DJ in Baires
Over the span of two weeks, I had attended more than 20 milongas and practicas. This time I had paid extra attention to the music/tandas that various DJ played. And I also took a private course with one of the well known DJs in Buenos Aires/world. I was not overall impressed by what I’d heard.
If people here complain about hearing the same music every night, well, don’t think there is much difference in Buenos Aires either. In fact, I’ve heard some well known DJs playing the same tanda at roughly the same time of the night different nights. If you go to traditional milongas, you better love the music of Troilo, Di Sarli, D’Arienzo, Canaro and Pugliese. These are five predominant orchestras that are played a few times a night.I was told that a lot of milongueros only respond to these orchestras. They would sit through other orchestras.
Very few DJs I’d listened to had created coherent energy throughout the night, especially at traditional milongas. And it seemed to me that nobody cared, as long as it was the same music, people got up and danced. Whatever format that DJs from this side of the world use: 2 tango, 1 vals, 2 tango, 1 milonga; 4 tango, 3 vals and 3 milonga in one tanda, there was hardly any format here. The first night I was at El Beso from the beginning, I heard four tanda of tango before one tanda of vals. Very often, I heard five tango, four vals or four milongas in one tanda. In a few cases, five milonga tracks were played before the cortina came up. Imagine that you happen to be dancing with a bad milonga partner at one of these five milonga set. 
The DJs who played at the new milongas seem to play more variety of orchestras, but few meshed the music well. My last Thursday night at Villa Malcolm, my favorite young portena was there. She saw me, greeted me and asked me if I wanted to dance the next tanda. I told her that it was probably my last tanda with her this time, I wanted to dance with her when the music of the tanda was very good. Well, I’d waited almost three hours for the good music to come. I almost ran over to the dj and thanked him for finally putting on some good music so I could have one of my tandas of the trip. 
There were some DJs I loved to listen to: Mario at Nino Bien, Sunderland and La Marshall, Hugo at Practica 8/milonga 10, and Horacio at La Viruta. Horacio often surprised me pleasantly with his ingenious way of mixing orchestras and different period. I was dancing to four of Di Sarli 50s vocal, which were my favourites, one Friday night at La Viruta. Just as I thought the tanda was over, he put on the ” Esta noche de luna” Di Sarli con Rufino 1943. I couldn’t help but smile at it. It worked for me!
All in all, I am getting very confident with my DJ skill and music selection. After all, I am playing a lot similar tandas like the ones of the good DJs in BsAs do. What I have learned this time: Don’t be inhibited by rules and formats (although I am still reserved about playing six milongas in one tanda.) , follow my own instinct, feel free to experiment. There is no big deal. If it works, great! If not, then try something else. Music should be fun to listen to and dance to.
Since a milonga is a place where the milongueros dance, you didn’t attend very many milongas. Those who program the music can do whatever they choose because they don’t have to satisfy milongueros in La Viruta or Milonga 10, etc. Those places are dances, not milongas. Your course may have been with a name you know, but that doesn’t mean he knows what he is doing with the music.
Troilo, Di Sarli, D’Arienzo, Calo, Tanturi are the orquestas of the milongas, when there was dancing in the downtown confiterias with recordings. The milongueros never tire hearing their recordings…even after 50 years. Last night I was in Gricel where the DJ played Hector Varela. My partner commented that years ago nobody would have danced to his music at a milonga, but last night the floor was full. People don’t know what they are dancing to and don’t care anyway.
If you had to wait three hours at Villa Malcolm for a good tanda, what does that say about the person responsible for the music? They can play anything because they know most dancers don’t know the difference anyway.
Mario Orlando has many years (25?) of experience as a DJ, but often he forgets to pay attention to the sound levels and walks away from the booth. Horacio Godoy can be ‘creative’ with the tandas mixing orchestras and recording years because his audience doesn’t know the difference. He wouldn’t get away with it if he worked in the center milongas like El Beso, Maipu, Leonesa, and Lo de celia.
If dancers don’t like your musical programming, perhaps they will let you know. It’s too bad you missed hearing Daniel Borelli’s music in one of the four places he works. Other DJs have a lot to learn from him (even Horacio who got Dany interested in the work).
How do you know that the person I took a course with didn’t know what to do with music? I had several conversations with different tango people (who in anybody’s opinion know about music if I disclose their names) about music. The music that the old milongueros love to dance to is the music they grew up listening to, the music that they feel nostalgic to. That doesn’t mean other period of music is not good for dancing. Good music is good music, viejo or nuevo. One has to relate to and be inspired by the music first, in order to dance well. This is very fundamental.
Who say that nobody other than the milongueros know about music? Like they are the authority. Mind you, most of them didn’t have much education. Also, the way most of the milongueos dance, they could not possibly dance to anything other than 40s. The newer generation, however, as I have seen, can dance wider range of music. And there are so many good modern orchestras that follow the tradition yet form their own style. The world is moving forward, not backward. We are not living in the 40s, 50s or 70s. This is year 2010. Yes, when we dance, we need to keep the essence. We also have to keep an open mind.
No, I didn’t attend very many milongas, but I had attended variety of milongas, traditional ones and new ones. And I had danced with very high level dancers in each milonga. I have a library of 12000 tracks of traditional tango music that I listen on the daily basis for the past two and half years. Now how many songs have you listened to? And how many of them could you identify, how many could you dance well to?
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> Good music is good music
Good dance music is good dance music.
Good music is not necessarily good dance music.
I am glad I have never heard a BA DJ play Varela.