Philosophy of Dj
Juan Pablo - contact me: salsabuena@gmail.com
I
started DJ'ing in 2002, three years after I started dancing salsa.
I've always loved music, from my native Argentinas tango, to hip-hop,
funk, and finally salsa. I was getting tired of the monoty of the DJ's
in my hometown Oslo. So I said to myself, I can do better than
this...
Then
with my partner Guachi Guaro, we changed the face of the salsa music
being played in Oslo, from the uninspiring and commercial salsa we
started giving the people the real thing. Back to roots, back to the
classis salsa, made for the dancers. But obviously, you gotta give the
crowd what they want, and if they also wanna groove to the sweet voice
of the "new school", you gotta give up, being, Victor Manuelle,
Gilberto, Issac, or even Marc Anthony. But without letting go of my
signature, and my signature is the old school salsa.
Playing profil
To
me picking the right tracks it's all about the feeling each tune
transmits to the dancer, the right groove, the heavy tumbao, the funky
bassline, the voice of the singer, and the coro, oh God, the coro has
to have the right flavour.
I
do not mix or loop songs, and believe in playing whole tracks so the
dancers
can groove through to the last beat.
The
perfect night as a DJ is when you keep the dancefloor full all night
with a
nice blend of old school and newer salsa/mambo.
Salsa
pa’l bailador
Knowledge
and interest for the history and roots of the music we call
“salsa” is
imperative for the salsa DJ. And by continuation knowledge
of
the artists that create
and interprets the music. The peak period for this music today known as
salsa,
both in terms of popularity, innovation and quality of the performers
was the
decades of the (50’s, 60’s and 70’s. In
this period the music was still
performed and developed intimately with and for the dancers (in reality
this
should be quite logically as salsa is per definition music for
dancing). As a
consequence the music and performers from the decades noted above is
still today the reference
for many salsa lovers and salsa dancers. The last decade has shown a
great resurgence
and increased interest for the classic period of Latin music. Many of
the salsa
classics from the 60’s and 70’s are now being
re-issued on cd and on LP.
Favourite
artists?
The
richness of the Afro-Antillian rhythms we know as
“salsa” is infinitely large. So
to pick out a few clear favourites is
difficult or rather impossible. To name a few I have to start with the
“classics”,
the more famous and commercially successful artists and bands such as
Ricardo
Ray & Bobby Cruz, Angel Canales, Tipica 73, Joe Cuba Sextet,
Tito Puente,
Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri, Johnny Pacheco, Larry Harlow,
Ruben
Blades, Hector Lavoe, El Gran Combo, La Sonora
Ponceña, Ismael
Rivera, Justo Betancourt. Other maybe less famous, but not the least
inferior
musically would be, Manny Oquendo y Libre, Hector Rivera, Javier
Vazquez, The New
Swing Sextet, Kako, Ray Rodriguez, La Lupe, La Playa Sextet,
Charlie
Palmieri, Chaparro, Cachao, Tito Rodriguez, Elio Reve y su Charangon,
Beny
Moré, Johnny Ventura and the list goes on and on.
DJ Juan
Pablo has been DJ’ing regularly since 2002.
- -Host
DJ and organiser of Club Clave – Oslo’s
first and most successful monthly strictly salsa
party since January 2004
- -Played
in the Annual Norwegian Salsa Congress twice, 2003 and 2004
- -Regensburg
Salsa Congress (Germany)
2005
- -
Three guest DJ appearences in Sudaca Salsa in Buenos Aires. The biggest
strictly salsa club in BA, Argentina. January - March 2006.
- -Host Dj
- Salsa on Thursdays Cliché (Oslo’s
biggest weekly strictly salsa party)
- - Guest Dj
at Tiki, (Tuesdays) Salsa Nite (Sundays) both in Oslo
- - Guest
Dj at “Sudaca” Buenos Aires biggest weekly Strictly
Salsa party (Argentina)
2006
- -
Other places to mention is clubs in Götenburg (sweden), Cluj (Romania), Ealing Town Hall, London (Mambo City, 2003), Skien Saturday
parties (Norway)
