Malaguera on Blending Theater, Music & DJing at Detect Festival
Today, we’re speaking with Malaguera, a multidisciplinary artist originally from Santiago de Chile, now based in Berlin, whose work fluidly bridges theater, music, and electronic performance.
As an actress, singer, and DJ, she crafts hybrid experiences, where text, live vocals, and pulsating beats converge into something entirely her own. Whether touring Germany with her duo Bolero Sunset, commanding stages at major electronic festivals like Pangea and Bucht der Träumer, or collaborating with Berlin producer Daniel Haaksman, she embodies a dynamic approach to storytelling: one that’s physical, emotional, and deeply rooted in rhythm. This summer, she joins the lineup of Detect Classic Festival 202, a gathering that defies the predictable. In contrast to commercial pop events, Detect thrives on the thrill of discovery, curating a space where experimental live acts, daring collaborations, and genre-defying DJ sets collide. This year’s edition features boundary-pushing artists like Acid Pauli (performing with the Detect Ensemble) and Jan Jelinek. As festival organizer Konstantin Udert puts it, Detect is about ‘strengthening openness and joy in diversity’—a philosophy that mirrors Malaguera’s own cross-disciplinary ethos.
In this conversation, we’ll explore how her background in acting sharpens her musical intuition, why Latin music remains a visceral anchor in her sound, and how DJing becomes an extension of theatrical presence, transforming the dancefloor into a stage where narrative and energy collide
When I play, I’m not just mixing tracks; I’m building an atmosphere, a narrative, a character even. It’s all performance, but it’s also about presence and connection. These forms let me show different sides of who I am, sometimes in the same set.
Q: Your music challenges fixed definitions of genre, culture, and identity. Do you see your music as a form of resistance?
Yes, for me it definitely is. My mission is not just to mix genres or create a vibe; it’s to showcase what’s happening sonically across Latin America. There’s an entire wave of producers from the region who are redefining what electronic music can sound like, and most of the music I play is made by Latinx producers. Not just because I think it sounds amazing, but because representation matters. We’ve often been excluded from dominant club narratives, but we’re here, and we’re innovating.
Mixing reggaetón with experimental club, or techno with traditional Latin rhythms, isn’t just an aesthetic choice; it’s a way of refusing the idea that we have to choose between identities. For me, it’s about embracing complexity, hybridity, and history. So yes, it’s a form of resistance, but it’s also a form of care, of amplification, of building a sonic archive for our cultures and futures.
Q: Detect Classic Festival 2025 centers on live experience and shared presence. What does that kind of space make possible for you that a traditional club or stage might not?
A space like Detect feels more expansive, more open to experimentation. In a club, there’s often a fixed expectation of what the night should sound like or how people should move. But at a festival that centers presence and listening, I can take more risks, I can go slower, I can be weirder, more emotional. It becomes more of a dialogue than just a party. The audience is more attentive, and that creates room for deeper connection, for storytelling, even for healing.
That’s why I love this festival, because it’s truly about listening. The crowd comes with open ears and open hearts. They’re receptive to what you’re proposing, even if it’s unfamiliar or unexpected. That openness creates a special kind of freedom as a performer.
Detect Classic Festival 2025 runs August 8–10—prepare for a weekend where every moment is alive with the unexpected.
Photo credit: Lena Sagamos
Sophia Hegewald Detect 2024
