Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Ludmila di Pasquale began producing electronic music before even touching a turntable. At just twenty-five, she has spent the better half of a decade carving out an ethos of rebellion.…
Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Ludmila di Pasquale began producing electronic music before even touching a turntable. At just twenty-five, she has spent the better half of a decade carving out an ethos of rebellion. Ludmila shares line-ups with the likes of Ben Klock and Octo Octa, co-runs an event series in Argentina, , and is one half of LIBREMENTE, a sustainable clothing capsule working in collaboration with to teach a trade to prison inmates.
I spoke with Ludmila while she was passing through Berlin to play for System Error and record her . Sat on a squeaky leather sofa in a top floor Altbau apartment, Ludmila ran me through the artistic avenues life has already taken her down, starting from the rigid confines of professional ballet. She opened up about the mental strength it has taken her to stay loyal to her own disruptive nature and how she makes the unapologetic claim for who she is louder than the pressure to conform.
You’re twenty-five and, although the music industry is a relatively young one, you've picked up momentum faster than most. Walk me through your journey to where you are today.
Before I started to make music, I was a dancer - a ballet dancer. When I studied professional ballet I was about eighteen and I really thought I would have a career in it. I always loved music, but I never wanted to become a DJ. But the ballet industry is really strict and if you don't start ballet when you're really young it’s very hard to become professional - and if I couldn’t do it professionally, I didn’t want to do it all. So I found music and started producing it. I didn’t start with mixing, I started with producing. After I studied production for two years I learned to mix, first with CDJs and then with vinyl.
It's interesting that you learned to produce before mixing.
Yes, I learned production because I wanted to make my own music, but not electronic music originally. I wanted to be a singer, but the school I went to was more focused on electronic music. So when I saw this world I said, ‘okay, maybe it's this’. I used to go out to clubs and listen to this kind of music but I never thought about starting a career in it.
You were born and raised in Buenos Aires and that’s where you’re still based today. How is the electronic music scene there?
Well, the people are special. Over here in Berlin, the people have more freedom in their appearance and clothes. But in Buenos Aires, particularly, there are so many clubs. People go out and enjoy the music, the scene is growing - especially in the past years. There are so many DJs now. But I think there are similarities to here - I mean, people really enjoy, there’s a different kind of energy. Córdoba is another city of Argentina where there are lots of parties. Electronic music has more history here, but in Argentina there are so many styles of music, and electronic music used to be more on the side. Before, we listened to so much rock music - it’s the city of rock and Tango.
What drew you to vinyl?
Once I started producing, it was always my dream. I saw DJs in Argentina like and . They played with vinyl and I thought, ‘oh my god, this is all I want'. I remember also thinking that it was impossible. But then I started to learn with [one half of E110101] and he taught me all I know. My first gig was in 2018 in a clothing shop. Then I worked with an agency in Argentina for two years, but then it closed down. So I was like, ‘okay, what am I gonna do now?’. In all the agencies there were so many DJs and all playing techno. So then I worked alone until .
You and Pepi [Lucero], your booker, seem to have a really genuine friendship. Is it important for you to work closely with people you trust?
The people that surround you are very important because they define who you are. I’ve been working just with Pepi for two years now. If you work with an agency it's not the same. I was looking for an agency before but I don’t think it’s the way I want to work. Pepi and I work very well together and we do everything by ourselves. This is very important for me because I don't feel pressured. It's funny because we are both young for the industry and when we came here the last year doing our last tour, I said that we were too young to be here. But I think this calls the attention of people, seeing two young kids making something big. Usually people are older than us and sometimes promoters can see us as too young.
How does it feel to play in Berlin compared to back home?
The first thing I feel is pressure because there are so many DJs here. There are so many big artists and I’m living on the other side of the world and I came here as a young girl. You know, I’m not a local. In Argentina, I know the people and I have a community. Here’s it’s all new.
Does your sound adapt to the place you're in?
I always follow a line with my music, but inside of that line I play so many styles. You can hear me play electro, you can hear me play techno. It depends on my mood. Of course, my sets here might be different from that in Argentina but it is always inside of what I feel and what I love because I think that's the most important. I want to represent myself and not just adapt to the country.
In representing yourself, what is it that you want to say?
