EL PORTEÑO

”Porteño” is used to refer to a person who is from Buenos Aires. I got this nickname from an old milonguero who saw me dance at Club Gricel in 2010. I took it as a compliment and kept the name as my DJ alias.

In this blog I give my perspective on tango, the teaching, the music, events, DJ'ing and the codes and social behaviour of tango. Since my tango friends come from all over the world, the blog is in english.


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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Presentation of my DJ'ing




In short

I play traditional music. Only on request from the organizer I will play one or two tandas of nuevo or alternative tango.

My philosophy

The DJ works for the dancers and must at any time be prepared to adjust the music according to the mood of the dancers, while still respecting his own style and taste. The dancers are in the center of the event, not the DJ.

For me, a good DJ is always looking at the dancers, seeing what they like, communicating with them, smiling at them and asking himself: "is it working what I'm doing?" and if not - change the gameplan, also if it means that I have to forget most of the stuff I prepared at home. 

My music

A DJ can make or break a milonga and I strongly believe that if I only play my music as in the music I personally prefer to dance to, I will miss the point and lose the confidence of the dancers. I therefore adjust the music so it matches the level and the mood of the dancers but nevertheless still with a strong touch of my personal taste, which means with surprises and inspiration for the dancers.

You will therefore hear instrumental as well as vocal, rhythmical and lyrical, slow and fast, energetic and melancholic, simple and complex and of course old and modern tango.

Looking back at my playlists for the last couple of years I find d’Arienzo, Di Sarli, Troilo, Biagi, Tanturi, Fresedo, Rodriguez, Calo, Canaro, Lomuto, Puliese, Victor and ofcourse a bunch of others such as Laurenz, de Caro, Malerba, Vargas, Castillo and so on. Lately I have successfully played Quinteto Real and Tipica Fervor at some occasions.

But the point is not in which orchestra I play, the point is which songs from the orchestra – it makes the whole difference. This is a topic I soon will develop further on this blog.