It’s a common trope for us to grow up thinking the things in our immediate vicinity are somehow “uncool,” whether that be our teachers, our parents or the songs we hear on their choice of radio station. But for Curitiba-raised, Milan-based artist Bárbara Boeing, the discovery that this perceived uncool thing was actually, well, “the best music in the world,” would prove an indelibly important revelation for her life and career. That’s right, Bárbara Boeing, selector and DJ who is beloved for how she champions Brazilian music in her sets, didn’t start out being all that interested in the sounds of her home country.

Today, 17 years into honing her craft, Bárbara’s colourful and uplifting DJ sets are always peppered with music from her homeland and across Latin America, and span everything from funk, soul, tropicalia, Balearic, house, breakbeat, synth pop, disco, Italo and more. In 2024, she will play at events like Gop Tun and Lost Village, while in recent years she’s appeared on the bill at some of dance music’s best festivals, such as Polifonic, Melt, Kala, Nuits Sonores, Time Warp in São Paulo, Listen, Lente Kabinet and Dekmantel Selectors.

But before she was travelling the world as a DJ, and before she discovered the treasures that lie within the history of Brazilian music, from day one Bárbara was always addicted to digging (even if she didn’t know it as “digging” at the time). As a teenager, she went out and bought magazines to teach herself the guitar, and later the drums, while getting lost in the discographies of artists like Portishead, Radiohead, Nirvana and Alanis Morrisette.

In her early 20s, Bárbara went to university in Curitiba to study engineering. There she met Felipe Muller, AKA Phil Mill, who was already a keen DJ and record collector. The pair connected instantly, and Bárbara started on her own path of DJing and collecting. Fast forward to today and Bárbara Boeing and Phil Mill regularly appear on lineups together going back-to-back. They’ve also run a party, Alter Disco, together for a decade, and released a collaborative track on Bárbara’s first EP (more on that later).

Before the days of Alter Disco, Bárbara and Felipe went to see a Carl Cox show in Brazil. He was playing with four CDJs, and the duo were spellbound. Their goal was to practise, practise and practise some more until they could both play using three CDJs. Back then, Bárbara’s DJing consisted primarily of minimal tracks, as well as the work of techno artists like Ellen Allien and Magda. During this time she found herself leaning into moodier, faster sounds that you might expect from a Bárbara Boeing set today, sounds which reflected her energy as she was moving through the world.

A three-year hiatus from DJing followed, in which Bárbara started to learn about Brazilian music. She’s always been one for an obsession and a deep dive, and this period was no exception. From Novos Baianos, Fausto Fawcett, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil to more contemporary electronic sounds, Bárbara disappeared down a black hole of Brazilian music history and surfaced with a different energy, a new core “happier” sound and the feeling that everything was coming together.

Bárbara was working full-time as an engineer at this point, DJing all over Brazil at the weekends and using her holiday allowance to travel to Europe. Two years in a row, she sent out hundreds of emails to clubs and promoters enquiring about playing a show. Many emails went ignored, many said no, but, crucially, a few said yes. Right away, the Bárbara Boeing sound and energy was warmly welcomed across Europe. By the third year, Bárbara didn’t need to send out hundreds of emails because she got invitations to play first. Notably, from the revered French festival Nuits Sonores. The rest, as they say, is history, and Bárbara would later relocate to Milan to study a Masters and pursue her DJing in Europe.

Ten years ago, Alter Disco began as a small party of friends. The M.O. was simple; good music on a good sound system. Bárbara and the party’s cofounders took the reins, and they and their friends would split the cost of the speakers for the party. The Alter Disco podcast launched around the same time, and in the years since (169 episodes in at the time of writing) has invited the likes of Selvagem, Zombies in Miami, CC:DISCO!, Marcel Vogel, Metronomy’s Anna Prior and Heels & Souls to curate a mix for the platform. What started as a couple dozen friends gathering for a dance blossomed into a regular, affordable and inclusive party that, at its peak, would welcome almost 1,000 dancers from all walks of life. As the party grew so did the guests, with some of Bárbara’s highlights including sets from Selvagem, Move D, Dan Shake and Palms Trax. Since Bárbara moved to Milan, the Alter Disco parties have been on pause, but the DMs haven’t stopped coming in asking when it will be back. Time will tell on that note, she says, describing her special party as “a music lovers party to gather more music lovers.”

In 2022, after so many years of digging for dance floor gems and finetuning her ear, Bárbara arrived at a point where she felt ready and inspired to make her own music. Cue the five-track Brasiliana EP, which came out via Toy Tonics in May, 2023. It might not be the most sonically cohesive collection of tracks, but that’s because it reflects a fraction of the breadth of sounds and styles that make their way into her DJ sets.

What results is a joyous and dance floor-ready EP, co-produced with Sam Ruffillo, for which Bárbara acted as something of a creative director and helped create these colourful tracks which each have multiple touch points across the dance music spectrum. “Brigada,” for example, which features Phil Mill, combines breezy Balearic with a hint of kwaito, while “Baile Do Silêncio” marries an ode to ’90s Brazilian funk with a melodic saxophone line and a grooving electro-leaning beat. The completion of Brasiliana left Bárbara enthusiastic to work on more new music, inspired by the creative doors this new knowledge has opened.

Following the release of Brasiliana, in December, 2023 Bárbara contributed a vinyl-only mix to the coveted My Analog Journal channel on YouTube. The 40-minute mix is titled “Oddly Beautiful Covers made from Popular Tracks,” and, as the name suggests, is a colourful and global collection of pop covers unearthed by Bárbara’s digging explorations around the world.

From a sun-kissed afternoon at Dekmantel Selectors to a delirious and ravey peak-time set at Lost Village, Bárbara Boeing’s broad taste, astute ear and deft mixing across the gamut of electronic sounds has earned her a glowing reputation. Looking ahead, she’s working towards playing vinyl-only sets, making more music and maybe curating some releases too. She’s also launching her own party, Bárbara Convida (which means “invites”). As the name suggests, Convida will see her inviting artists she admires to play alongside her in different cities around the world. “I just love to bring my music to people,” she said. “Showing people music is the thing that makes me the most happy.”