Brazilian DJ and artist Bárbara Boeing stops by at Jaeger for an interview before she joins Toy Tonics in the booth
Bàrbara Boeing is cut from a rare cloth. She’s a selector in the truest sense of the term. It’s exclusively through her distinctive taste, that she presents a collection of music to the dance floor. With sets that thrive in that Balearic and Italo sonic aesthetic permeating with Latin touches, Bàrbara Boeing has carved a niche for herself. One which sees her travelling the world on her skills as a DJ alone.
Bàrbara was raised in Curitiba in southern Brazil where she cut her teeth early on as a DJ, playing exotic imports from Europe. Alongside Phil Mill and De Sena, she set up Alter Disco, an event series and collective catering to her own tastes, and bringing kindred selector spirits to her hometown.
After moving to Milan a few years back, she continued that connection with her hometown, with the odd Alter Disco while at the same time breaking out into new territory, like her Convida (Invites) event series and channeling her love for music into production.
It’s particularly Toy Tonics that has facilitated this last part. Tapping into the label’s endless pool of musical talent, Bàrbara realised her sonic visions, working with artists like Sam Ruffillo on the production. Two records in and Bárbara has already cemented something of her own style in the label. It’s a sound built on the foundations of modern House, fusing elements from Bàrbara’s vast musical touchstones into something that stands out in the label’s catalogue. Silky eighties synthesisers wash over everything with Latin percussive touches bouncing through tracks like Brasiliana and Pantelleria
She had been no complete stranger to music production coming into her first solo efforts, frequently editing obtuse Disco tracks into DJ friendly arrangements, but now with her first two original EPs in the bag, it only just seemed to scratch a latent creative itch for her. Adopting the Alter Disco alias, she’s also just released a remix project on soundwave, remixing six tracks from Marco Bosco’s Metalmadeira II.
“He is a pioneer of electronic music in Brazil,” says Bàrbara over a telephone call from Montreal. Having “transformed his music into something that could be played on any dance floor,” Bàrbara didn’t lose sight of the textures that made the original so alien in the first place and what we have is a record that intrigues as much as it pulses with the rhythm of a dance floor.
Bàrbara is currently in the midst of a North American stint of a tour that will eventually land her back home in Curitiba, and with a visit to Jaeger looming for our next Toy Tonics takeover, we called her up to find out more about this enigmatic DJ and producer.
Will you be doing an Alter Disco while you’re back in Curitiba?
No, We just did two Alter Discos the last time I was back, which was two months ago. I’ll be playing at other peoples’ places this time.
Since you’re based in Milan, how often can you do these Alter Discos?
Since I moved to Europe, 4-5 years ago, we’ve only been doing one Alter Disco a year, but this year we did it in Sao Paulo and Curitiba. It’s not so easy.
You haven’t done one in Europe yet?
No, because I do have a party I do alone, which is Convida, and that I can do wherever I go. Alter Disco is with my friends and that doesn’t make much sense to do it alone.
Tell me about Curitiba in terms of the music. Is there something distinctive there with the music scene?
We have almost 2 million people, so it’s not that small, but considering all of Brazil, it’s kind of small. There are not so many big parties and only a few clubs and the clubs aren’t exactly doing the music I love. So that was the idea with Alter Disco; to bring some artists that will never play there. It brings something new to the city.
We’ve been doing these parties for 13 years now, and still we’re bringing new people to the city. There are more than one or two extra collectives that do a bit of what we do. It’s not as though the scene has developed so much in 13 years.
If we’re talking about the clubs that aren’t doing the kind of music that you love, what kind of music is that?
There is always this looping of the same artists that only play there. It’s maybe a bit more mainstream Tech House or Deep House. This would be the kind of music that would be playing anywhere; in the clubs and other places.
I imagine Alter Disco is a world away from that kind of sound. Is it very much an extension of the kind of stuff you would play?
For sure. We’ve had people like The Basement Soundsystem, Move D, Palms Trax and Fettburger. We’ve had some really nice artists, which has a bit of what I play and something I really love.
When you were based in Curitiba was there a place you could pick records from those artists you mentioned?
In Brazil – if you’re not buying Brazilian records, which can be cheap – it’s much more expensive. So what I used to do, was try and find the digital version, even if it was a vinyl-only release. I used to trade music, and when I couldn’t find a record I’d just email the record label. Sometimes they would just send me the track. If you want to play this kind of stuff in Brazil, you need to find your own way.
So when you’re on tour, like you are now, or based back in Milan, are you buying more records regularly?
Every time I travel I go into record stores, but the problem is the 10kg bag. I can’t bring so many. I’m doing a radio show in New York, so I brought 20 records. It’s nice, since I can do a vinyl only show, but now I can’t buy any more, because my bag is already full.
