¡MASH-UP! 10 Years of the Party Series - LIVE Mercenárias (Post-Punk - São Paulo)

A BERLIN SUCCESS STORY CELEBRATES ITS ANNIVERSARY

On October 2, 2026, the Berlin-based queer-feminist cultural collective ¡MASH-UP! Multigender/Multiworld celebrates a double anniversary at SO36: 15 years as a collective and 10 years of its party series.

What began in 2011 as a DIY truck at the Transgenialer CSD in Kreuzberg grew into one of Berlin's most distinctive and enduring queer-feminist cultural initiatives. Long before terms like diversity, intersectionality or decolonization shaped cultural policy debates, ¡MASH-UP! consistently centered FLINTA*, BIPoC and migrant artists from the Global South in its events.

Since 2016, the collective has regularly organized club nights and interdisciplinary cultural events that bring together music, performance, political discussion and community. Over 70 artists from Europe, Africa, Asia, and North and Latin America have performed on ¡MASH-UP! stages to date.

The anniversary night brings together everything ¡MASH-UP! has stood for over the past 15 years: international networking, musical diversity, and dialogue across scenes and generations. Artists from Berlin, London and São Paulo share a stage — between post-punk, rap, electronic club music and queer perspectives on culture and society.

LIVE
MERCENÁRIAS — Post-Punk · São Paulo/Brazil
Formed in São Paulo in 1982, the band was among the first female-led acts in a scene that was, at the time, almost exclusively male, and remains one of the most important references in Brazilian punk and post-punk. Their debut album „Cadê as Armas?“ (Baratos Afins, 1986) is considered a landmark of Brazilian music history and was named by Rolling Stone Brasil one of the country's five most important punk albums; their second album „Trashland“ (EMI, 1988) was named Album of the Year by music magazine Bizz. In 1986 the band also appeared in the Brazilian film „Vera,“ which won the Silver Bear at the 1987 Berlinale.

Their international recognition grew largely through landmark compilations: „Não Wave – Brazilian Post-Punk 1982–1988“ (Man Recordings, Berlin, 2005) — the label's very first release — placed Mercenárias alongside the most defining names of São Paulo's underground scene. That same year, UK label Soul Jazz Records released the double LP „O Começo do Fim do Mundo / Brasilian Post-Punk 1982–88,“ bringing „Cadê as Armas?“ in full to a new global audience for the first time; Spanish label Beat Generation later gave the album a standalone international reissue.

Active continuously since reuniting in 2006, Mercenárias shared a stage with Bikini Kill in São Paulo in 2024, and in May 2026 performed the complete „Cadê as Armas?“ album at the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo as part of the city's Virada Cultural — one of the most significant performances of their career. 2026 marks the album's 40th anniversary: on their German tour, Mercenárias bring the full album plus highlights from 43 years of band history — one of their rare performances in Germany.

OYÈMI NOIZE & THE SAD GIRLS — Punk · Indie · Berlin
Oyèmi Noize is a Berlin-based musician whose project began as a bedroom idea and found its way to the stage with the band „The Sad Girls.“ Their first show was at SO36, supporting fellow Berliners Pabst on the homecoming night of their „Crushed by the Weight of the World“ tour. With a sound that blends introspective vulnerability with bursts of intense energy, Oyèmi Noize & The Sad Girls fearlessly explore heartbreak, resilience, mental health, empowerment, identity and community — with a raw honesty that speaks directly to listeners' own experiences. Melancholic melodies and driving rhythms meet catchy, alternative-leaning hooks: somewhere between American Football, The Smashing Pumpkins, and a touch of Mannequin Pussy. They recently released their debut album „We Won't Leave Until We Get What We Are Here For“ — a defiant statement against those who try to silence marginalized voices.

ALICE DEE — Rap · Grime · Trap · Berlin
Powerful and raw, Alice Dee fires rap salvos over banger beats. The weapon is the word, the mission: pushing limits. Whether spontaneous freestyles or polished lyrics, grime, trap or club beats — the non-binary rap artist's performance is pure energy, delivering punchlines that prove you can „kill it“ in German rap with charm, too. Somewhere between mosh pit and rave, it's a soundtrack for hungry spirits dancing out of line to driving bass. Turn-up guaranteed.

DJS
MARIE LEÃO — Indie · Post-Punk · Queer Electro Pop · Berlin
Marie Leão is a DJ and drummer moving between Rio de Janeiro and Berlin, known for unusual fusions and a feel for dancefloor dynamics that comes straight from her work behind the kit. Tonight she presents a set of indie, alternative rock and queer pop — shaped by decades of band history spanning punk, post-punk and trip-rock (including with Sandra Coutinho of Mercenárias in the band Shottas), as well as her role as co-founder of ¡MASH-UP!.

