Kelman Duran is a Dominican songwriter, producer, composer, disc jockey and multi-disciplinary artist, best known for his production and songwriting contributions to opening track "I'm That Girl" and "Heated" from Beyoncé's 2022 album Renaissance, as well as his scoring work on 2022 film Rodeo.[2][3][4]
Early life
Duran grew up in the Dominican Republic before moving to the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City in 1989,[5] residing there from the ages of 5 to 19.[6]
Career
2017–2023: Debut projects, film scoring, and Renaissance
After attending CalArts, Duran moved to Los Angeles, where he became a fixture in RAIL UP,[5] a series of recurring dance parties in the underground Afro-Caribbean night scene.[7] In 2017, Duran released debut project 1804 Kids, which is a reference to the Haitian Revolution and "dedicated to Afro-Caribbean sounds."[8] Duran was recognized as "an artist you need to know" by music publication Rolling Stone in January 2019, before releasing his second full-length project 13th Month, inspired by the Sioux calendar as well as time Duran spent on the Pine Ridge Reservation amid the Lakota Tribe making a long-form video piece To The North P.I & P.II about the lives of the Native Americans on the reservations.[9][10]Pitchfork described the album as a juxtaposition between "the social plagues still haunting us" and a dance-floor "release".[10] Duran released his third full-length project Night In Tijuana in 2021, inspired by his migration to the United States in the 1980s, and is described as traversing "spiritual jazz, electronic, and ambient [sounds]".[3] Duran scored French film Rodeo, curating the soundtrack during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in Berlin. He searched for music that elevated director Lola Quivoron's "portrait of suburban angst".[4] The Los Angeles Times described his work in the film as an "adrenalized soundscape".[11]
