The Indira Paganotto Hï Ibiza Interview

In the latest Hï Ibiza interview, Indira Paganotto, discusses her journey from making house music in the Canary Islands, to warming up for techno greats in Madrid, to innovating the psytechno genre and founding her label ARTCORE.

Paganotto speaks about the hurdles she overcame along the way, including promoters refusing to pay, bad advice from fellow DJs, and the difficulty in transforming psytrance into a reputable sound within the techno establishment.

Indira Paganotto’s debut Hï Ibiza residency ran in the Club Room every Friday from 4th July - 3rd October. She returns for one night only this Saturday to play the Hï Ibiza Closing Party alongside Joseph Capriati, Jamie Jones, TSHA and many more.

This interview is part of our Road To Now interview series, where we ask our world-class resident DJs to give the definitive account of the artistic journey that brought them to a residency at the #1 Club in the World. The video version of this interview is out now too.

I was born in the Canary Islands but my mum is Italian and my father is from Spain. And yeah, [being] born in the Canary Islands is really good because it's like a wild, wild scenario, you know? We are zero posh, we are really wild. We grow up surfing, skating, hiking in the mountains, so it's a really nice way to grow up.

When I started it actually was really good. I had a really good friend that was making big festivals, for at least like two thousand people. That is big for Gran Canaria. And it was this kind of minimal, minimal techno, minimal house. It was really interesting and actually I started there. It was a good scenario but now there is zero. I mean it's coming back in Tenerife, a little bit, but in Gran Canaria I need to come back to make my own festival, I think [laughs]. [Being a DJ] was good but it was difficult. Of course it’s difficult for everyone that begins their career, so imagine in Gran Canaria it was really hard.

I remember my father was a DJ in Goa in India in the ‘90s. He was a Doctor Without Frontiers, but he was also a big, big lover of the psytrance, and Goa trance. So he moved to India for 10 years, and he was helping people, but meanwhile, he was playing on the beaches of Goa. You know, like naked, free sex, all these things [laughs]. I grew up with this because my father every morning he was playing me Goa trance. My mum was putting on opera, classical music, like a good Italian. These are my early thoughts of music. There was always music in my home, every day. In the beginning I hated it because they put it on really early on the way to the school in the car. So I was like, I want peace! But I think because of this, I'm mad now and I have tripolarity.

Yeah, I remember my first gig because it was terrible [laughs]. But in the same way it was really good because it's like, you can be good at what you do, but you still need to fight for your dreams. I remember I released my first EP on the label of Ian Pooley, that was house music, and at that moment they called me to throw a party in Gran Canaria. So I was opening, I was the warm-up, but they didn't pay me. They were like, yeah, but you can come again next weekend. I was like, OK, I will come. So I came again and I was opening and they didn’t pay me again. I thought I needed to keep trying, you know? So I was almost one year like this. And later I was like, you know motherfucker… bye! [laughs]. In Italy we say, “te devi fare un mazzo così”. You need to fight for your dreams, you need to work hard.

I travelled when I was 18 to Madrid and I was only doing warm-ups and closing sets in all the clubs that they were calling me. I was just looking at the artists that were coming and I was like, one day I will be the headliner. I was doing my best warm-up for that DJ and my goal was to surprise the owner of the club and surprise the DJ that was coming.

There were a lot of people that were following me, like Richie Hawtin, Ben Klock, Nina Kraviz, Ellen Allien, Ben Sims, Andre Kronert, Ricardo Villalobos, Matador, Gabriel Ananda. I can say a lot in the techno scene, but I love also the psytrance scene, like Ace Ventura, Astrix, Talamasca. I love the music if the music is good. I really follow artists that are different and that are giving to the scene something different, you know? So this is what I follow.

My father was playing psytrance, and Goa trance, but you know in the beginning I was like, I'm over this music, so I started making house music. When I did it I was like, oh my God, I have it! I can be different from my family. This is the goal always with kids. I did three EPs with Ian Pooley, but later there was something inside me, you know? After all those years I was like, I'm gypsy, I’m gypsy. It was too posh to make that music. I love it but I wanted to be fuego caliente, powerful. For this I started making [music] with an AKA because [Ian] was like, okay, you should follow one line, Indira. Don't mix too much. So I made an AKA, I was ID-22. I released it with just random labels. It was a cool techno project. Actually, it's really good now. I listened and I was like, bro, before I was cooler! Later I was like, okay, what is ID 22? No one will remember this, so I will return back to Indira and I will make a mix of psytrance, house, minimal, techno. This is where I started to make my own path. I was in the mountains in Madrid. I was 13 years there and just making music. Just making music every day with my animals, in my countryside. That was one of the best moments of my life.

