Rising Arp: Nisal Invites You Aboard The “Sikuru Express” Fusing UKG With Sri Lankan Bus Music

The Singapore-based Sri Lankan producer celebrates his roots with a twist (Credit: Courtesy of NIsal)

What if you could adapt a cultural soundbite – or in the case of Nisal, a memory from his Sri Lanka origins – for modern dance music? Less a clash of worlds and more a marriage of ideas, “Sikuru Express” is the debut offering of Nisal, a Singapore-based producer with a background in Eastern and Western classical music (also formerly a hip-hop beatmaker). But in the realm of electronic music, Nisal is looking to blend it with South Asian influences, saluting the figments of his upbringing and the place he calls home. For “Sikuru Express” in particular, he pays homage to the endearing charm of Sri Lanka’s early-noughties bus music – or Bus Sindu culture.

Sentimentally, Nisal adopts percussion presets from the Roland SPD20 and SPD30, echoing the Octapad sounds primarily heard in Sri Lankan buses at the time. Giving it a contemporary twist, he slaps on a scattered and dissected UKG beat comprising tight kicks and choppy snares, with the accompanying ethnic-styled percussions trickling like an ASMR tickle. A mumbling bassline offers hypnotic depth, simmering beneath warm synths and additional field recordings of Sri Lankan train rides – the guy really misses his transport system back home.

“This sub-genre has rarely found space in the club context, and ‘Sikuru Express’ is my attempt to bridge that gap – bringing the pulse of everyday Sri Lankan life to the dancefloor,” shares Nisal on the track that bagged a release on Back & Forward Records. “At the same time, it’s about bringing South Asian sounds into the global dance music scene, blending familiar textures with new rhythms to create something fresh.” True enough, “Sikuru Express” is a fascinating display of fusion, steered by this progressive captain in the driver’s seat.