Top 10 Queer Latin Club Tracks

Continuing our celebration of LGBTQ+ History month, we invited El Tuma a London-based DJ and co-founder of the dance party MARICUMBIA, to gives us his list of classic tunes that still rock London’s the queer Latinx club scene. Here he gives us an eclectic mix from tropical house to old school reggaetón. Says El Tuma..."It was near impossible to narrow down the plethora of club music that is constantly blossoming from queer communities to just ten, but these are some of my absolute favourites!"

by El Tuma

1. Te Enterraré el Tacón - Zemmoa

This was Zemmoa’s very first hit, and my very favourite. Over the years her music has been consistently loyal to the synthpop sounds of the eighties, and this track is a glorious throwback to the gothic camp of Alaska & Dinarama. Bringing high drama and morbid power play, she repeats: “I’ll bury your heel and remove your heart/and with your heartbeat I’ll start to dance/because the [digital] bit of your love is another new song”.

2. Think of U - AB Soto

While AB Soto is known for his unapologetically kitsch and political party anthems like “Latinos in the House” and “Cha Cha Bitch”, this track is pretty underrated. What I love about this one is how elegant, focused and understated it is. The beat is both simple and heavy, crude but somehow refined. It’s the time of the night when the loud party queens have moved on, and the weird gays are left to vibe. It’s a tune for poor lighting and making out.

3. Ella Sabe - MULA

It’s difficult to choose just one MULA track to share, since they are all pretty much perfect. An all-female, queer, Dominican, futurist, EDM powerhouse, labels don’t do them justice and each new release refuses to conform. Every song goes to places you couldn’t have predicted, and it is always a good thing. This one is as disorientating as it is addictive, like a lesbian acid trip that never ends - queer Caribbean futurism at its finest.

4. Axé Acapella (Shapeless Versus Maria Gadú) - Maria Gadú

Maria Gadú doesn’t make club music. The twice Latin Grammy nominee is acoustic butch personified, known for her soulful, pensive poprock-meets-bossanova melodies and brooding lyrics. This, however, is a beautifully creative electro collab with duo Shapeless, and it’s sure to make a lot of Brazilian queers very happy on the dancefloor.

5. A Preta É Braba - MC Rebecca & Karol Conká

Last year hip hop artist Karol Conká and funk carioca pioneer MC Rebecca brought us this slick, high energy bop that deserves much more hype whenever the clubs reopen. Black bisexual feminist trailblazers, their chemistry is unmatched and it’s a tune that keeps you dancing til the very end. If there’s a song that leaves you aching to go back to the club, this is it.

6. Me Siento Perra - La Pajarita La Paul

Queering a hypermasculine genre to scandalous heights, this tune is a newer release from the infamous dembow queen La Pajarita La Paul. As with all of her songs, this irresistible floorfiller is as perfect for balls as it is for comedy drag: “me siento perra, me siento perra, me siento Lassie!”

7. Amiga Date Cuenta - Sailorfag

Every queer has at some point had - or has been - an amiga with a horrible boyfriend. It is the work of good queer friends to collect chisme, deliver hard truths, and drag our enemies, and this is the perfect anthem to honour these timeold traditions. Sailorfag’s music video accurately depicts the neon chaos that is the life of a gay metiche.

8. Mango Nectar - Nitty Scott

The entire Creature! album is absolute gold, each track weaving indigenous Taíno and Afro-Caribbean sounds to produce an explosive collage of Afro-Boricua identities and pre-colonial jungles. This is a tune that, like its namesake, is sticky, hot and sweet, with razor sharp rhymes that flow effortlessly. It’s good for looping, and very good for perreo.

“Smack it, smack it, make it clap in abundance/You need a compass for this boy, who the f*ck is Columbus?”

9. Exterra - Ms. Boogie & Kingdom

I think that this song is beautiful. In her coming out letter in 2018, Ms. Boogie reminds us that she has “been evolving since the beginning of my time and I will never stop evolving.” Likewise her collaborations since then have been boldly eclectic; this track in particular is a sleek throwback to her NY club years, a back-to-school EDM how-to. “

And what a response it is - sophisticated enough for ballroom, intense enough for a techno rave, and a house must-have for the club. Someone give her her paper.

10. A Quién Le Importa - Alaska & Dinarama

She did ugly before it was cool. She did weird before it was cool. The foremother of gothic camp, Alaska has been at the forefront of queer subcultures - both in Spain and Latin America (specifically her native Mexico) - since the 1980s. She was one of the founders of la movida madrileña, a post-fascism counterculture of hedonism, nonconformity and collective liberation, and her songs have been covered by countless artists including Thalía and Zemmoa. This timeless classic, first released in ‘86, rejects the idea of conforming to social norms and staying firm in your convictions and choices despite backlash.