It's so difficult because a lot of artists look at you and you are there now, but they don't see how hard it was. How much cries, how much people say to you no, you don't deserve it, your music is shit. I mean, it's a lot of work, but there is a moment when you are there.

I think every day is the key moment, you never arrive. It's a process, and each day is more difficult than the day before. It's like this, you never arrive and also now I have a big team and each person on the team needs their own place and their own attention. I always think when you wake up it's like you just started. So in your mind you can't stop, you need to continue. So that's the key, I think.

My sound I call psytechno, but also it’s psytrance with techno. Psytrance comes from India, that's for sure, but nowadays, after all these years of pushing, pushing, pushing, I think South America, they love it, America also, of course India, Turkey, Spain, Italy, France, I mean almost all the world. The biggest challenge to make the psytechno more known and respected was to show the scene of techno that it could be a respected genre for the clubs, and a respected genre for the festivals. Because before, when I was playing this kind of music in the clubs and the festivals, sometimes the old DJs would say, “What the fuck is she doing? It’s psytrance in Awakenings? It’s psytrance at Time Warp? This is not good, what is happening”. But they understood that my way was pure. It was not for TikTok, it was not for a fashion, or because it’s cool. It’s because I believe that was missing and I did it with all my love. So slowly they were like, okay, we believe her. But not one more, only her [laughs].

I remember one that I didn't follow and I'm super happy for that. I remember an artist and very respected DJ, I was in his studio, I was really small, and I was mixing my track with him. We were making house music. I played to him a psytrance track of Talamasca and I said to him, “By the way, this is what I like”. He said to me, Indira, this is not the way. Forget this, you should continue with the house. Well, look now! [Laughs].

You know it was super funny because after all these years I never heard from him and one month ago he wrote to me and he was like, Indira thank you for not following my advice. By the way, I'm super happy for you.

I don't call them my fans, you know, because for me this is like super cold. It's like I am someone bigger than them, but I think we are all the same. So I call myself the psy-mama. The people now call me it too, but it's because Indira Paganotto for me was too much class. I’m the psy-mama, I did the psy thing. And I don't call them fans, I call them warriors. For me it's more like a community. We have chats together with the more crazy warriors. So we're having WhatsApp chats and they know each other all over the world. So they can go to London and they know each other. So it's a community, it's nice.

The roses actually were super funny. It was one warrior that brought them to me one time and it was in the moment that one boyfriend split with me. So I was almost crying and I was like, oh, thank you, because this stupid guy never gave me roses. So he was like, yeah, everyone should give you roses because you are the psy-mama. So I did one quote; bring roses to the psy-mama one day. And the next gig they were giving me roses! So it started like that. And now every time, they give me roses, so it's kind of an iconic thing. I mean, it's better than asking for underwear [laughs]. It's more romantic.

So Artcore is the mix of me, because I'm Gemini, so I'm kind of bipolar, two parts. I really love art, since I was young. I get super sensitive with the opera, with the classical music, with the art in general. I love cooking, painting, you know, all art, not only music. But I'm really fucking hardcore. I mean, I am wild. I do Muay Thai, I surf, I skate. I wanted to mix the two things, something with art but I love hardcore. I think the name is insane. We are making an office here in Ibiza and we call it Artopia, like utopia and art. So, yeah, I'm good with names too [laughs]. I will give my email for contact.

I just wanted to make my roots, like the flamenco, in a way that is not cheesy, you know? Normally when you mix flamenco with electronic, sometimes it can be too commercial. I wanted to be respected with the scenario of the flamenco people. So I tried to make it with the best respect ever. I think it's crazy, because it's super powerful. The track is like 145 [bpm], and in the end it's 170 [bpm]. The people get crazy!

I'm really proud. The thing that I'm most proud of in my career is to see all the faces of my team every time we go to play in some good place, that they are proud. Achievements like: my parents, they are happy with my work, they're proud also. And in work, of course, the main stage of Tomorrowland. Being in Hï Ibiza now, this is for me is one of my biggest dreams.

I remember the first time I played here, I was like, oh my god. This is the biggest step, you know, because Ibiza for me is Hï Ibiza. Now I'm in a good moment of my career where I can say everything I dreamed, I have now. It’s crazy.

If I would see me at 18 I would say "just go, don't think". Each of the bad steps that I did, I would make again. Because of that, that is the woman I am now. Each step that was wrong is perfect, each tear that I did was insane because now I'm super strong and I can't imagine how it will be when I’m 40 years old. I mean, I'm obsessed with this age. I can’t wait to arrive.

Catch Indira Paganotto at the Hï Ibiza Closing Party on Saturday 11th October. Tickets and VIP tables are available now.