Barbara Butch

French DJ born in Paris in 1981, Barbara Butch became a fixture on the club and queer scenes by developing a sound that blends electronic music, pop and festive, dancefloor-oriented tracks. Raised in a traditional Jewish family, she learned several instruments at a young age and recorded mixtapes before making her first steps as a DJ in Montpellier, where she ran the restaurant L’Arrosoir from 2004 to 2008. Back in Paris, Barbara Butch built her reputation behind the decks in small venues such as Les Souffleurs and Le Raymond, then at more established places like Rosa Bonheur — where she became a resident — La Machine du Moulin Rouge, Glazart and La Mutinerie. Her sets, designed for LGBTQI+ audiences, mix popular hits, house tracks and club rhythms with an inclusive approach to celebration. Linked in 2017 to the Centre chorégraphique national de Caen for a back-to-school program and invited in 2019 to the Festival Paris Est Têtu, she launched during the first lockdown the virtual parties lappartchezmoi, accessible to both deaf and hearing participants. In 2024, Barbara Butch was selected as a DJ for a tableau in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, while continuing artistic work closely tied to her feminist, lesbian activism and opposition to fatphobia.