CIel
DJ / Producer

Cindy Li, better known as CIEL, has steadily ascended over the past decade to become one of the best-respected producers and DJs of the international underground. Since throwing her first party in 2015 and releasing her stellar debut EP, Electrical Encounters, on Peach Discs two years later, the Xi’an, China-born and Toronto-based Ciel has blazed a path as one of the hardest-working and most innovative artists in electronic music.

As an internationally sought-after DJ, Ciel has played at some of the world’s most celebrated venues, including fabric, Robert Johnson, La Machine du Moulin Rouge, De School, Blitz, Hot Mass, Tresor, Smartbar, Berghain Panorama Bar, and Nowadays, as well as beloved festivals such as Draaimolen, Dimensions, Love International, Movement Detroit, Bass Coast, and MUTEK. After six years, her monthly radio residency on London’s Rinse FM is still going strong, while standout mixes for Resident Advisor, Ilian Tape, Juanita’s, Tim Sweeney’s Beats in Space, and Discwoman capture an adventurous selector adept at stitching together different styles and genres in unexpected and consistently engaging ways. A typical DJ set might move through dreamy downtempo, wiggly tech house, psychedelic techno, UK bass, slamming speed garage, and hardgroove, working through a diverse range of dancefloors and moods, from deep and trippy to unabashedly euphoric.

Community-minded and deeply principled, Ciel has always supported and promoted colleagues and causes she believes in, and is currently organizing with Toronto’s chapter of Writers Against the War on Gaza. An outspoken advocate for equity and social justice in electronic music, her values are inextricable from her work as a producer, DJ, label boss, and radio host—a quality that endears her to like-minded fans and artists all over the world.