equality factor: queer mulher magic
last album: PAJUBÁ REMIX I
our favorite song: "Bixa Travesty"
based in: São Paulo, Brazil
Linn da Quebrada is many things: unapologetically black, Brazilian, transgender - but common is not one of them. With her eclectic electronic mix of rap, traditional Brazilian sounds, and provocative lyrics, she makes way for the narrative of queer colored people like her, in Brazil and the Portuguese-speaking world and beyond.
The extreme oppression as a dark-skin queer woman in poverty inspired her to become the voice of a movement for people like her, especially in transphobic Brazil.
Linn da Quebrada was born on July 18th of 1990 in the favelas of São Paulo, Brazil. As a queer femme artist assigned male at birth, she began her life in one of the most dangerous territories of the world for transgender people. However, diamonds are known to be made under pressure; and the extreme oppression of her early life as a dark-skin queer woman in poverty inspired her to become the voice of a movement for people like her, especially in transphobic Brazil. In fact, there is nothing about Linn da Quebrada that is not political. Her name itself is an artistic twist on the Portuguese translation of "broken", in São Paulo-slang often used to describe the poverty and crime-riddled outskirts of the Brazilian city. "Linn da", on the other hand, is an abbreviation of the Portuguese term for "pretty". Together, they brand Linn da Quebrada as "beautifully broken", both referring to society's view on trans people and the idea of queer beauty she created for herself.
The artist's debut song and music video immediately set the tone for her highly political, yet favela-fabulous and fun persona. In her 2016 release "Enviadescer", Linn Da Quebrada raspingly encourages her male lovers and closeted contacts to "go fag" and embrace their queerness and sexuality over a funk carioca beat. The video embraces all parts of the artist's personality: a beautifully broken upbringing, and a spirit not to be silenced by oppressive circumstances. A year later, she released her debut album "Pajubá", a 14 track-long eccentric and explicit queer extravaganza, full of heavy funk rhythms and spoken word - entirely financed through fundraising.
Quebrada's first clip represents both her beautifully broken home, and her unbreakable spirit that cannot to be silenced by oppressive circumstances.
With her radical approach to uniting all queer femmes beyond oppressive laws and country boarders, Linn Da Quebrada has long won international audiences for her cause. Ecstatic audiences in European capitals like Berlin and London, as well as multiple Boiler Room gigs, prove that her voice is not just one that demands a hearing, but also one that is demanded by audiences, with or without similar struggles. While she is not the most outstanding vocalist, her expressive dance and powerful performance captivate audiences worldwide.
Today, Linn Da Quebrada is a renowned and celebrated artist representing queer fem activists worldwide. In her latest release from November 1st of 2019, "Oração, she shows a softer side of herself. The video clip follows a nearly spiritual-feeling dance of colored Brazilian women dressed in beautiful white lace gowns, coming together to embrace their uniqueness and femininity in an abandoned building. With this song and video, Quebrada sheds a light on the vulnerable, yet powerful beauty of women. She empowers equality, femininity, and blackness in a less explicit and straightforward, but more sophisticated and graceful way than ever before. Much like fellow equality ambassador and outspoken misfit Princess Nokia in her "Flava"-clip, Linn Da Quebrada conveys a powerful political message with soft imagery and the laid-back sound of someone who does not need to show off their omnipresent power all the time.
As Linn Da Quebrada showcases a softer side of herself musically, she also takes on a more visually expressive approach on her mission of empowerment of queer people of color. In an intimate backstage film created by DAZED, directed by Valter Carvalho, she expresses her interest in pursuing her activist goals in other ways beyond music, visual art in particular.
With her work, Quebrada fights for "a place in the social imagination itself" for black queer folks.
She also explains the all-encompassing vision behind all that she does. Linn Da Quebrada does not want to just pave the way and create a narrative for black queer and trans women in music but in all of society. She fights for a "sentimental territory, not just a political territory". With her work, Quebrada claims"a place in the social imagination itself". Beyond being recognized as equals in a musical, social, and political context, the Brazilian artist strives to make the beautiful narrative of black queer experience part of all of our lives, making her the ultimate equality-empowering artist of the queer Brazilian community.