HOUSE OF GRACE — Acid · Chicago House · Garage · Latin House · Berlin
House of Grace, also known as Grace Kelly, is a strong-willed Baiana who has spent years moving between São Paulo and Berlin. Deeply influenced by house music, she crafts sets that become true sonic journeys — a blend of acid, Chicago, tech, Latin and garage house with touches of Brazilian bass. In 2025 she celebrated 25 years as a DJ. She founded party series/collectives including Mundo Mix, ¡MASH-UP!, Mash Brasew and Oya Diamonds, and hosted the show „Selector Brasil Beats“ on Radio Multikulti. She has played stages including Watergate, About Blank, Wilde Renate and Schwuz (Berlin), as well as the Mawazine Festival in Morocco and Central Park SummerStage in New York.

NARA — Tropical Bass · Berlin
Nara (Rio/Berlin) explores Afro-diasporic electronic music across Brazilian and global club sounds: baile funk, batida, kuduro, gqom and amapiano meet jersey club and classic R&B edits.

GIN — Jersey Club · Experimental Afrobeat · House · London
Gin (she/they) is a London-based DJ and event producer with over ten years behind the decks. She is founder and director of Faggamuffin Bloc Party and co-founder of Resis'dance, Nite Dykez, Sex and Rage, and Black Obsidian Sound System, and has played stages including Notting Hill Carnival, Southbank Centre, Tate Lates, NTS, Fabric, Mighty Hoopla, Lovebox, We Out Here and UK Black Pride. As UK Black Pride's Nightlife Liaison, she advocates for safer, more inclusive nightlife spaces. Shaped by her upbringing in South America and the Caribbean, her sound is a high-energy, genre-fluid blend of reggae, dancehall, soca, reggaeton, afrobeats, R&B mashups and hip-hop classics, woven together with footwork, bass, jersey club, house, techno and experimental electronic music.

PUTAS VAMPIRAS — Dark Techno Live PA · São Paulo/Brazil
Putas Vampiras is the solo project of Suzana Haddad, a DJ, producer and promoter from São Paulo now based between Berlin and São Paulo. As founder of the legendary Vampire Haus raves, she is one of the central figures of São Paulo's queer rave scene. She describes her sound as „Vampire Techno“ — a fusion of post-punk attitude with the raw energy of a rock 'n' roll show, performed live with a hybrid setup of analog drum machines, modular synths and vinyl. In 2019 she became the first Brazilian to play a hardware-based live set on Berghain's main floor; she has since toured the UK, the US, India, Turkey, Chile and Japan, and played Boiler Room.

SPECIALS
TRUE COLORS FRAUENCHOR BERLIN — Flashmob
A powerful choir of women of all ages, reinventing pop gems across the decades in unexpected, rousing arrangements — with a surprise performance right in the middle of the crowd.

URSO KI TI SCHUBSEN — Brazilian Carnival Fanfare · Flashmob
Since 2017, this multinational collective has brought the spirit of Brazilian street carnival to Berlin: marchinha, samba and axé, played live by at least seven musicians right in the middle of the crowd — accompanied by their signature call, „Wraaauuhhh.“

VOGUING SHOW
A ballroom performance bringing vogue, as a form of queer self-empowerment, to the ¡MASH-UP! floor.

HAIRCUTS by BUTCH CUT
Butch Cut, a queer barber based in Berlin, sets up a pop-up on site and cuts fresh haircuts right in the middle of the party.

VISUALS by VJ FroZen
VJ FroZen fills the night with dense, content-rich visuals that turn the dancefloor into both a space for reflection and a space for intense sensation — because, for all our reflection, human beings are always instinctive animals too.

ABOUT ¡MASH-UP!
¡MASH-UP! Multigender/Multiworld began in 2011 on a self-built truck at the Transgenialer CSD in Kreuzberg. What started as a DIY initiative grew into a cultural collective that has, since 2016, regularly organized club nights and interdisciplinary cultural events bringing together music, performance, visual arts and political discussion.

From the start, ¡MASH-UP! embraced an international outlook, bringing artists from Europe, Africa, Asia, and North and Latin America to Berlin. The collective sees itself not just as an organizer, but as a platform for cultural exchange and long-term collaboration. Many artists made their Berlin stage debut at ¡MASH-UP!.

The anniversary event at SO36 exemplifies this approach: concert, panel, club night and performance merge into one evening that tells the story of punk and post-punk from new perspectives, while showing just how alive international queer-feminist networks are today.