Misstress Barbara, born Barbara Bonfiglio in Catania and raised in Montreal from the age of eight, mixed two CDs for Trust the DJ: MB01, dated December 2001 in her own discography, and MB02 in November 2002. She began DJing in 1996, started the Relentless label in 1999 and renamed it Iturnem in 2003.
Two mix CDs on this domain’s own label
MB01 came out on the Trust the DJ label with catalogue number TTDJCS 009. It runs to 18 tracks and she built much of it from her own studio work: three of her productions, Effet Karma, Talk To Me and Do You Believe In Love At First Listen?, plus her remix of Rino Cerrone’s Optical Way, sit alongside Deetron, Thomas Krome and a Ben Sims remix of Ratio. Discogs and AllMusic both date it 2002. The discography she supplies to Resident Advisor gives December 2001, and this page follows her own list.
MB02 followed as TTDJCS 035, which her Resident Advisor discography places in November 2002. It opens with Question’s 9th Question, includes Carl Cox’s Bangbeater and Adam Beyer and Henrik B’s Perfect Match, and carries a house track, Prendimi, under her Barbara Brown alias. It closes on her own Never Could Have Your Heart, the track Rockstar Games licensed for the racing game Midnight Club II. The label’s retail copy for MB02 says that after MB01 she took residencies at Godskitchen in the UK and at Metro in Spain.
Drums at twelve, decks by 1996
Born in Catania, Sicily, Bonfiglio moved to Montreal with her parents at eight and has lived there since. She played drums in bands from the age of twelve and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the Université du Québec à Montréal. Wikipedia and her Resident Advisor biography both date her DJing to 1996. A Higher Frequency profile adds detail: she swapped her kit for turntables and a mixer in 1995 and took her first paid booking in 1996.
She named herself as a play on ‘miss’ and ‘stress’. In a 2018 DJ Times interview she credited Montreal’s 1990s underground clubs, naming Sona, Aria and Stereo, with shaping her, and she has since become a regular at Piknic Électronik, the city’s summer day party.
Relentless, Iturnem and the first records
She launched the Relentless label in 1999 and, in 2003, renamed it Iturnem to avoid legal problems with the UK company Relentless Records. Her 1999 releases went out across Europe as well as on her own imprint: Steps Towards Comprehension on Sweden’s Tronic in March, the Auger Lyer EP on Carl Cox’s Intec in August, and First Reality on Rotation in November. Rotation is Dave Angel’s label, and Beatport’s biography of Angel lists her among the artists who cut early records there.
The Carl Cox connection continued. In April 2005 the two released On Fire on 23rd Century. Later singles came out on John Digweed’s Bedrock (K-10 / Azzurri, October 2006) and James Holden’s Border Community (Barcelona, February 2007). Her 2001 Relentless Beats mix for the US label Moonshine, followed by a second volume in 2002, ran in parallel with the two Trust the DJ CDs.
Her Resident Advisor biography lists the highest prize at the 2001 MIMI Awards, the Montreal International Music Initiative, and the Best Breakthrough Underground DJ award at the UK Underground Music Awards. Wikipedia’s awards table dates both to 2002. She won Best Montreal DJ at the 2014 MTL Awards. Piknic Électronik’s profile says she was voted into DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs repeatedly during the 2000s, though no year-by-year positions were found to confirm it.
Singing on I’m No Human, then back to techno
In May 2009 she released I’m No Human on MapleMusic and Iturnem, her first album as a singer. Her Resident Advisor biography ties it to the death of her father on Christmas Eve 2006. It featured Brazilian Girls, Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John, and the Montreal musician Sam Roberts on the single I’m Running, and it was nominated for the 2010 Juno Award for Best Dance Recording. The live band show opened at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal in 2009 at Club Soda.
Many Shades of Grey followed in April 2012 and reached number 91 in Canada. Its live show was nominated at Quebec’s ADISQ awards, and in July 2012 she sang The Right Time on Parliament Hill for Canada Day. She then went back to club records: Tenno 5 on Bedrock’s Ground Under Ibiza 1 compilation in July 2014, two EPs on Tronic in 2015, and Don’t Tease Me on Intec Digital in September 2016.
Discography
| Year | Release | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Relentless Beats Vol. 1 | Moonshine |
| 2001 | MB01 | Trust the DJ |
| 2002 | Relentless Beats Vol. 2 | Moonshine |
| 2002 | MB02 | Trust the DJ |
| 2005 | On Fire (with Carl Cox) | 23rd Century |
| 2009 | I’m No Human | MapleMusic / Iturnem |
| 2012 | Many Shades of Grey | MapleMusic / Iturnem |
What the night is actually like
Nothing on the 2026 Ibiza calendar carries her name; her recent listings are in Montreal, including Piknic Électronik and the Fierté Montréal line-up for 2024. For anyone arriving here from the old Trust the DJ CDs, MB01 is the one to start with: three of her own productions and a remix of hers across 18 tracks, where MB02 leans more on other producers’ records.