DJ Thoughts

No sooner had I walked into the room with my laptop when someone asks if I would please play some "weird non-tango music", since tango gets so boring....

What I did was laugh, 'cause, you know, it seemed like a joke.  But they were serious.  And then I thought, as I often do, What Fresh Hell is This?

I have been DJing only three years.  I have a million things to learn, and that is one of the reasons why I enjoy it.  I do not believe that DJing is an art.  I make art as a profession, and it requires leaping into areas that you cannot find on Google.  It is creative.  Creative DJs do not actually do the job right, in my opinion.  It could be thought of as a design process, in that the night has to have form, texture, a kind of trajectory of energy. Art is more of an individual endeavor, less of a service. DJ work requires intuition, observation of the crowd, mood etc.  But the job is always the same....to provide the music for tango dancing.

One thing is certain.  The best dancers listen to hours and hours of music. The same music over and over again.  They know it inside out and still know that there is more in there.  In the car, at work, at home, during practice, and in their sleep, they learn the lexicon, and it becomes part of the mind and body over time.  Tango music.  They may like jazz, blues, classical etc.  Nice to listen to and to refresh and reset.  But to be a decent tango dancer you have to have tango music, the greatest hits.  Most of us have barely heard the surface.

Someone is always telling me about, or playing for me, a great discovery of some old tango, and they are usually quite proud of it, and would like for me to play it. It's a little  like learning a new tango step-stunt to show off with. These discoveries don't  bring any epiphanies..  What does:  The way you think you know that old Di Sarli, and then your partner (or the unique energies of the two of you together)  brings out a delicate new golden thread of melody, or an underlayment of tone, or emotion, that you have, until now, never heard or felt.  Surprise! That is new, old, and forever. When it happens, it becomes a lifetime memory, something you think of as a reason for living.  Something you will take to the grave with gratitude.  My goal and pleasure is to provide the musical space for that discovery, or at the very least, to make an engaging sound world built out of the ongoing passion and delight of the classic tango.  Mi Romance, Tanturi....bored?  Really? El Recodo, Biagi. When you have heard enough of this then you must leave tango, having gone to the well and found it dry. Really? Di Sarli, Por Que Me Llaman Amor!  Reverie enough to unlock your heart where it connects to your ears?

I may have appeared rude to laugh when asked to play non-tango music.  But the music is close to sacred, and I would rather not DJ at all if non-tango music is a requirement at the venue.  It's non-negotiable. It's fine with me, I like to dance even more than I like to DJ, and lucky for us, one of the best,  Anton Sukhanov will be at the helm tonight!
Un Tango y Nada Mas.