Interview by MIA LUNIS
We are thrilled to receive Alma Linda for this special interview; The multi-faceted artist, booker, journalist and love-activist joined us to talk about her references in music, diversity, politics, sustainability and more. Born between the good-nature mountains and the far-reaching seas of Chile, Alma Linda, a soul traveler, was raised between Italy, England, France and Germany.
With a natural willingness to break down the borders she has the amazing ability to make her audience enter into her world and build with her castles of love and hope.
“A World where our insecurities are turned into money, loving yourself becomes a political act.”
(Alma Linda)
1 – You´ve been moving from one country to another since you´re young, when and where exactly you get into electronic music?
Music has been the biggest love of my life ever since I can remember. I moved around a lot and got to know and to love different genres along the way. However, it took me some time to arrive at electronic music. There was a phase in my youth when I felt connected with the gothic scene. Even if it’s hard for many people to imagine that there was a time in my life when I only wore black.
But I believe it is still an exciting subculture. These dark wave sounds were my earliest connectors to electronic music. Even though I don’t have the same access to this sound anymore,
I for example still love the playful simplicity of the firsts Depeche Mode Vinyls. Thanks to one of my best friends, I got introduced to minimal and grew a love for it. The chilean artist Luciano left a deep impression on me. As well as Magda, one of the few women in the scene, who I appreciated as an exceptional artist. I would still play some of the classics of that time, but maybe not in the original speed 😉
After this, the music of Acid Pauli entered my life. Unlike anyone, he is so capable of telling stories and he was (and remains!) a master in merging the most different kinds of sounds and styles. He is until date one of my big heroes, not just as a producer, but specifically as an emotional, genuine, often humorous and always unpredictable storyteller.
Another very important inspiration for me was and still is Mimi Love. Her distinctive soft yet strong way in which she tells her musical stories and in doing so remains so sensuous is something that excites me even today. I’m looking forward to the day, where I can play a little B2B with her.
2 – You lived in Chile, Italy, England, France and Germany, what were the best references you could get from each country you lived in for your music?
I was very young when we lived in these countries. From when I was two until I was six we lived in four different countries. I do remember that we always had a small radio with us (and that I was fascinated by this device that was able to speak so many languages – hahaha).
But I don’t know if I can claim that I already consciously engaged with music genres as a small child. Only later did I find my true interest in music and that curiosity quickly moved beyond regional borders. Friends of my mother used to send her tapes with music from around the world.
We spent so many nights in front of the tape recorder and dived into a poetry of sound – we still do that today. I really appreciate these musical journeys of my early childhood.
These musical journeys around the world influence my work as a DJ greatly until today.

3 – You are an artist, event producer, booker among other activities in the music scene, you have years of experience in each area so what kind of approach do you think is necessary to create diversity in each one of these areas?
Humans mimic. That’s our most primal condition. That’s how we learn. That’s how we grow. That’s how we live. We find ourselves in the process of claiming and promoting diversity, which crucially depends on the visibility of underrepresented people. We need diversity in the things that we see, and in the things we want to mimic, how we identify, what inspires us, what drives us, and eventually maybe let’s create.
As a curator and booker, I regularly and consciously acknowledge my privileges. I live in Europe, I enjoy a steady income, I had the benefits of an education and have an easy access to the arts. Not everyone in this country has these kind of privileges, let alone in the world. Let’s say a young girl from the Favelas in Rio de Janeiro wants to start as a DJ: she first of all has quite some struggles in finding access to the necessary gear, to the internet, to music. And this list goes on.
I feel a caring sense of responsibility to counter these unfair structures in my work. That is why I work so passionately to promote diversity and the visibility of variety in our music scene. One recent example is a music and talk programme that I designed for our Berlin-based underground club “Beate Uwe” called “CLUBcultureALL”.
I do believe that we can’t always avoid conflict and we sometimes have to face our wounds. There is no denying that the electronic music scene has made some tremendous financial gains in the last two decades. And when I speak of ‘the scene’ that gained financially, I unfortunately speak of the mostly white european and
US-american white man. Even though our music is so rich in different influences, one of the biggest being the African culture, the profits aren’t shared with everyone. Additionally, it is a sad fact the we see few POC (person of color) artists perform on our stages. This doesn’t only lead to a double disadvantage, but also conveys a wrong image. As a booker, I often find myself in the difficult situation that there are only a handful established artists that identify as FLINT* (feminine, lesbian,
intersexual, non-binary, trans) and POC (person of color). This gives the wrong impression, that there generally are only few such acts. They just don’t often get booked as headliners or for popular time slots and therefore remain unknown. I am often amazed at how many FLINT* POC artists there are and how strong their artistic messages are.
But what we need is targeted promotion of these artists. Many booking concepts rely on the big names and event organisers forget in the process that their influence is huge in promoting famous artists. Why don’t we more often let talented people play directly before the main acts, so that they become more visible and receive a well deserved boost in their work? The situation is by no means complex. That’s why it is so important that we consciously deal with the world we want to live in and ask ourselves what each and everyone of us can contribute to this vision.


musa <3