Paula Schopf is a Chilean

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

producer and DJ, born in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in 1970. Sister of musician and producer Dandy Jack (Martin Schopf) and DJ Adrian (Adrian Schopf), she has developed her own career as a DJ and producer in both

and Germany under the name "Chica Paula".

Biography

Paula Schopf was born in

, Chile. The daughter of academics Federico Schopf and Marta Caballero Santacruz, Paula and her family were exiled to

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Germany when she was three years old after the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

of 1973 and the political persecution that followed. Paula returned to Chile at the age of seven though her brothers and father stayed in Germany. Despite this, she maintained contact with the rest of her family, especially her older brother, who used to mail her electronic music cassette tapes. The tapes sent by her brother were part of Paula's formative musical influences. Her brother introduced her to some of the

that would strongly influence her and she was turned on to the genre by acts such as

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

Chris & Cosey Chris & Cosey, sometimes known as Carter Tutti, are a musical duo formed in 1981, consisting of couple Chris Carter (electronics) and Cosey Fanni Tutti (electronics, guitar, cornet), both previously (and currently the sole surviving) members o ...

and Cabaret Voltaire. Other influences came from the classical and

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

music that she heard at home. "I have always listened to classical music. My stepfather was a German hippie and I got to know a lot of psychedelic music from his old records. Not like "The Doors", more cutting edge, more underground:

Soft Machine Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–196 ...

Paula studied in the "Colegio Latinoamericano de Integracion" or "Latin American Integration School", known for its opposition to the military government. She says: "I loved my school, but hippie music quickly started to bother me, all these "

peñas Peñas is a location in the La Paz Department in Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Boliv ...

" (“in

, Folk music encounters”) seemed boring. The Left identified with that kind of music: "

Canto Nuevo The canto () is a principal form of division in medieval and modern long poetry. Etymology and equivalent terms The word ''canto'' is derived from the Italian word for "song" or "singing", which comes from the Latin ''cantus'', "song", from the ...

", "

charango The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua and Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments were introduced by the Spanish during c ...

" and "guitar". I love Brazilian music, I've heard amazing modern Latin American stuff. I love cumbia. By then I started to develop my own taste". Paula was more interested in the avant garde

sent by her brother than the politically charged music of her peers, and found little else to interest her in the limited music scene under the military dictatorship. In 1990, Paula went to university to study philosophy, but before the end of the first year she was back in Germany, attracted and fascinated by the development of what would become techno culture. It was her first time visiting Germany since she moved to Chile with her mother.

Career

At the age of 25, Paula began her career as DJ in Germany. In 1995, she met

Gudrun Gut Gudrun Gut (born 20 May 1957) is a German electronic musician, DJ, presenter, music producer and founder of the Monika Enterprise. She grew up in the Lüneburger Heide and moved to West Berlin in 1975, where she studied visual arts at the Hoc ...

, founder of Berlin electronic music collective Oceanclub. Paula joined the collective and got a residency at the Tresor club for the Oceanclub's Sunday night events, alongside DJs and producers such as

Thomas Fehlmann Thomas Fehlmann (born 1957) is a Swiss composer/producer who lives in Berlin, Germany, and has been active in electronic music since the 1980s. He is currently active on the Kompakt record label based in Germany. Fehlmann is an on-and-off member ...

(The Orb), Mike Vamp and bands like Sun Electric. As well as frequent gigs in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, she has played sets from Detroit to Moscow to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and extensively through Europe, at places such as Rote Sonne (

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

), Culture Box (

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

), Zukunft (

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

) and Le Triptyque (Paris) to name just a few. She has also played at a wide range of international festivals such as

Festival Internacional de Benicàssim The Festival Internacional de Benicàssim (), commonly abbreviated to simply FIB, is an annual music festival that takes place in the town of Benicàssim, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It focuses mainly on pop, rock and electronica arti ...

Valencia, MUTEK,

Popkomm Popkomm was an international trade show for the music and entertainment business during the 1990s and 2000s, and also integrated a congress and festival. It was held in Cologne for most of its existence, later moved to Berlin with entries from at ...

Love Parade The Love Parade (german: Loveparade) was a popular electronic dance music festival and technoparade that originated in 1989 in West Berlin, Germany. It was held annually in Berlin from 1989 to 2003 and in 2006, then from 2007 to 2010 in the Ru ...

and Detroit's DEMF. Paula didn't return to Chile until 1996 when her brothers, managed by producer "Microman", began to schedule some events in Chile. Some of the DJs taking part included

Ricardo Villalobos Ricardo Villalobos (born 6 August 1970) is a Chilean-born German electronic music producer and DJ. He is well known for his work in the minimal techno and microhouse genres, and is one of the most significant figures in today's minimal techno sc ...

, Luciano (Lucien Nicolet), and the German

Uwe Schmidt Uwe H. Schmidt (born 27 August 1968), also known as Atom™, Atom Heart, or Señor Coconut, is a German composer, musician and producer of electronic music. He is often regarded as the father of electrolatino, electrogospel, and aciton musi ...

(Atom Heart), all key figures in the development and spread of the electronic music movement in Chile. Her first release for

Monika Enterprise Monika Enterprises is a Berlin, Germany-based independent record label. In 2001, Wallpaper magazine described the label's musical style as " cupying a twilight zone between electronic pop, easy listening and bedsit angst" and " earheading a new g ...

