Violeta Alegre is DJ Invertida: artist and transvestite activist
Violeta Alegre, a transvestite activist and human rights trainer, is DJ Invertida: an artist who brings dissident struggles to the electronic music tracks.
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. Violeta Alegre is an artist, trans activist , and human rights trainer. Violeta is also DJ Invertida , and when she's in charge of the music at parties and gatherings, her activist drive and artistic talent expand their reach. “My life is political, so I can't run away from it. The concept of the political is in all our actions, whether we're aware of it or not. It's in leisure, in fun, in everything.”
“I’m trans,” and Violeta’s existence and resistance are intertwined with celebrating and making herself visible. She explains that occupying the DJ space, being in the booths and on stages giving it her all, is also a political gesture that tells others: these spaces can be occupied by trans identities. “I come from activism, so everything has always been conceived from that perspective.” Besides creating her own language, her sets, and discovering herself in this universe, she hopes that this will “encourage others, inspire others to create. I always do this thinking about that, about using art as part of transforming this reality.”
Electronic music, a passage to no genre
From the academic world to marches, street protests, and assemblies, her voice finds space to challenge us as a society. Now, DJing continues a new drive to create: “For me, language is limited; there are certain things I feel I can’t convey. That’s when I say, ‘Let’s go for the artistic,’ in this case, music.”
The intersection of sexual diversity and electronic music “is part of our collective’s DNA,” she says. In the clubs and dives that served as refuge, meeting points, and proud celebrations of our existence, disco music played. “House and Techno are the foundational currents of everything that came after.” For DJ Invertida, electronic music “connects us with infinity; it’s a passage to that non-genre, that constant mutation that can go in any direction .” Because even though it has its structures, “deep down, it doesn’t. And that connects deeply with identity.”
Violeta's love affair with electronic music began in her teens. In a house with a very different sound, in a decade dominated by pop, a young Violeta—before all transitions, before self-discovery—found refuge in music and reading. "I wasn't a transvestite yet, but I knew something was happening in my body, in my head, everywhere," she says. So, while jazz and Argentine rock played in the family, while the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys reigned supreme, a 16-year-old Violeta would lock herself away to read Nietzsche while Portishead played. She also frequented the most alternative clubs, discovering that an underground scene existed, other ways of expressing herself.
Rhizomatic sounds and other connections
A rhizome is a subterranean plant structure that connects different forms of existence. Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari non-hierarchical, non-linear, and constantly interconnected form of organization of thought, society, or culture . Violeta took the name to create a dissident electronic music party.
-What led you to create Rizoma?
-The community. Precisely that interconnection that Deleuze and Guattari propose as the root, and knowing that everything a person does in that space, at that moment, affects another. It's about thinking from that perspective and recognizing that we have a great responsibility.
This space, created by Violeta over four years ago, is her place to perform, but also a place to invite, share, propose, and open up opportunities. As a producer, she knows the challenge lies in resources. Among the venues that prioritize ticket sales, she focuses on creating attractive and varied programs, but above all, "I'm not going to exploit artists." For Invertida, Argentina is full of musical talent. She feels this when she hears so much praise for our electronic music culture from abroad. "Sometimes people come from abroad and no one hesitates to pay a lot of money, but with local talent, there's this idea that they'll play again and you can go; it's not fully appreciated," Invertida explains in this context of art and survival.
Travalengua Records is the label founded by Invertida. Just like when creating a party, this project was born to pave the way for the diverse voices that encounter the difficulties of a system driven by connections, cronyism, and profit as the determining factor. It all began in 2023 with Rizoma, an EP by DJ Invertida, "prioritizing the encounter with diverse sensations, from dancing on the club floor to enjoying it while relaxing at home."
Over time, when Violeta listens to it again, she thinks things like, "Oh no! Why did I put it like this?" and then, "Ugh, why didn't I put this other thing?" but that doesn't diminish her loving perspective on what she created. And especially, she understands that it's a process: "I'm not going to sabotage myself. Just like I don't sabotage my childhood. It's all connected, I want to embrace all of this. Even this mistake here. This sound that maybe isn't what defines me today but was part of it: Embrace it, don't get angry."
In all the Violetas, in all the Invertidas, in all those she was, is, and is becoming, there are processes of identity formation. Her voice, her writing, her music—everything is a constant journey she learns to weave together. “ Seeking perfection is also part of the capitalist trap . I don’t want to fall into that,” she says.
Electronics everywhere
This Thursday, October 9th, DJ Invertida arrives at Café Balagán for an After Office event in Buenos Aires. Along with Andrea Paz, they'll be spinning at the Balatrónika event. This demonstrates that this music can coexist in many settings, even outside of nightlife. "I love that these kinds of events exist," explains Violeta. It's about being able to reach other contexts, people who might avoid the nightlife and its excesses, or simply someone who wants to grab a drink while listening to good music and then head home early.
DJ Invertida is versatile not only when it comes to playing music but also when it comes to inhabiting spaces. From parties at night to cafes in the afternoon, to marches in the street, Violeta Alegre, aka DJ Invertida, continues to forge her own path. When thinking about other people she admires and enjoys sharing with, she cites a long list: Black.n, Bond, Gogó Dansey, Cami Isabel, Mabel, Lupe, Fango, Klauss, Valentina Spirito, Victoria Jauregui, Balam, Ricardo Rubén, Fifí, and Rumanians, among many others. “I find it very difficult to separate the art from the artist. So, beyond their work, I think it's important that they consider the collective, empathize with the journeys of their audience who pay a ticket to see them, and see them as parts and equals of a whole.”
Meanwhile, electronic music continues to expand its reach. “It’s completely established, it’s everywhere.” For Invertida, the path is broader; she doesn’t feel she has a specific goal, like playing at a particular event or being booked for a specific date. “From the moment I see ten crazy girls looking at me, jumping, effusive and laughing, knowing that the next day they have to go to a shitty job, or that when they leave they’re going to be called faggots, that’s it, I’ve already won.”
Recently, someone approached her while she was playing and said, "What I like about your music is that it has a theoretical framework." Violeta felt this not only as a triumph but also as a way to connect her way of thinking with being able to transmit it in various ways, with electronic music being one of them.
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