I’m not sure if you heard my recent HÖR set, but in that I felt that I wanted to say that I can make what I want. That I don't follow anyone else’s lines. I play with all these styles, and I don’t care. I think that some artists follow one line or maybe play sets in all the same style - and I don't think that's wrong as I have so much love and respect for them - but I don't really enjoy that. To me, it’s boring. I want to break some rules.
So, that’s my message to the people. Do what you want to do and don't worry if it's gonna work - you have to do what you want. Not only if it works or not for the industry, fuck off. But it’s complicated to do this, because we all feel this insecurity and think, ‘maybe the people don't like this and maybe if I play the style that the people know it will be easier’. For example, when I played in Hoppetosse, I could say, ‘I'll only play house because I know the people that go there love house’. That is the safe way.
How do you deal with those moments of insecurity?
I have always been a disruptive person. I was disruptive since I was younger with my clothes, my style. I always did things how I wanted to. But I remember when I started to play, most people told me, 'oh you have to play hard techno, you have to look like this, you have to make this press kit with these photos, you have to go to this club and make contact with the owner, and your Instagram has to look like this’. And for a moment I thought that was gonna work, but then I realised that I have to do it my way. If I get what I want by doing things my way it’s so much more satisfying. I don’t want to become a product. I think that I always know what I really want, so it’s been easy for me to do. I mean, easy in the way that I have the courage to do it, it's not easy on my mind. It's scary.
I noticed that you play around with effects and faders on the mixer during your sets.
Oh, I love the faders.
In some ways, this also feels disruptive - you keep on creating within a creation.
In the last two years, I've gained more confidence. I'm more sure of myself. I realised that I can be very demanding of myself because in ballet everything needed to be perfect and there were so many rules, and now the rules are in my head. So if one mix isn’t perfect, it could create so much pressure in my head. So in the last two years, I told myself, 'okay, slow down, relax, enjoy, connect with the people, try to not be so strict with yourself’, because then I don't enjoy it.
I love the technique. I love the craft. I love to see a DJ play and study the technical side of things. And so when I think I can't do what I know how to do very well, I get so angry. But I'm trying to change this because it's too much pressure and it's limiting because if I don't do a excellent performance, I disappoint myself. But I play every weekend so obviously I’m not in the same mood every time and I cannot pretend to respond always in the same way. Just like musicians in a band - you can’t always perform at your best. But in my mind it's complicated because I was a ballerina and an athlete. So I think it comes from these two disciplines.
I feel like it can be part of the responsibility of an artist not only to show how refined a craft can be, but also the authenticity of the human behind it. Having quite a large following on social media yourself, how does that interplay with your perfectionism?
This is complicated too because you can become too dependent. On Instagram it's you in your house, you can record something and it's cool, but then in the real world it's not like this. So I think that it's good to show what you do and create a community, but not only on Instagram because the real world is outside, and I discovered this last year. So I try to live outside Instagram. I don't want to be an Instagram artist, I use Instagram because it's a tool. I think that even on my Instagram, I show myself the way I am, I don't pretend - I drink maté in my sets, it’s me in my house and it’s just my mood. It’s the way I am and I think that if you have a real message to say, people feel it. I had a year where I was posting all the time, but I don't really like this. So now I use it to push the potential of my art. It’s one thing to have people who follow you, it’s another thing to have the people in the real world who buy a ticket and go to the party.
What's coming up next for you?
In July, we have our next edition of the party I started this year with my sister Bianca & Pepi in Argentina called . It's more of an experience than a party. My sister is an actress so we do a whole experience. In each edition we deal with a social problem; the first edition was identity, the next will encompass responsible consumption focused on the fashion industry, with some activities and performances before we move into the club. I also have a collection of clothes with , a triple impact brand - it's this that I’m wearing. Actually we design exclusive clothing for the tour. Its a sustainable brand, they have production workshops in a prison and teach a trade to people who are deprived of their freedom. So I have this collection LIBREMENTE with Juaga and my sister. And in this event, we show the clothes. So we try to unify everything in one experience. It's not only a party, it's a whole experience to show what we are and what we do. This is the way I am looking at things, as an artist with something to say - not just playing music.
And how are you looking to the future?
I think that I'll always be involved in music, but not always as a DJ. I always tell Pepi, I'm not going to be a DJ all my life. I like to do art and I don't know if this is with music or other things, but I just want to do art. So I try to make real art, you know. Not only as a DJ or a producer, but I try to touch many areas. In the future, I hope to have a band or maybe sing.
