BUTO BAYANG is a collective, a vision, a club night and a record label, all rolled into one. DJs ENNIO and HAMY created it together in order to improve the visibility of and unite artists from the Asian diaspora and to centre the BIPOC and queer communities in the club scene. HAMY, whose parents migrated to Berlin from Vietnam, met the collective’s other co-founder, ENNIO, a local artist with South-East Asian and Slavic roots, through their work at underground Berlin-based label TILT. Both figureheads in
their respective musical spheres, the two artists set out with a vision: to build a fluid network of artists from across the world and to empower Asian culture within Berlin nightlife. BUTO BAYANG already threw a wildly successful party at Fitzroy, featuring an all-Asian artist lineup and South-East Asian food and drinks. The collective also released a compilation earlier this year. The duo has big plans ahead, hoping to help showcase and raise the roof for like-minded artists in the city. We sat with the
pair to discuss how they came together and what BUTO BAYANG is all about. Buto Bayang didn’t come out of nowhere. How did you two connect initially? HAMY: I studied graphic design and initially got involved with TILT by helping Faerber and ENNIO with visuals. Both of them encouraged me to start DJing, which is how I began two and a half years ago. ENNIO: I’m a producer and DJ based here, and we met through mutual friends. Over the years, we just connected more
and built this Asian community around us. We always saw that a lot of Asians came to our gigs, and then step-by-step, we got to BUTO BAYANG. What were the conversations you had when starting the project? I always felt like there was still a space to be created for the Asian community within electronic music. HAMY: My parents are Vietnamese and came to Berlin as guest workers. I grew up in Berlin as a Vietnamese immigrant. I always had to struggle to identify myself
between two worlds, because most of the Vietnamese community lives in East Berlin, and I grew up in West Berlin. I grew up with a lot of German kids, and for them, I was always a foreigner. To the Vietnamese community, I was always too “white”, somehow, so I was stuck in between those worlds. When I entered the techno scene for the first time, it was a place where none of this was actually important. But at the same time, I was also wondering
why this scene doesn’t represent Asian people so much. When I met ENNIO, we talked about it and asked ourselves: why not start an Asian-focused party? ENNIO: We just noticed that there are so many Asians that aren’t well represented yet, but they’re all around in the scene. I always felt like there was still a space to be created for the Asian community within electronic music. I was traveling on my Asia tour and saw a lot of European DJs play there, while the
locals don’t really get seen, and they don’t have the chance to play in Europe. I had lots of conversations about that, and then talked about it with HAMY. We thought, why not create a platform for Asian DJs? When there’s this talk about multiculturalism within Berlin and German society, I often feel like the Vietnamese community isn’t included. Is that perception accurate? HAMY: When I grew up, I always recognised that there were so many Vietnamese people, although they weren’t really represented in all
departments. Why? My theory is that in Asian culture, we were taught to be very obedient: to be calm, to be quiet and to be in the background. That’s the reason why we’re trying to empower these people to come forward and to be brave enough to do their art. What does the name ‘BUTO BAYANG’ mean? ENNIO: ‘BUTO BAYANG’ is composed of two Indonesian words. ‘Buto’ is a spiritual, mythical creature, and ‘bayang’ means shadow. So it’s like a shadow creature, which basically reflects
the idea of things that exist in the shadows that aren’t really seen or acknowledged. It’s about shifting perspectives and coming out of the shadows. HAMY: With a lot of parties, we just realised there’s no concept or they’re just trying to book headliners. After Covid, people started wanting something real. We tried to write down all of the things that are important to us when it comes to a party. We thought about what is important to us… but also about what we are
cultural-wise. What were your first steps in building community? HAMY: It happened pretty organically. We were looking for artists by scrolling on Instagram and asking friends in Asia. In the end, we had a big platform and a big list of artists. I wouldn’t say we have one specific sound. We don’t want to be a techno label; we’re kind of looking for every kind of music. You’ve already had one event in Berlin. How was it received? HAMY: It was great because, like in
Asia, we put some incense in front, and there was also somewhere you could get food. We had a friend who prepared some Indonesian snacks. Food is so important. We were playing in Tokyo at a club where you could go one floor up, and they had a ramen bar. When you’re too drunk, you have some ramen and then go back to the club. It’s so much better that way. ENNIO: We also had friends from Kwia providing drinks: an iced pandan tea mixed
with mezcal. It was just so nice to see people from the Asian community come and feel represented and comfortable. We’re planning on having two events for now. The next one is at Kwia – a listening party – and we’re still discussing having another club night. You’ve been working in the nightlife for some time. What kind of criticisms do you have of the clubbing industry? HAMY: I think lineups are currently being curated by trends and that POC are tokenised for lineups. Sometimes,
to me, these lineups don’t make sense. People aren’t so much into curation anymore. Not with every party, but you can definitely see it. ENNIO: I think there’s also more space for real community, as in, you don’t have to always get the big names. I think you should book more locals. Just booking big names or booking what’s hyped is not really curation. How can Berlin do better at booking more Asian artists? HAMY: Just book them. As a promoter, work with these people.
Especially as a white promoter, for example, who wants to have a queer party or a POC-focused party. I know some collectives that claim to be queer, but in the end, they’re run by white cis dudes, which is fine, but it doesn’t feel authentic. Also, when people say that it’s so hard to book FLINTA* artists, I can’t hear it anymore. When I did my own New Faces party at Tresor, it took me one week to book an almost fully FLINTA* lineup. How
does Berlin compare to other cities in terms of Asian representation? We said in the beginning that we don’t want to just be a party collective. HAMY: After we founded BUTO BAYANG, I got two bookings for Asian parties: one in Manchester and the other in Milan, which I wasn’t even familiar with before. ENNIO: Since we started the project, a lot of other artists contacted us, and through that, we really see that more things are going on Europe wide. London definitely has some
things going on. HAMY: Shoutout to our friends from Kretekklang, an Indonesian collective in Berlin. They do community events, cook for people, have hangouts or have little pop-ups at an Indonesian restaurant. Who are some of your favourite Berlin artists associated with BUTO BAYANG and who are criminally overlooked? HAMY: I’m a big fan of XOXO from the Kretekklang collective. I also booked her for my New Faces night. I highly respect her discipline and sound. Also, EL plays very nice house. ENNIO: I also
really like Polygonia and Jessica Nightlife, a great DJ who we had on our lineup for the first event as well. If money and resources weren’t an issue, what would you like to do in the future? HAMY: We said in the beginning that we don’t want to just be a party collective. It’s a culturally rich project, and we want to embrace Asian culture in every possible way through music, culture, food, art and collabs. It’s very interdisciplinary, and we want to make it
big and embrace Asian culture. ENNIO: We really want to create a sustainable network with collaborations and mix up the arts, with fashion, music and food. There are some other things we want to do, but I think it’s too early, so let’s see what happens.
BUTO BAYANG, HAMY, ENNIO, Berlin nightlife, Asian artists, Asian diaspora, BIPOC, queer communities, electronic music, techno scene, TILT, Fitzroy, Kwia, Kretekklang, FLINTA*, New Faces, Tresor, Indonesian snacks, iced pandan tea mezcal