We’re back with our final Creator Spotlight 2025. This month, we’re featuring Gifted Fire, an artist dedicated to creating immersive experiences that bridge the gap between the DJ booth and live musicianship. From NYC to Thailand, his work explores the intersection of global traditions and modern electronic beats. Join us as we discuss the evolution of his sound and his commitment to rhythm as a tool for connection.
If you met a stranger at the airport and they asked what you do, how would you describe yourself to them?
When someone asks what I do, I usually tell them I’m an independent, multi-disciplinary artist but the truth is, I move across a few creative worlds. I’m a music producer, DJ, musician, and sound engineer. I mix, master, and produce my own records as well as other artists’. I also create visuals, graphic design, video editing, even short documentaries and non fiction books.
Music has always been my first language. I play percussion and piano, and all those influences come together in my project Gifted Fire. It’s where I blend world instruments, house rhythms, and storytelling into something that feels alive and transformative.
Gifted Fire is essentially the vessel where all my creative identities converge. It’s independent, self-built, and driven by the belief that sound and art can be a kind of magic. The type that moves people, opens something inside them, and creates a shared moment across cultures.
Tell us about the role that travel and exploration has played in your creative process?
Travel is the fuel for my creative process. I was born in Singapore, but spending ten years in New York exposed me to artists from every culture and every genre imaginable. That diversity opened my imagination, it showed me how many ways there are to express yourself, and it expanded the palette of what music can be.
Gifted Fire Live in Brooklyn MirageFor me, travel is a kind of creative rejuvenation. Every new place resets my senses: new rhythms, new landscapes, new stories, new instruments. It sparks that feeling of, “What if?” which is the beginning of all creativity.
One of the most meaningful chapters was in the Philippines. I spent time in Palawan collaborating with Kawangis, an indigenous collective. We sat together for a week, sharing local alcohol and food, learning about their land, listening to their stories which ended up creating a fusion album that blended their ancestral instruments with house music. That project taught me how powerful it is when cultures meet in a space of curiosity and respect.
There was also a Mediterranean chapter in my life where I spent some time in Turkey, Spain, Portugal, to record flamenco guitars and the middle east instruments like the oud, kanun and duduk, somehow these instruments and culture have found their way into my live sets and compositions.
And as a percussionist, visiting Brazil and Colombia changed my entire relationship with rhythm. It deepened my understanding of African and Afro-Latin music, and made its way into the groove and pulse of Gifted Fire.
Travel constantly reshapes my sound. It keeps me evolving, expanding, and reconnecting with the sense of wonder that first made me fall in love with music. In many ways, exploration is my creative magic. It's where the next door opens.
Can you discuss the role of storytelling in your work?
Storytelling is at the heart of everything I create, especially because Gifted Fire is built on collaboration. Whether I’m producing with musicians, writing with singers, or working with event producers and venues, I’m always trying to understand the deeper story behind what we’re trying to express.
A lot of the storytelling begins with the instruments and the people who play them. I’m constantly inspired by traditional musicians. When I meet them, they don’t just play me a sound, they teach me the history, the tuning, the cultural context, and their personal style. That becomes part of the narrative we record together. Sometimes it’s a memory they share, sometimes it’s an homage to a riff or a rhythm from their culture, and all of that becomes woven into the music.
Storytelling with Caliber in Miami StudioVocals bring another layer of storytelling. When I’m writing with a singer, we usually start from a blank canvas. We’re discovering the mood, the landscape, the emotion we want to evoke. Once the music sets the scene, the lyrics become a way to give it meaning. It can be regal and expansive, or melancholic and intimate. The story forms as we follow the feeling of the moment.
But storytelling shows up most vividly in my live sets. I improvise a lot on keys, percussion, and sometimes with an extended ensemble. That allows me to transport the audience in real time. One minute, they’re in a desert; the next, on a Mediterranean coastline; then inside a cave or deep in the jungles of Brazil. My sets are like a world map of rhythms and textures, shaped by the places I’ve traveled and the people I’ve created with.
In that way, Gifted Fire becomes a global, evolving narrative, a celebration of culture, imagination, and the stories that live inside sound.
How do you stay inspired and motivated creatively?
For me, inspiration is abundant. It comes from curiosity, wonder, and the excitement of discovering something new. Motivation comes from purpose, discipline, and the desire to express myself honestly. When those two meet, curiosity and purpose, creativity flows naturally.
I’ve been on this path for almost twenty years now, and the drive was never about going viral or chasing fame. It’s always been about sustaining a life of creativity. Every skill I’ve learned from being a musician to a multi-instrumentalist, producer, designer, and digital artist, came from the same place: the desire to understand, to explore, and to express something deeper.
