Hugo Najera (DJ Mezkla)
Hugo Najera a.k.a. DJ Mezkla is a U.S. Salvadoran Guatemalan educator, community builder, DJ, and cultural creative from the Washington, D.C., area. His contributions to community events and DJ sets reflect a mission to fight against segregation and gentrification by creating voices and events that reflect the synthesis of his D.C., Latinx, and U.S. cultures.
As DJ Mezkla, his mixes focus on polyrhythmic, dancehall-based sounds that blend contemporary and vintage Afro/Latinx genres. As a cultural hybrid, he uses music from cutting edge non-Western voices as an expression of his transcultural backgrounds, as well as an active tool against urban segregation. Within this space, he mixes alternative and electronic cumbia, Dembow, tropical bass, global hip-hop, rasterinha and vintage descargas.
He performs for numerous social justice and community-building events and regular DJ nights throughout the D.C. club scene.