In Radical Sounds Latin America’s Mix 07 Chavez invites us to stand up and dance. Levántate y Baila is a 90-minute mix full of House gems, remixes, and mashups, that encourages us to leave our troubles behind. Maria writes, “I just want y’all to dance. Spring is here, the vaccine is here, we have been huddled in fear for so long. Let’s just get up and dance.”

Born in Lima, Peru, and based in NYC, Maria Chavez began DJing in 1996, when she was just 16 years old. It was a few years later that she joined an improvisation group, lead by improviser, composer, and educator David Dove, where she discovered abstract turntablism, Deep Listening and the Pauline Oliveros foundation – Pauline Oliveros, an avant-garde composer and a pioneering figure in electronic music, would later become a good friend and mentor-.  What followed during the next two decades is an impressive body of work.  A deep exploration of the language of chance, coincidence, and failure, through improvised turntable performances, book objects, sound sculptures, installations, and writing.

A prominent sound artist, curator, and abstract turntablist Chavez took time off as a DJ early in her career when she faced sexism and misogyny in Houston’s electronic music scene. It was only in 2011, after a DJ set at HeK (Haus der elektronischen Künste) in Basel, that she started DJing again, reconnecting with her first love.

Currently on a medical sabbatical due to receiving brain surgery in February 2019, Maria fearlessly continues to share her work and ideas. Her latest album, “Maria Chavez PLAYS Stefan Goldmann’s Ghost hemiola” was nominated for a Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in Jan. of 2020. Chavez is also a Toulmin Fellow, will be a remote artist in residence with The Hague’s Rewire Festival in the Netherlands this Spring 2021. She will be releasing new recordings with collaborators Sandy Ewen & Devin Kenny later this year via OrbTapes, SN Variations & Ballastnvp. Her latest album with Jordi Wheeler via Cafe Oto’s Takeroku label is now available as is her cassette release with collaborator Lucas Gorham via Ratskin Records which was released in the fall of 2020.

Maria will also be guest faculty with Bard University’s Sound Art MFA department for the summer of 2021. Currently, Chavez is also presenting her work at BRIC (Brooklyn) until May 2021.  Staggered Shifts, is a multi-channel sound installation containing voices of Spanish and English speakers discussing the works in the exhibition at the same time to mimic what an opening would have sounded like had there been one pre-pandemic.

Learn more about her work here.