Madrid’s music and art scene lost one of its brightest stars when JOVENDELAPERLA passed away on July 14th after a long battle with cancer. Perla Zúñiga, also known as JOVENDELAPERLA, was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2016. Despite her health battles, Zúñiga founded the collective and club night CULPA and helped create safe spaces in nightlife for trans and non-binary people.
Sónar Festival, held annually in Barcelona, Spain, issued a statement lamenting Zúñiga’s passing. “Thanks for deconstructing, not just club music, but narratives and forms of creative expression,” the festival said. “As you often said, opening ‘the world’s backstage’ to us. Thanks for your legacy and for making our scene a better place. We miss you, Perla.”
Before her death, Zúñiga was working on creating emotional and creative support spaces for cancer patients. She also produced music, and proceeds from a 2022 Bandcamp release were donated to a charity supporting those suffering from Ewing’s sarcoma, the rare form of bone cancer that she was fighting.
Chemotherapy proved to be a significant turn in Zúñiga’s artistry and gender-expression journey. “Chemotherapy is a transition, a chemical process that alters the body. I erased my identity because the traits that I thought aesthetically defined my person were no longer there,” she said in a 2022 interview with El País. “I liked to understand that as the beginning of my own metaphor.”
When not chasing her passions, Zúñiga was one of the resident DJs at MARICAS, a queer techno party in Barcelona. Despite her illness, Zúñiga continued to champion trans and non-binary talent in Madrid through her club night, CULPA. El Pais, in their tribute to Zúñiga, called her a “poet, artist, DJ and fierce trans rights activist.”
The passing of JOVENDELAPERLA is a huge loss to Spain’s music and artistic community and beyond, as her efforts to create safe and inclusive spaces for marginalized people resonated widely
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