Brazilian DJ Alírio takes São Paulo underground sound to European clubs
As Brazilian producer Alírio embarks on a major tour across London, Berlin and Barcelona, her rise highlights how the European nightlife economy is increasingly dependent on Latin America's queer underground to refresh its cultural offerings.
Brazilian DJ and producer Alírio is playing a series of high-profile dates across Europe this week, including a set at London’s Sextou club night in Hackney Wick, a performance in Berlin alongside Introspekt, and a slot at Razzamatazz in Barcelona. She will also play alongside Tedesco at Germany’s Whole Festival.
These bookings illustrate a broader shift in the European club and festival market. Promoters are increasingly looking to São Paulo’s flourishing underground ecosystem to source new talent, recognizing that the city's borderless approach to genre is driving audience demand and ticket sales across the continent.
Alírio describes her style as “percussive and sexy” club music played “super freestyle”. Relocating to Brazil’s largest metropolis in 2021, she integrated into a network of collectives where house, techno and bass merge with Latin club rhythms.
A key part of this ecosystem is Mamba Negra, a queer collective founded by Cashu and Carneosso in 2013. Reflecting on her first major stage with the group in 2022, she notes: “I think the breakthrough moment came when I was invited to play for the first time at Mamba Negra in 2022. It was my first big stage, and I was super nervous beforehand. But I think after this experience of a big crowd, I realised that this is something that I love, and that I need to work more on.”
Beyond touring, she is building commercial infrastructure, having co-founded the Tandera Records label in 2024 with Tuxe, Guza, Fortunato and Ylia. The imprint has released 14 projects blending bass-boosted club music with Brazilian funk and dembow.
Her debut solo EP, Sonhos Expressos, arrived on Tandera earlier this year. Produced between September and December 2025, the five-track release explores the subconscious and artistic sublimation. Alírio, who works as a psychiatrist, describes the record as a “translation of this moment of reconnection with myself.”
She credits her dual career for informing her live performances and creative process. “It’s this connection that I try to make between music and psychoanalysis; I think this other practice always supports me to listen to the crowd, to the dancefloor, and to build this narrative in a freestyle way,” she explains.
