Chica Paula
Nobody ever said that besides technical and musical ability DJs are also supposed to be nice too...but Chica Paula manages and so far no one has complained.
Originally from Santiago de Chile, Chica Paula's and her family had to exile Frankfurt, Germany, when she was 4. Her older brother, Martin Schopf aka DANDY JACK stayed in Germany when Paula returned to Chile. With Martin remaining in Germany throughout the 80’s, he was able to introduce Paula to much of the electronic music that strongly influenced her and at an early age she was turned on to electronic music by acts such as DEPECHE MODE, KRAFTWERK, CHRIS & COSEY and CABARET VOLTAIRE.
In the early 90s, attracted and fascinated by the development of what would become techno culture, Paula moved to Berlin. She very quickly became part of the Berlin Party scene and ended up riding the wave of the Berlin techno revolution. Chica Paula soon made a name for herself as a DJ in the Berlin club and music scene. In 1995, she met GUDRUN GUT founder of Berlin electronic music collective OCEAN CLUB. Paula joined the collective and got a residency at the legendary Tresor club for the oceanclub's Sunday night events alongside DJs and producers such as THOMAS FEHLMANN (THE ORB), MIKE VAMP and bands like SUN ELECTRIC. This was the beginning of her successfull career as a Dj. It didn't take long before Paula started getting requests from other clubs both in Berlin as well as further afield. And in 1997, the oceanclub got a radio show which still airs fortnightly Friday nights on Berlin's Radio Eins, and on which Chica Paula is a regular guest DJ.
It goes without saying then that Paula is well established as a DJ on the Berlin party scene. She learnt her trade as a DJ playing at locations like Ostgut-Panoramabar (now Berghain), WMF and not forgetting the afore mentions Tresor and these days she regularly plays at such renowned locations as Watergate, Weekend, Maria and Club der Visionäre. As well as frequent DJ gigs in Berlin, she has played DJ sets far and wide from Detroit to Moskow to Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and of course extensively throughout Europe at places such as Harry Klein (Munich), Culture Box (Copenhagen), Zukunft (Zürich) and Le Triptych (Paris) to name but a few. On top of all these club gigs, she has played at a wide range of international festivals such as Benicassim, Mutek, Popkomm, C/O Pop , Fusion and In Fuse to name but a few. Despite all this notable success on the Berlin and international scene, Chica Paula remains true to her roots and still enjoys playing parties with the Chilean crew when the opportunity arises - for example, with the Ruta5 organization of which she is a founding member.
But Chica Paula is not also a master of the turntables. Her expertise extends to production as well. Her first release on Gudrun Gut's Monika Enterprise was a remix of Contriva and came out on their 12“ the „Foxy EP“ in 2003. Since then she has clocked up an impressive discography of original recordings and remixes. It was together with MAX LODERBAUER from the afore mentioned Sun Electric (and more recently MORITZ VON OSWALD TRIO) that she recorded her first album as Chica and the Folder: „42 Mädchen“ appeared in September 2003, also on Monika. Exactly 4 years later, the second Chica and the Folder album „Under the Balcony“ came out. A 12“ "Mixes From The Balcony" was released at the same time featuring remixes by Paula's friend and countryman RICARDO VILLALOBOS as well as, fellow Ruta5 member, Swiss DJ SONJA MOONEAR. Most recently Paula has remixed the likes of MALUCO,DONNA REGINA and ROMAN on the Berlin label Kalk Pets.