DJ Bembona Interview: Building Community Through Music
Brooklyn born & raised artist and activist DJ Bembona sits down with Alexi to talk about how she got her start playing parties and how her Latin American heritage has influenced her work.
*Written by Isabelia Herrera
With her community-oriented and afro-diasporic approach, Puerto Rican-Panamanian DJ Bembona has established herself as a singular voice in the landscape of New York nightlife. Born Xiomara Marie Henry, the selector and activist grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of South Slope and Fort Greene. In her youth, Bembona’s family introduced her to an eclectic collection of sounds, including Fania records, R&B, boleros, merengue and more. Growing up on classics like Ismael Rivera, El Gran Combo, and Celia Cruz, Bembona developed a deep appreciation for the heyday of Latinx music in the Bronx and Brooklyn, an influence that still shapes her sound today. As a teen, Bembona explored more contemporary movements like hip-hop, punk, pop, and reggaeton – a genre with roots in both of the diasporas she is a part of.
“Living in New York was a blend of everything,” Bembona says, citing these childhood memories as formative. But Bembona was also exposed to all kinds of performing arts practices, even joining the school band as a clarinetist in middle school and continuing that orchestral background into the first two years of college – an experience that was integral to her musicality and history.
Bembona began DJing as a hobby in college, mostly at house parties. Without access to professional DJ equipment and software, Bembona had to teach herself the craft at home. As she developed her practice, she began making more connections in New York nightlife spaces, performing at local venues like Bembe. In the summer of 2016, Bembona launched Vibras NYC, a recurring club night that began as a residency in El Barrio, which originally focused on harnessing the nostalgia of the Fania era. Today, Vibras encompasses everything from Afrobeats to Latin trap, evincing the multidimensionality and evolving nature of Bembona’s artistic approach. As she puts it, “I’m not one-note. I like a lot of things. Vibras is a healing space. I wanted it to be a space where you can rage, or you can be sexy and perrear. It’s different ways of resistance and different ways of being your full self.”
Bembona is now recognized as a mainstay in this musical panorama, as she regularly performs at parties and festivals across the country. In addition to Vibras NYC, Bembona is also a resident at Brooklyn online radio station Half Moon. Along with DJ Woof, she is a co-resident at Oriza, a monthly party celebrating the global impact of afro-diasporic genres. Over the last two years, she has played a wealth of festivals across the U.S., including Latinxt Fest, Afro-Latino Festival, El Tambo Fest, HOCO Fest, Roots & Raices Fest, and more. Recently, Bembona participated in Boiler Room’s System Mix series, and performed at Buzzfeed and Google. She has opened for artists like Bomba Estéreo, Princess Nokia, and Fuego, among others, and performed at various museums and cultural institutions, including the Brooklyn Museum, El Museo del Barrio, MoMA PS1, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Bembona’s DJ practice is rooted in healing and self-love, with an emphasis on educating her followers about the politics of black Latinidad. In an era where much of mainstream Latinx music is whitewashed, Bembona is adamant about empowering and visibilizing those who look like her. “As an Afro-Latina, especially because most of my audience is Latinx, I’m trying to teach them there’s more than the pop charts. It’s about breaking patterns and unlearning,” she says. “My politics and my DJing go hand in hand. There’s no separating them for me.” That philosophy is easily reflected in Bembona’s sets; she’ll often hop on the mic, speaking directly to the crowd about building community and surviving in the current political climate. As she embarks on the next chapter of her story, Bembona remains committed to this approach in all of her creative endeavors – but she is also giving herself space to evolve and grow in the process. Looking forward, she hopes to expand her efforts as Bembona, developing her own music career alongside her DJ practice and activism. Eventually, she hopes to explore other artistic avenues, like opening her own venue, touring across Latin America, and continuing her mission of empowering black Latinxs and other POC in nightlife, bridging generations and communities in the process.
