2023-07-16 22:14:10
Parties are not a safe place for everyone. If you are from a minority or marginalized group, such as trans, racialized or LGTBIQ+ people, the risk of being discriminated against increases. “And everyone has the right to enjoy themselves, to be free and to be the person they want.” That is what has motivated Carol Shutzer, the DJ from São Paulo (Brazil) to create the Mamba Negra collective. By rehabilitating abandoned buildings in the Brazilian city, they have created “a safe place” for those who want to party and dance electronic music without fear.
Cashu has played live in Madrid this July 14 at La Casa Encendida at the concerts of The Magnetic Terrace, where could you hang the poster sold out. “A hymn to subcultures, to the sounds and voices of the peripheries”, define this event from the Madrid sociocultural space. His goal, to free the suburbs from the clichés that have defined them in order to teach new narratives. And Cashu is part of the movement against the current and underground from São Paulo, his hometown. For now, he has just played at Sónar in Barcelona and has planned an international tour of Europe and Asia. “It was great, there were many connections at the festival,” he says by video call about the Barcelona festival to this newspaper.
At first, it had a sound more associated with househas now evolved to techno with some classic rhythms of traditional Brazilian music. “I always liked to explore musically, I never stuck to one style,” he explains. They say that one is where she comes from and Cashu would not be the artist she is today if it weren’t for São Paulo. “My changes have also been accompanied by the evolution of the scene in my city,” she defends. “I was learning while I was seeing the dance floor. The parties often end at dawn and I had to put more energy. It is impossible to play melancholic music at that time”, says the DJ between laughs.
A scene created to change the bases
Cashu started making music in 2013. At that time, Fernando Haddad, who was Minister of Education in the first Government of Lula Da Silva of the Workers’ Party, was the mayor of São Paulo. “It was an effervescent moment for culture. There were parties in the streets, in the clubs and there were beginning to be demonstrations claiming the importance of culture”, says the Brazilian DJ. However, “most of the parties did not have a political content and we did try to have it, at least from our posts on Facebook announcing our parties,” says Cashu. “We wanted to incorporate relevant social movements in the city. Brazil has always been a dangerous place for certain minorities and we wanted to help. Among many people we began to rehabilitate abandoned factories and have parties there”. Together with her friend Laura Díaz, she created Mamba Negra, where Cashu played at parties and organized the poster.
“There came a time when organizing legal parties was very complicated. The owners of the premises asked for money in advance and we were just starting out. We could not afford to start with debts, ”he continues. With those parties, he says, a new counterculture was created in the city. “We always have a huge lineup with performance artists. The goal is not to maximize profits either. We want to put everything into the party and have a safe space more than money. And people go because they have a good time, not so much because of the poster, ”she explains.
Empty houses should be given to poor people
The places where the Black Mamba is held are usually buildings abandoned by large speculators but which are rehabilitated and self-managed. “There is no point in having empty buildings in the center of the city because they are no longer profitable. They belong to owners who have hundreds of properties and who still don’t even know they have that property”, Cashu states and believes that it does not make sense that one person can hoard so many properties. “There are a lot of people without resources on the street and without a home. After the pandemic this has worsened. We are going through difficult times and the first thing that should be done is to give empty houses to poor people”, he proposes.
He also says that he has studied architecture and this type of party has motivated him: “we wanted to change the place to something new. The objective was to change a place collectively and temporarily. I never really believed in formal architecture. Most of the time it is not done for the people who live in a certain place”. “That is why we demand the enjoyment of the city for the people and re-inhabit public spaces”
In his opinion, Brazil is a transphobic, racist and sexist country. The reality is that declaring the 2% of the Brazilian population as trans or non-binary, is the country with the highest murder rate of transgender people in the world. In this sense, it is essential that the Mamba Negra parties become “a safe place for oppressed groups,” Cashu defends. And also “a site that invites people to create music and art”. “Music can serve as a refuge and build community for people who feel marginalized,” she says.
To generate these safe spaces, at Mamba Negra they go beyond the poster. They decorate the interiors, the stages, establish “quiet zones” without music, provide free food and water for the attendees and invite the attendees to the performance.
Mainstream artists often use their social networks to boost their ego or promote themselves, they could also spread other messages
Asked about the current political situation in Brazil, she believes that “with Lula it is better, but there is still a long way to go. Racism is still there and the Bolsonaro government has done a lot of damage. “With Bolsonaro people could hate you in the face. They felt free with his government to be disrespectful. Now they are quieter, but they are still there ”, she says about the followers of Jaïr Bolsonaro, who has been prohibited by the Brazilian Justice from running in the elections until 2030 for abuse of power.
claims the alternative
Cashu has participated in a Boiler Room at the Dekmantel festival in 2018 in Amsterdam. The Boiler Room is a London-based promotion that consists of recording artist sessions and broadcasting those events through the streaming. More or less like a Bizarrap session, but electronic music and escaping from mainstreamlive and lasting at least an hour.
“I am not as disgusting as racism, transphobia, homophobia, white supremacy, ignorance or white privilege (…) We are here to be respected.” with a voice sampleada, Cashu thus introduced his session to the entire festival audience. Asked about it, she settles: “It was a festival for white Europeans. It was okay, I’m Brazilian and I have to mark this moment”. “At the beginning of set I played songs by various Latin American artists. It was great because when I played it, a lot of girls, trans and racialized people came to listen to me, ”she says about her performance.
When asked if the artists of the mainstream and the music industry should be more concerned with social issues such as inequality, he replies: “I can understand that an artist doesn’t want to use their networks, but mainstream artists tend to use theirs to boost their ego or promote themselves, they could also spread other messages.”
She sees in the music techno an alternative and the possibility of generating other types of communities. “Sometimes it is very infantilized and drug use is given a lot of importance, as if it weren’t done at other types of parties. There are a lot of young people now interested in doing very interesting things. Now all the music is electronic, also the pop or the funky. It is a cultural reinvention that will be talked about for years to come,” he posits.
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