Gifted Fire record label event in Bacaratt BangkokTravel continues to be a huge source of inspiration for me. Each city has its own rhythm and heartbeat, its own colors, instruments, and personalities. Being dropped into a new culture whether it’s the Philippines, New York, Europe, Thailand, Vietnam, or Hong Kong always reveals something I didn’t know before. Those moments of awe, those “downloads,” naturally become part of my work. As an artist, you feel compelled to translate them into your own language.
There’s also a spiritual element to my motivation. I’m not driven by algorithms or likes; I’m driven by meaning. Music helps me ask deeper questions about identity, culture, and connection. It lets me share my gifts with different communities and learn from them at the same time. That exchange of mutual elevation keeps me inspired.
At the core, creativity is my way of finding freedom, liberation, and harmony between cultures. Every place I go adds a new color to the palette, and every project becomes another opportunity to paint with those colors.
What were some of the most gratifying moments of your career?
One of the most gratifying moments happened recently in Thailand, right after I moved back to Asia from New York. I was invited to play my first Asian Festival, Wonderfruit Festival 2024, and what made it really special was seeing people from all the places I had toured, Singapore, Manila, El Nido, Taiwan, and New York, all show up in one place. It felt like the entire Southeast Asian chapter of my life gathered in front of me.
I closed the Saturday night slot from 1 to 3 a.m., and the set even got extended. The energy was incredible. I opened and ended my set with my own original compositions, and feeling the crowd respond so deeply to music I created by hand was humbling. It reminded me of the privilege it is to make something from scratch and watch it connect with people.
Another deeply gratifying moment came from the label side of what I do. I recently released an EP with two artists I met through my travels: a music director from Hong Kong and an American producer living in Singapore. Being able to bring their music onto my label, contribute a remix, and help create a platform for their work felt meaningful in a different way.
What made it extra special was bringing that release into the real world. We hosted label nights in Hong Kong at Trilogy and in Bangkok at Baccarat. It was incredible watching these artists perform in new cities, connect with new audiences, and feel what it’s like to have a full club reacting to their music. Seeing their excitement and knowing I helped open that door was a huge moment for me.
Both experiences, performing my own music on a big stage and helping other artists shine always reminded me of the ethos behind Gifted Fire: creating meaningful work, building community, and turning ideas into real experiences despite the challenges. Those moments make everything feel worth it.
What are some of your challenges as a producer/DJ?
One of the biggest challenges today is balancing the inner creative fire with the external reality of the industry. We live in a world of algorithms, likes, trends, and playlists, and sometimes the meaning behind the art gets diluted. There’s always this tension between creating from a place of culture, intention, and depth versus creating for commerce. Learning how to navigate both without losing myself has been an ongoing challenge.
Gifted Fire working with Kawangis AlternaTribuAnother challenge is finding a healthy balance between financial sustainability and artistic integrity. As an independent artist, there are moments when you want to support a community or collaborate out of goodwill, but you also have to be careful not to undervalue your work. Saying no to certain gigs, even when they’re tempting, is part of protecting your long-term path.
There’s also the reality of a fast-moving industry with new acts, new trends, and constant comparison. It’s easy to get caught in that race, but I’ve learned that chasing trends might bring temporary success, while developing your authentic voice brings longevity. My focus is on becoming a greater version of myself, not competing with others. Trusting that the right spaces will recognize your sound takes patience and discipline.
And of course, the booking landscape comes with its own challenges. Experience alone doesn’t guarantee opportunities. You still have to choose gigs intentionally, attach yourself to the right communities, and build meaningful connections with cities and their cultures. That’s become a core part of my ethos, choosing depth over hype, and letting the music speak in the environments where it truly belongs.
How has technology affected your career? Does anything in particular excite you about where technology's going right now?
Technology has shaped almost every part of my career from music production and live performance to visual art, design, and even the way I collaborate. But this past November really reminded me how dependent we are on it.
I was performing a hybrid live set in Phuket , an Indie Dance–meets–Dark Techno night in a very wild, underground club. It ran from 2:30 a.m. to 6 a.m., and the crowd was intense, drunk, and really leaning into the gear because they’d never seen a live electronic setup before. At some point at the 3rd hour, drinks spilled onto my keyboard and laptop. The ports got soaked, the hard drive disconnected, and my entire sample library and project archive suddenly went dark.
For a moment, it felt like I had lost years of work, presets, samples, EPs for other artists, graphic design projects, everything. It was nerve-racking, especially because I hadn’t been able to back anything up while touring. Thankfully, I managed to get everything recovered, but the experience made me understand both the fragility and the power of technology. It reminded me how important it is, and how much of our creative identity now relies on these tools.
