Tao Andra
born as Alexandra Huma, is a Romanian artist currently living in Lisbon. Her techno version of “Gracias a la vida” was unexpectedly picked up by Spanish DJ Indira Paganotto and played live at Tomorrowland 2023 without Tao Andra knowing beforehand that she had discovered the track!
She has lived in Amsterdam, Berlin and now Lisbon, and calls Portugal her favorite place because of the weather, nature and quality of life. Tao Andra learned Spanish thanks to Argentinian friends and developed a deep love for Latin music. Her performance at Ritter Butzke in Berlin was the premiere of “Gracias a la vida” and the audience responded wildly. Even those who didn’t speak Spanish got goosebumps.
Tao Andra’s music is a melting pot of cultures, emotions and philosophy. Latin American music plays a big part in her sound. Artists like *Mercedes Sosa* and *Carlos Gardel* inspired her with their deep emotional charge. She discovered this music through Argentinian friends and was touched by its melancholy and power. Her artist name “Tao” refers to Taoism, an ancient Chinese philosophy. She discovered it at the age of nineteen, and the ideas about balance, surrender and inner harmony are reflected in the way she uses techno to convey emotions. The Berlin scene in particular has had a big influence on her style. She calls herself a “narrative soul”, and sings in several languages. Her lyrics are often full of symbolism and universal themes such as love, loss and gratitude. With her music she builds a bridge between worlds that rarely come together.
What is special about Tao Andra is that her musical path did not start in a typical music education or conservatory. It has been a very personal, intuitive journey. She grew up in Romania, and although her childhood was surrounded by traditional music, her artistic development really started when she moved to Amsterdam in her twenties. There she discovered electronic music, started making beats and experimented with singing. Later, in Berlin, she developed her live performance style in which she not only DJs, but also sings, speaks and weaves poetry into her sets. So she is not your average DJ: she calls herself a “performance artist” or “storytelling soul” rather than a pure musician.
What really stands out is that she doesn’t follow a set structure, but works from feeling. She learns by doing: making music with friends, endlessly tinkering with sounds in her studio, and writing lyrics intuitively in Spanish, English, Romanian or French, depending on the emotion she wants to express. Her story beautifully illustrates how music can be a form of self-exploration and expression, rather than a final destination.
Electrobuzz
Brain Train
is one of Tao Andra's most recent tracks, released in April 2025 on the VOLTA Records label as part of her two-part release Rave In Progress.
Label: Volta Records
Brain Train is an intense acid techno trip with a hypnotic groove and industrial intensity. An unstoppable groove with raw energy and subtle layers that slowly unfold. It is clearly designed for the dance floor, with a build-up that pulls you along like a train without brakes. In contrast to her emotionally charged ‘Gracias a la vida’ or ‘Quiet Woman’, Brain Train shows her more raw, club-oriented side.
Fun detail: the track was also played live during the Siam Songkran Music Festival 2025 by Charlotte de Witte, a nice recognition of Tao Andra's growing influence in the techno scene.
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