Ricky Corazón, organizer of the Latin queer parties Gelatina and Viciosa

On Pride Week, Hogar publishes an exclusive interview with Ricky Corazón, the Chilean DJ behind the most caliente queer nights in Brussels: Gelatina and Viciosa. After selling out last Friday's Club Gelatina at Brasserie ILLeGaaL, Ricky Corazón will be mixing on the rooftop of the Mexican restaurant Tope on May 17th for the Pride.

We caught up with Rodrigo, aka Ricky Corazón, at Recyclart bar, where it all (re)started for him. A little over a year ago, he launched the Club Gelatina party there. "After a few nights at The Agenda bar, I had to find a venue. I discussed the concept with Recyclart and they didn't have anything of that style on their program. It was an incredible surprise to sell out the first night."

From there, the DJ developed two party concepts, Gelatina and Viciosa. "Gelatina is a queer latinx party, with many different musical styles: neo-perreo, reggaeton, latin club and cumbia. For a more hard electro style, there is Viciosa, a party I co-organized with Vera Moro and NMSS, which goes from latin club to latin core." These parties are highly anticipated by Brussels clubbers as they are always sold-out.

However, Ricky Corazón is no rookie. In fact, it all started 16 years ago. "We started with a friend and our only goal was to share Latin music. That's how it all started, we didn't think it was going to get this big." The project died out after a few years, but the DJ realizes that no successor has picked up the baton, that the Latin queer space remains empty. “Que fome!” he tells me in his best Chilean. So he decided to take the helm of Gelatina again, this time solo.

He kept his stage name from the beginning. "Ricky Corazón was the name of our duo, but I've taken it up again. Why this name? It's a mix of kitschy, slightly sexy name, a reference to Ricky Martin, and corazón, the most used word in Latin music."

In 16 years, the Brussels nightlife scene has changed, and Spanish-language music has become global. “We started mixing when there was the shift from cumbia towards neocumbia or electronic cumbia.” But the Belgian public knew little about these genres. "When I started out, I used to play cumbia versions of well-known Daft Punk or Madonna songs from time to time, so as not to lose the audience. But that's no longer necessary, as audiences are used to these rhythms now..." In fact, the reboot of Gelatina took place at the height of the Latin music boom, with Bad Bunny selling out stadiums in northern Europe. It was an instant hit with the public. For the DJ, it was a rebirth. “I feel like Cher during the Believe era” laughs Rodrigo.

When you listen to him speak, everything seems extremely simple, almost the result of chance and luck. But behind this great humility hides a passionate perfectionist who doesn't count the hours and never stops listening to the public. At the time of the interview, some clubbers reproached him for the too electro tendency of Gelatina's nights. He was touched by these criticisms, which allowed him to readjust his objective. "For me, it's important to listen and find the right balance between what I want people to discover and what they come looking for on these parties. The Brussels night is saturated with electro. The Gelatina audience is looking for something different".

Ricky Corazón is well aware of the special bond that exists between his audience and the music he performs. "My best memories of those nights are the people who come up to me to thank me before they go home. It's something very simple, but I love knowing that we are responding to a demand, that we have managed to create a bond." A personal bond that he himself has experienced. His passion for music, which started with pop and rock, has allowed him to rediscover his roots. "My goal as a DJ is to tell a story with music, to have a common thread. I was born in Chile, but I grew up in Belgium from a very young age. Music has also been a way to reclaim my story and reconnect with my Latin roots." It's a story linked to his childhood, which he lets glimpse through the toy he brought to illustrate the interview. "My mom brought it back from Chile, I played with it a lot when I was a kid. A monkey on a giraffe, without eyes. I thought it was very cute, and now I have it at home as an ornament."

Although the latest edition of Gelatina at Brasserie ILLeGaaL has just ended, Rodrigo is brimming with ideas for what's next. On Pride Day, May 17th, he will mix with Luma at Mexican restaurant El Tope. After that, he will continue to perfect his queer latinx nights. "Now that we've found our audience, I have to keep surprising people. Maybe offering a more regular concept, there is also talk of organizing a mini festival this summer." Just like Cher's “Believe”, Ricky Corazon doesn't end up surprising us, nor making Brussels perrear all the way down.