I’ve read somewhere that it took a while to appreciate music from Brazil, but lately you’ve been playing more of it. Is that right?
My connection with Brazilian music only grew from when I was around 24. It took me a while, because when you’re young and don’t have that much knowledge of Brazilian music, the music you’ll hear would be from the radio. So, until I researched it a bit more, it felt a bit tacky. I would think that music that came from outside of Brazil was really cool, and at one point you understand that’s not true. It took me a while to explore that in a more grown-up way.
Since playing internationally, do you feel that you have more of an obligation to play not only just Brazilian music, but Latin-American music as a whole?
There are moments when I play some places where I understand that people want something more Latin, and I thought that perhaps I should bring them more of that. But at some point I realised that I need to bring people the music that I listen to and that I love at that moment. I live in Italy now, and in Italy there is a lot of really good music. In a way my selections have been more European and much more Italian. It needs to be mirrored in what I’m enjoying at that moment.
I wanted to ask about the Italo Disco elements, because I do hear it in your music, but there’s another thing there too. There’s a very Balearic touch to your sound, as something that can’t be exactly pinned down and covers many genres but has a distinct sound. What is the common denominator there and what do you look for in the records you buy as a DJ?
When I go into a record shop, people always ask what do you like, and I say I like good music. It can be literally anything. That makes my search more difficult. It’s a bit more open.
About that balearic thing; there’s something around that music which always feeds my soul. I do love this balearic feeling. There is this emotion inside of it, it’s not necessarily bumpy, but it’s something that you feel so much. In the end that’s what music should bring to us.
If you were left on your own in a record store, is there a section in the record to which you usually gravitate to first?
Nowadays I play in places where I’m usually the headliner or I’m playing at peak time. Unfortunately I can’t play that much balearic because I need to keep the BPM higher. I usually try to find some edits today, because I love older music, but at the same time it needs to sound good on the dance floor. I try to find Disco and House edits. When I go to a record shop, I start there.
I know you make your own edits too. What would qualify a track for your edit treatment?
The edits are very amateur and it’s something I’ve done all my life. It’s something that I do just to be able to play that track on a dance floor. If I don’t edit it, it’s almost impossible to mix, because the tempo would be wrong. They’re usually old tracks that were done without a metronome. The interesting part is that I will play a track that almost no-one would play. They come from my records.
Can you give me a recent example of a track that you turned into an edit?
Yes, Eva Eva Eva – Do. It’s an Italian Disco track, which is almost unmixable because the tempo is completely wrong.
Are you naturally drawn to those eighties synthetic sounds from the likes of these kinds of tracks?
Yes. Anything from the late seventies to the early nineties, that’s where almost all of my music comes from.
Would you ever pick up a modern House track, even if it’s not to play?
Yes, I think there are interesting things out there. I’m much more interested in when things change, though. When genres are born as things go one way to another. That’s where people start to do something new out of nothing. There’s no copy and paste.
We talked about edits now, but you’ve also started putting out originals mostly through Toy Tonics. Is this something that was born out of the edits?
This is almost like another door that has opened for me. All my life I’ve been a selector, I just bought records and that’s it.
These last two records I’ve worked with other people, and they are really good musicians. I’ve listened to so many tracks and I have so many tracks in my head, and in this way I can create something new.
It’s not the most instinctive thing for me. I only play instruments at an amateur level, so I always need somebody to help me with the ideas. It’s still something super new inside of music for me. It’s completely different than just selecting records and playing, but I’m really enjoying it and I want to do more
Listening to the two Toy Tonics records, there’s definitely a relationship to the music you play. Do you take a lot from the records you play in terms of trying to recreate a mood or a sound?
100% I might have an idea when I listen to something from my collection and then later I’ll try to understand why I enjoy this and what’s interesting about it. I might pick out a bass-line and start a new track by recreating something that I’ve heard, not as a copy but as my interpretation of the same thing.
The two records Brasiliana and Memoir, was there anything different between those two records in terms of creating them?
Yes, they have a couple years in between them. On the second one I enjoyed the fact that I was able to use my voice on Pantelleria which is my favourite track. The first one I did with Sam Ruffilo, who’s a complete musician. He can really play anything. The way I started a track was mainly the same, but we had different people involved.
Thank you for talking to us Bárbara. Before you go, I know it’s a bit early to know what you’ll be packing for Jaeger, but do you have some vague outline based on what you’ve been playing recently?
I usually do different sets in different places, so it’s a bit hard to know what I’m gonna play, but if it’s going to be cold, I would bring the warmest music. (laughs)