Honey Dijon scoops up sweet house music at the Hangar Festival

One of the eye-catchers at the Hangar Festival is the American artist Honey Dijon, a house pioneer and transgender activist, and Madonna's favourite DJ.

The news website Gay Star News recently published a list of artists that any queer person must not miss at Glastonbury. Honey Dijon stood out. The American DJ and producer only recently became the talk of the town. Although she was already making a name for herself in the dance scene as a house pioneer and transgender activist, the mainstream did not find its way to her until Madonna and Beyoncé started working with her. That led to a Grammy Award last year – she was a fifty-something by then – for her production part on the tracks “Alien Superstar” and “Cozy” from Beyoncé's Renaissance album. By involving black LGBTQIA+ pioneers from the ballroom and dance scene, she wanted to give that community heart.

Last year, she got to open Madonna's Celebration Tour in London and New York. The Queen of Pop had already called her her “favourite DJ” and had included her radio mix of “I Don't Search I Find” on Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones. When the DJ and producer also got to open for the icon in her hometown of Chicago last month, she wrote on her socials that things had come full circle.

As a black transgender woman in the music industry herself, Dijon has since become a mouthpiece for queer talent. The artist whose name in daily life is Honey Redmond grew up in a middle-class family in Chicago, the birthplace of house. In the 1990s, she started deejaying herself under the mentorship of Derrick Carter and made a name for herself on the local house circuit. Often bullied as a teenager for her (struggle with her) gender identity, she called her move to New York her salvation. There she entered a vibrant underground scene and open club culture, and got to indulge in fashion shows, while adding a hefty dose of rock 'n' roll and disco influences to her house and techno sound.

Since then, she played sets during catwalk presentations by Louis Vuitton and Dior, got to curate the opening night of Grace Jones' Meltdown festival, and released her own work. The Best of Both Worlds was released in 2017, the successor Black Girl Magic in 2022. The cover of that record – a 3D image of a naked Dijon – references Jones's iconic Nightclubbing cover, but is at the same time a statement. “I have a beautiful Black body, and I wanted to celebrate this,” she said in The New York Times. Last summer, she played sets at the CORE Festival and on Tomorrowland's CORE Stage, which she co-hosted. Her performance at Hangar Festival will be followed by a second visit to Dour this summer.

The Hangar Festival takes place on 27 & 28/4 at the Port of Brussels, thehangar.be