(Gudrun Gut's label) came in the shape of a 12", the "Foxy EP" in 2003. Also in 2003, with years of experience as a DJ and several records and remixes, Chica Paula released her first album, "42 mädchen" (42 Girls), again on the German label Monika Enterprise, under the name "Chica and the Folder". Her main supporter was German producer "Max Loderbauer", a member of the electronic music group Sun Electric. The album "42 mädchen" include some collaborators and sounds from a variety of different genres:

Punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

, traditional Tibetan music and

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

. One of the tracks includes the last words of

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

La Moneda Palace Palacio de La Moneda (, ''Palace of the Mint''), or simply La Moneda, is the seat of the President of the Republic of Chile. It also houses the offices of three cabinet ministers: Interior, General Secretariat of the Presidency and General Secret ...

, the voice of Jorge Gonzalez, and a remix of

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

's "I'll come running". After the release of her first album, Paula kept performing as a DJ and took part in the German-Chilean lineup of the 2004 Mutek Festival in Valparaiso, and the same year participated in the Techno-Femenino festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Four years after the release of her first album came the second Chica Paula and the Folder album "Under the Balcony", along with a 12" called "Mixes From The Balcony" featuring remixes by Paula's friend, the Chilean

, and Swiss DJ Sonja Moonear. She said in an interview: "As a DJ, I play more dance music, more of the moment, music with groove. The rest (making music) is a different story... Being a DJ is a public thing, making music is something more personal".Chica Paula at Musica Popular (ES)
"Cuando soy DJ pongo más dance, más del momento, música de baile, de groove. Lo otro es otra historia. Hacer música es un paso. Está vinculado porque es música, pero la parte más emocional la vinculo más como un mundo privado, no lo veo como un desarrollo lógico de DJ a músico. El DJ es una cosa pública y la música es más personal". David Ponce, Musica Popular, retrieved on 23 October 2014 Paula also took part in a performance of Chilean-born German artists at the 2006 Sundeck Festival in Muelle Barón,

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

, along with Max Loderbauer, her partner in the project "Chica and the Folder". On top of her work as a DJ, producer, performer and remixer, Paula is currently also active as an advisor on the subject of electronic music to the

Goethe Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

in Mexico, for whom she is managing a new radio project.

Discography

As Chica Paula

;Remixes: * Roman, “Traffic” (Chica Paula's Super Emo Mix) – Kalk Pets, 2011 * Maluco, “Right Time la del Barrio Mix” – Kalk Pets, 2009 * Donna Regina, “Playing free” (Chica Paula & Tobias Mix) – Kalk Pets, 2008 * Contriva, “Dust” (Chica Paula Mix) – Monika Enterprise, 2003

As Chica and the Folder (Chica Paula and Max Loderbauer)

;Releases: * Mixes of the Balcony, feat. remixes from Ricardo Villalobos, Sonja Moonear and Pikaya (EP 12”) – Monika Enterprise, 2007 * Under the Balcony (CD, Album) – Monika Enterprise, 2007 * Schatulle, feat. remixes from Luciano, Pink Elln, Dinky and Thomas Fehlmann (CD, EP 12”) – Monika Enterprise, 2003 * 42 Mädchen (CD, Album) – Monika Enterprise, 2003 ;Remixes: * Hauschka “Ginko Remix” (CD) – Karaoke Kalk, 2006 * Laurenz Pike “Drums for Fun and Fitness (Shakesbeer Mix)” – Monika Enterprise, 2006 * Shakebeer Mix (10”) – Monika Enterprise, 2005 ;Compilations: * Music for Children (CD, 12”) – Bruchstuecke, 2003 ;DJ mixes: * “Schaukeln 2” DJ Mix (Digital) – Monika Enterprise, 2007 * “Schaukeln 1” DJ Mix (Digital) – Monika Enterprise, 2004 ; Appears on: * M.A.N.D.Y – Renaissance: The Mix Collection, “Perfect Day” (Pikaya Remix) – Renaissance, 2009 * Dj Marcelle/Another Nice Mess – Meets Her Soulmates At Faust Studio Deejay Laboratory, “Kleines Hoppla” Klangbad, 2008 * New Trade Order, “Soufflé” – Monika Enterprise, Rubaiyat – Monirubi 01, 2008 Gustaff Ina Pill Vol.6, "Días Amarillos" – Gustaff Records, 2008 * La Planète Blue Vol5, "Perfect Day (Sometimes)" – Radio Suisse Romande, 2008 Dinky – Get Lost 03, “Soufflè” (Sonja Moonear Dans Ma Casbah Mix) – Croston Rebels, 2007 * Monika Bärchen: Songs For Bruno, Knut&Tom, “Kleines Hoppla” Monika Enterprises, 2007 * Monika Force, “I’ll Come Running” – Monika Enterprises, 2005 * Back To Glamour, Der Wolf Und P – Hi-Lo, Tunez, 2004 * Monika Enterprise 10 Years Compilation, “Kleines Hoppla”- Monika Enterprise, 2007

References

External links

* http://paulaschopf.de/
Chica Paula on Discogs

Chica Paula Bio at Resident Advisor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chica Paula 1970 births Living people Chilean musicians Musicians from Santiago Chilean DJs Chilean people of German descent