBC Radio 1. She took part in the Radio 1 Residency programme and recorded her own two-hour Essential Mix in April 2023.
By this point, her touring schedule included Awakenings, Time Warp, Tomorrowland, EXIT, Drumcode Festival, Ultra and numerous clubs across Europe, the United States and other regions.
Letyago’s sets vary considerably depending on the space. On large festival stages, she tends to emphasise more direct rhythms and major energy shifts, while in clubs she often moves toward more minimal, hypnotic and deeper selections.
Babylonia and ParteNope
In March 2023, N:S:DA released the six-track project Babylonia, created with the participation of ParteNope. It is not a solo Anfisa Letyago EP: most of the material belongs to ParteNope.
Letyago contributed to the opening track Perzechella, recorded together with ParteNope, and also presented her own track Danza.
The release revealed another side of the N:S:DA catalogue, placing elements of psytrance and more experimental electronic music alongside techno.
Swedish House Mafia Remix
In September 2023, Swedish House Mafia invited Letyago to remix Ray Of Solar. Her version became the most techno-oriented part of the official remix package, placing the original choral melody over a harder rhythmic foundation and a faster club tempo.
The remix was another indication that by this stage Letyago was working not only within the traditional techno circuit, but also at the intersection of the underground and the wider international electronic music scene.
Feelin’, Origami and noted.
In 2024, Anfisa became one of the first artists signed to noted. records, the electronic music division of Sony Music Entertainment Germany.
Her first release there was Feelin’. Letyago’s own vocals moved to the centre of the composition, working on equal terms with the rhythmic elements.
Origami followed. The original and extended versions reflect the approach that defined this stage of her work: techno rhythms combined with trance, electronic pop and more pronounced song-oriented melody.
This direction did not mean abandoning club music. Instead, Letyago increasingly began using techno as a foundation around which she could freely build vocal, melodic and more experimental ideas.
Partenope and the Audiovisual Concept
Another important direction became Partenope, an audiovisual show inspired by Naples and by the mythological story of the siren Parthenope, who is associated with the origins of the city.
The concept combined Letyago’s music with imagery of the sea, ancient mythology and contemporary Neapolitan culture. Her connection with Naples therefore evolved from a biographical detail into a fully developed part of her artistic language.
Bubbledance
On 27 June 2025, noted. records released the four-track Bubbledance EP. It includes Who I Am, Magic Whales, The Bubble Dance and Partenope.
Letyago worked on the material for around two years. It combines techno and trance with airy melodies, playful synthesizer textures and her own vocals. Unlike the more functional club records of her earlier period, Bubbledance is structured around a unified visual and emotional concept connected to water, the sea and mythology.
Partenope is particularly representative, as it is directly connected to the audiovisual project of the same name.
In July 2025, In My Arms was released through her own NSDA label. The track combines classic trance inflections with club-oriented techno and Anfisa’s soft vocals.
The Development of NSDA
Over time, NSDA stopped being a platform solely for Letyago’s own music. Its catalogue expanded to include releases by Durosai, Hoymans, Sole Dosi, Keira Meier and other artists.
The selection of releases reflects the label’s original principle: genre is secondary to the idea and emotional content. As a result, techno can sit alongside ambient, house, trance, breaks and experimental electronic music.
In September 2026, NSDA released The Third Man EP by British producer Nathan Alexander. The release features three of his original tracks, while Letyago contributed a remix of the title track. It is particularly significant as an example of her work not only as an artist, but also as the curator of her own label.
Musical Style
Anfisa Letyago usually describes her own sound as groovy techno. For her, maximum heaviness is less important than rhythmic movement and the interaction between individual elements within the groove.
The kick drum in her tracks is usually dense, but rarely becomes the sole focus of the composition. Moving basslines, short synthesizer motifs, vocal fragments, spatial effects and pauses all play an important role.
Her early work sits noticeably closer to club techno and house. The material from the Listen and Nisida period became deeper and more atmospheric, followed by a stronger presence of trance influences and her own vocals, while later projects revealed a growing interest in electronic pop and conceptual audiovisual art.
At the same time, the electronic music of the 1990s remains an important source of inspiration. Its influence can be heard in rave chords, trance melodies, short vocal hooks and her tendency to combine club functionality with emotional depth.
Performance Style
Letyago is known for an active and emotionally expressive performance style. She constantly interacts with the audience, moves behind the decks and treats a DJ set as a form of direct communication with the dancefloor.
Behind the apparent ease is a technically detailed approach. Anfisa uses multiple decks, effects and fast transitions, allowing her to layer elements from different tracks and shift the direction of a set without lengthy pauses.
This combination of selector experience and producer thinking allows her to work equally naturally within a traditional techno context and alongside artists from house, trance and the broader electronic mainstream.
Discography
Main EPs and major releases
- Bright Lights EP — 2019
- So Good EP — 2019
- Listen EP — 2021
- Nisida — 2021
- Haze — 2022
- Babylonia — 2023, Anfisa Letyago & ParteNope
- Bubbledance EP — 2025
- TUNEL — 2025, Unfinished Portraits feat. Anfisa Letyago
Anfisa Letyago’s career has evolved from the local Naples club scene and years of DJing into her own label, international festival appearances, original vocal work and audiovisual projects. Despite these changes, several qualities have remained consistent throughout her music: a strong focus on groove, a lasting fascination with 1990s electronic culture, a melodic sensibility and a determination not to remain confined to a single form of techno.