On the other side of the spectrum, I’m genuinely excited about where technology is going, especially AI. I know it’s a polarizing subject in the creative fields, but I see it as another instrument in the toolbox. AI doesn’t replace human creativity, but it can help spark ideas, generate variations, and accelerate workflows. It’s like collaborating with something that’s constantly offering feedback and then using your human instincts to shape it into something meaningful.
Throughout history, new tools have always changed the way we make and hear music from synthesizers to DAWs to digital plugins. AI is simply the next step. It allows us to create faster, explore deeper, and connect cultures in new ways. What excites me most is how technology can harmonize different traditions, help artists from different communities meet each other halfway, and push us toward more complex, more human forms of expression.
For me, technology isn’t just about efficiency, it's about expanding the possibilities of storytelling and connection.
What are three products you couldn’t live without in the studio or while touring?
The first one is definitely my MacBook Pro. It’s the brain of everything I do from Ableton Live for production and performing, to all my graphic design, visual projections, and editing workflows. My entire creative ecosystem lives inside that machine, so it’s essential both in the studio and on the road.
The second is my Glyph SSD drive. This is non-negotiable for me. All my music projects, sample libraries, live set stems, and studio recordings live on that drive. When I’m performing hybrid live sets in unpredictable venues, from rooftops to underground clubs thi SSD is what keeps the show running. It’s the lifeline of my sound.
The third is my Novation Launchkey 49. It’s become my go-to MIDI keyboard for both studio production and live performance. It allows me to switch patches quickly, improvise, loop, and actually play the music instead of just clicking it in. It keeps the human element alive in my workflow whether I’m creating in a quiet studio in Bangkok or performing on a high-energy dancefloor.
These three tools are the core of the Gifted Fire setup — the mind, the memory, and the hands of the project.
If you could go back in time and give your younger self advice when you were first starting out your career, what would you say?
If I could speak to my younger self, I’d offer two forms of wisdom — one for the hands, and one for the soul.
The first: protect your creations.
In the life of an artist, our ideas are fragile, fleeting, and powerful. I learned this the hard way through stolen laptops, drunken crowds, faulty drives, and moments on stage where technology simply collapsed. Entire universes of sound, years of presets, books, visuals, all gone in seconds.
I would tell my younger self:
Guard your magic. Archive it. Duplicate it. Treat your creations like sacred artifacts, because they carry pieces of who you were in that moment and those moments don’t come back.
The second piece of advice lives deeper: choose your circle with intention.
A creator’s fire burns bright, but it can also burn alone. I’d tell myself to walk with people who honor that fire, the ones who inspire you, challenge you, and help you become more of who you are becoming. The people who don’t dim your light, but help you refine it.
Gifted Fire - Live in 3 Dollar Bill NYCAcross New York, Southeast Asia, and every city I’ve touched, I’ve learned that the real magic comes from being surrounded by souls who understand your path and protect your growth. They help you finish your work, elevate your purpose, and stay connected to your inner truth.
If I could whisper one final thing to my younger self, it would be this:
Your gift is real. Your fire is ancient. Protect it, nurture it, and share it only with those who can see the light inside it
What advice would you give to aspiring creators who want to fuse different cultural music styles?
My biggest advice is to start with intention. In a time where cultural appropriation is a very real concern, intention becomes the compass. Before trying to fuse different musical cultures, you have to listen deeply to the people, the history, the context, and the spirit behind the sound. That requires empathy, curiosity, and humility.
For me, cultural fusion isn’t about copying, it's about harmonizing. It’s about allowing a rhythm, an instrument, or a tradition to inspire you, and then translating that influence through your own lived experience. I might take an African rhythm or drum pattern and place it into a South or Southeast Asian context, not to dilute either culture, but to create a new dialogue between them. When the intention is respect and learning, the music naturally carries that energy.
The second key is experimentation and collaboration. Experimentation is how you discover your voice; it gives you permission to explore without needing instant perfection. Collaboration, on the other hand, is where the real alchemy happens. When you create with someone from another culture or background, your understanding expands beyond what you could ever learn alone. The result is always bigger than the sum of its parts.
At its best, cross-cultural music isn’t about ownership, it's about exchange. It’s about creating a shared space where traditions meet, evolve, and transform into something new, while still honoring where they came from. That’s where the magic lives.
It has been an absolute delight chatting with Gifted Fire. His career highlights the beauty of an evolving creative identity, one that seamlessly moves between the roles of producer, DJ, and storyteller. We are thankful for the valuable insights he provided on maintaining artistic integrity and finding harmony across diverse musical landscapes.
To follow Gifted Fire’s latest releases, performances, and creative explorations, connect via the links below:
- Website: giftedfire.com
- Instagram: @giftedfire
- Listen: Spotify | SoundCloud
- Watch: YouTube
- Collabs: social@giftedfire.com
