I am Brazilian-Paraguayan, I'm a DJ and producer and I used to be a promoter. I have a small booking agency called Alt that represents South American artists. I've been part of the scene for 20 years already, professionally for eight years or so. Here in Brazil I'm a resident at three parties: I play at Mamba Negra, Dando in São Paulo and at Kode in Rio De Janeiro, which is run by Ananda, who is also my partner in the agency. I'm based in São Paulo, and I tour around the US and Europe every year.

Lately, financially, there has been almost no paid work, not even for live streams. The future of our profession gave me anxiety and I was super stressed out, mostly money-wise. Also, being locked in my house for such a long time! It's been a transforming experience, both negative and positive; an emotional rollercoaster, but it's been constructive I guess, with a lot of struggle. I know more about my limits and my creative process, my relationship with my own house, and my cats. Now I'm feeling more easygoing, I've gotten used to the routine and it's less painful.

I always wished that one day I would only have to play twice a month and earn enough money to stay home and produce more music. I was always complaining about not having enough time to focus on my music. So I've used this time in the pandemic to make a lot of tracks. I feel more and more energy for dance music lately. A lot of people said the way we make music and the styles of music we make will change because of the pandemic. But I believe there will be a post-pandemic. We won't be stuck in this forever.

At first I thought there was no point in making dance music anymore—"I'll just make ambient!" I figured, but then I thought that I should stockpile these tracks and demos so I'll have a lot of new material when this is over. I'm not feeling down because we're not able to make dance music. I have tracks coming out now that I can't test on a soundsystem, but it just inspires me to create more and be proud of myself when this is over.

Another part of my work consists in bringing talents of South America together, which continues during the pandemic. I work a lot with the scene in Paraguay especially. My mentors in music and production are there and I lived there until I was 14. I kept going back on vacations and whenever else I could. I have a cousin there who is also a DJ, producer, club and label owner in Asunción; we do a lot of business together. I'm constantly working to expand the visibility of our people.

Paraguay has a healthy scene, but very few know about it. From the start, the people who inspired me the most were LPZ—a trio consisting of Cosmo Lopez, Octavio and P. Lopez. They started their studio back when I was around 15, then they started the LPZ project around ten years ago. They are the pioneers of this form of dance music scene over there; before them, most of it was commercial stuff. They have a very specific kind of techno in Paraguay, groovy and uplifting, super energetic. You can certainly feel the South American vibes in their music. And people just love LPZ there, there is a whole new generation of great artists influenced by them.

There's also my cousin Victoria Mussi, who is also part of the scene in Paraguay and works with LPZ on several projects. We are second cousins, but we only met five years ago through the internet. SoundCloud recommended her page and I was like, "Wow, Mussi isn't a common last name." There were almost no female DJs over there, so I was like, "What the fuck? There is this girl playing dance music and she has my last name and she's in a lineup with my friends and they didn't tell me? This is weird." She added me on Facebook and asked who my dad was. She said, "I was with your dad last weekend at a BBQ. He said his daughter worked in music but never told me you were a DJ!"

The scene is big enough to have competition inside Paraguay now—cheesy tech house parties, underground parties and clubs. They've developed two main techno clubs over the years and they're on their third venue now, called Tango, in the basement of a hotel, where international artists play regularly. But it took a long time to get there. Paraguay is small and ignored by many countries. Brazil is too big, and I feel there is a bit of an arrogant posture towards the rest of South America. I always felt that we were more disconnected with the other countries. That's part of the colonized mentality. But Paraguay also has a bad reputation for smuggling and drug dealing, especially at the border with Brazil where you can buy fake products, weapons, drugs. Everyone stigmatizes Paraguay for this and ignores everything else—the capital city of Paraguay, Asunción, is like seven hours from the border! I felt xenophobia for being half Paraguayan here in Brazil, and felt like Paraguayans were not as respected as people with other South American nationalities.

Now things are a bit different. Paraguayans are a bit more visible. I'm doing the best I can to give Paraguayans more of a spotlight, and I understand the need to bring countries together because I am from both Paraguay and Brazil. I feel like we waste so much money and energy only looking up to the North Hemisphere, to Americans and Europeans, for how business is done. We still repeat this colonized mentality and behaviour, and the colonizer countries repeat it as well—it's just a new interface for colonialism.

There isn't much space or visibility amongst us as Latins, either. In Europe, for instance, everyone tours around the continent and the flights are cheap. You have many places to go and visit. We, on the other hand, don't have that kind of habit here; to be booked constantly in each other's countries, and flights are not cheap… it's gotten a little better but there's still a long way to go. Normally you get booked with a very low budget because there's only a budget for the big names that sell tickets.

So I started questioning: why do only the big names sell tickets when there is so much great talent down here? There's a lack of educational work being done here as a scene and as artists. We must pay more attention to each other, and value and respect what we have here. How can we expand these connections so we can make our work more profitable, earn a decent amount of money and become known in each other's countries? We need a sustainable scene down here that's not just dependent on big names or local artists accepting less than they know they deserve. Brazil, specifically, needs to be more aware of this connection. I don't know if it's the language difference or the fact that the cultural centers of Brazil aren't anywhere near the borders… there are several reasons, social and historical, for the disconnection.

When I first started trying to book Latin-American artists no one would reply. Once I became more well-known as a DJ, people started listening to me. So I started booking Latin artists at my own parties, and helping them get featured in websites, lineups, everything. I talk a lot with other countries in South America, and have been trying to unite more with people who think like I do. We started booking each other at parties and festivals in each other's countries, and seeing each other a lot more. I sensed a network forming, so I thought I should talk as much as I could about it with people who could have influence in bookings or press features. People really listen when I talk about what's happening over here, and I think that's because I can speak for more than one country. This is part of that education, open as many doors as you can.

In terms of press, I think we are kind of lack quality music journalism in our region. We have a few websites in Brazil—some are new and more eclectic. Every once in a while you get something in a newspaper if you know the editor, someone among the staff or our parties become somehow "trendy" again. But the media platforms here, I don't think they have the strength or resources to stay alive for much longer. There was a downgrade in the media business. We used to have THUMP here, not anymore since Vice is not making local content anymore. I know some podcasts and platforms, but we need a bigger and wider network focussed only on electronic music and relying on a stronger structure with resources behind it.

The lack of investment is the biggest problem. Sometimes you have to endure very bad interviews where the intern sends you questions that are not even acceptable if you make an effort. It used to be better. We had decent portals and forums, especially in the early 2000s. And now there aren't really any magazines anymore, and the best known websites publish a lot of paid content, so it all remains in that same old mainstream scene.

I think after the pandemic, we will have to work more locally. During the pandemic, with all these livestreams I got to know so many emerging artists from other cities in Brazil, and I could see the work of people who couldn't come to São Paulo easily. I think there will be more space for new talent and we will focus more on locals. But if you consider the venues that had to shut down and the economic losses from the promoters, things will get back to "normal" slowly in a reduced form.

We are having a serious economic problem in Brazil. That's the worst part of it. Everyone will have to take small steps, there will be no money to spend on the part of the crowd and no money to invest on the part of the promoter. There will certainly be an obligation to pay more attention to local talent and maybe this will lead us not to depend on a big name to put on an event.