Despite the recent election of the anti-LGBTQ presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro — has been met with fervent opposition from the global queer and trans community — a new music festival taking place in Brazil will march on this weekend, pushing forward the longstanding tradition of queer protest through music, art, and nightlife.
YAGA, a brand-new festival set to take place in São Paulo over the course of two nights (Nov. 3 and 4), promises to be a celebration of Brazil’s underground club culture and its eme?rging LGBTQ community, as well as a space for internationally-acclaimed queer, trans, and non-binary artists to show up in support of their Brazilian family.
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Experimental electronic producers Arca and Sophie — both of whom will make their first appearances in Brazil at the festival — are set to headline the two nights, while New York DJs Total Freedom and Juliana Huxtable, local Brazilian talents Linn da Quebrada and BADSISTA, and other mainstays of the Brazilian LGBTQ underground club scene will round out the festival’s eclectic lineup.
“Partying in Brazil is inherently political, and queer nightlife in São Paulo is at a crossroads,” says Brazilian-born writer Sophie Secaf, who co-founded YAGA along with Los Angeles-based DJ and art critic Kevin McGarry. “The party scene is really the first place to have given many LGBTQ people in Sao Paulo a voice and a livelihood. It’s flourished in recent years, but now with the election yesterday of a right-wing president and right-wing São Paulo governor, we’re all fearful of increased crackdowns on how queer people utilize public spaces.”
In an effort to support the Brazilian LGBTQ community, the festival will offer discounted and free tickets to attendees depending on their income.
Tickets for YAGA are on sale now.