Maggie Tra is an Australian-born DJ and producer with Vietnamese and Cambodian heritage. She has lived all around the world including London, Brussels and Hanoi, and is currently based again on Eora land in Sydney.

Her music is kinetic, generous, and playful - just like she is - and in both her productions and her DJ sets she continually embraces not just her own heritage, but also the culture of whatever land she’s in, doing so with wholeness and conviction.

Driven by a desire to help local Vietnamese artists, Maggie launched Hà Nội Community Radio in 2021. I wanted to ask Maggie Tra about some of the differences she’s noticed between how music works in Vietnam as opposed to Australia, about what she’s learned as someone who has spent a lot of time trying to build community in music, and simply, why does she make music in the first place?

This conversation was recorded on Wurundjeri land in April 2024. 

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QlTUTh3AoY