Meet the Women Smashing Mexico’s Male-Dominated DJ Scene
Musas Sonideras may not be as well-known as their male counterparts, but they are making waves with fans and skeptics alike
Marisol Mendoza takes to the DJ booth in a personalized black-and-purple windbreaker. Her name, embroidered in bright block letters, adorns the right arm, and the left arm displays the flags of Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Cuba — three of the most iconic producers of tropical music. The back of Mendoza’s jacket flashes with several other embroidered logos, the most eye-catching a yellow-lined silhouette of a woman holding a microphone above bright pink letters featuring the name of the all-female music collective that Mendoza founded and runs: Musas Sonideras.
Mendoza is representing Musas Sonideras tonight along with another woman known as Sol Salsita. They’re playing music in the white-walled hall of SOMA, an art school in Mexico City’s upper-middle-class neighborhood of San Pedro de los Pinos. As they prepare to play, a chant arises from the crowd: “Musas! Musas!” They start off their set with a cumbia hit, “Oye Mujer.”
It’s not the typical crowd for musicians like the Musas, who represent the sonidero musical tradition born in Mexico City’s working-class neighborhoods in the 1950s. A sonido…
