Q&A with Mágia Roja: Arca's Favorite Club
“It's so beautiful, you’d love it,” Arca told Butt Magazine’s Sophia Lamar in its Autumn 2022 issue about Barcelona club Mágia Roja. “It’s like hardcore industrial music, very dark, mysterious, ominous. And yet, the crowd is like the sweetest group of people—it’s very diverse, very casual. That’s the place where I dance my heart out. And really, that’s the only one.”
Mágia Roja functions as a cultural space, rave, and record label, uplifting Spanish artists and providing a space of community for its attendees. Co-founder Viktor Hurtado, better known by his DJ name “Comisarios de la Luz,” is renown in the Spanish underground for his fusion of “industrial, tribal music, EBM, krautrock, post punk, rythmic noise, classical music, chamanic chants”—his music sets a ritualistic tone for Mágia Roja’s club nights. Hurtado offered insight into the club's atmosphere, described by The Quietus as "a place unlike any other in Spain, perhaps any other on earth."
CN: Seeing that Mágia Roja has amassed over 15,000 members, how does the space work to form a community?
VH: It was a cultural association and it worked as such. The requirement to be a member was being respectful and curious. The community organized itself, we didn't have bouncers or security….Also, we didn't enforce any policy besides putting a sign saying “no creeps.”
We have never experienced such a diverse community in our lifetime, there were members of all continents, all walks of life, poor, rich, all sexual orientations, all kinds of urban tribes, and also it was varied ideologically, but strangely (or not), there was a strong feeling of unity and tolerance. Not tolerance as ‘I'm ok even if I don't like you’ but more like ‘I don't give a fuck what you do/are, let's be friends.’ It was the sweetest, kindest, funniest and most intelligent crowd you could imagine. There were many musicians, artists, academics, but also blue collar workers, and there they were equal.
CN: Arca’s music and style are distinctive, carefully crafted to reflect notions of the future, queerness, inclusivity, and performance art— if you had to guess (or if you already know), why is Mágia Roja Arca’s favorite club?
VH: Well this is my guess based on what she told me many times. She liked a lot of aspects. She LOVED the music—sometimes she was the first or one of the first to dance. We had a special week in the year where we opened 7 days in a row and she came to 6 of them. She liked to be surprised, to not know what she was listening to.
She liked the crowd a lot. I think that is quite linked with the kind of music we were playing because it acted as a sort of barrier for square/boring/intolerant people and somehow fomented creativity, indulgency and also wild dancing.
I think she liked the irreverent aspect of it all. To be dared by the content. For example I loved to play a song with satanic lyrics and play after "The Mercy Seat" from Blackhouse which is an industrial song with a very strong Christian message. Or to end a very dark night with something funny or beautiful—we were very into joining opposites.
CN: Describe your favorite night at Mágia Roja—what made the night special?
VH: I feel it would be almost unfair choose one. But just as an example of a good one: we had a DJ set dedicated to LSD and Holy Friday…the concept was an open psychedelia DJ set. Some people took acid that day—we were totally sober, like most of the nights— the crowd was really wild, a skater that looked like Jesus got in his undies and people took him in procession at peak time like he was on the cross. I DJ’d everything that I wanted and people danced wildly — I crowd surfed at the end of the DJ set.
CN: On your website, you state that Mágia Roja is one of the keys to understanding Barcelona’s underground. Can you elaborate on this statement? What exactly does Mágia Roja represent about the city’s underground culture at large?
VH: A lot of projects and friendships from many different musical backgrounds formed in Màgia Roja. If you wanted to know what was going on, coming here was your best bet. We support artists, especially those who live here, who are distinctively themselves and not trying to copy.
CN: Arca stated that not only is Mágia Roja one of her favorite clubs, but you’re one of her favorite DJs. Although your sets are distinct from one another, do you find similarities between Arca’s approach to DJing/producing and your own?
VH: I think we're similar in wanting to do the most weird and extreme but also in a way that's accessible and soulful. Also, I think we are the kind of DJs that try to create something new and improvise with the sources more than just being a selector.
CN: Considering your personal success as a DJ, Viktor, what do you enjoy about your job, and how does fusing a multitude of musical genres enhance your sets and the overall club experience?
VH: I love to create new music from other people's music. That's my style. The thing is that I don't like most DJs. In fact, before DJing it had been 7 or 8 years without going to a club. Most of what people call 'dance music' I find extremely boring and soulless... I use some of it— ‘dance’ music— as a tool to mix with other stuff to trick people into leaving their prejudices at the door and enjoying some good music. I like to enjoy music as an emotional experience, not just some rhythm that makes me dance. People dance to anything, really, and if you let yourself go it can be a much crazier and rich trip. Just like listening to good music with your best mates but in community.