Festival and Travel Planner 2025

Yogalholic said:
I'm back from Rovinj!
It was great and the Cuban room was NOT lead heavy
On the way home I took a shared transportation in a Van to Venice with some hardcore On2 salseros and when we arrived at the Italian border the customs stopped us asking us to wait in the van while they've been checking our passports. It took a very long time and we were confused why they needed so much time to process 6 passports and 1 DMV document, are they drinking coffee? Not unsurprising for Italian public servants :rofl:
And then one guy said "they are looking for kizombies!" :rofl:
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Did you leave before the big storm?
 
Chris_Yannick said:
I'm not sure which events you were at when he was DJ'ing (pre 2020?),
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Too many to list. As I said among the EU DJs he was better one.

Chris_Yannick said:
but I didn't have a problem with him in the last 5-6 events he's played at.
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Post-Covid last time I was at festivals was in 2022 I think I did a couple where he played.


Chris_Yannick said:
He's also come to our local festival every year since 2000 and I didn't notice a drop off in quality. Maybe Covid rejuvenated him.
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2000 or 2020? :)

I said he dropped off and started to sound more like other EU DJs post Covid.
 
Offbeat said:
I said he dropped off and started to sound more like other EU DJs post Covid.
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Do you have any examples of DJ who plays a lot of popular big events and doesn't mold their sets to average persons taste? And keeps getting invites for 10+ years.
 
Offbeat said:
Too many to list. As I said among the EU DJs he was better one.


Post-Covid last time I was at festivals was in 2022 I think I did a couple where he played.



2000 or 2020? :)

I said he dropped off and started to sound more like other EU DJs post Covid.
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I don't have a time-stamped analysis, as I don't even remember from before 2018 (when I quit salsa for 5 years), but I've heard some pretty weak sets from him in both, festivals and local parties more recently. They weren't horrible but made me wish for a different DJ every time. I've also heard good sets, but good, not amazing, and the ratio was about 50/50.
 
Smejmoon said:
Do you have any examples of DJ who plays a lot of popular big events and doesn't mold their sets to average persons taste? And keeps getting invites for 10+ years.
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For me, DJ Gabriel (France), DJ Rumbero (Germany), and DJ Willy (NL) come to mind, to name some well-known ones. I don't think I've ever witnessed either one of those play a bad set. Maybe some not completely aligned with my taste, but never bad.
 
desconocida said:
For me, DJ Gabriel (France), DJ Rumbero (Germany), and DJ Willy (NL) come to mind, to name some well-known ones. I don't think I've ever witnessed either one of those play a bad set. Maybe some not completely aligned with my taste, but never bad.
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Yes, I experienced DJ Rumbero always do surprisingly good sets even on local events. I was bored only once on a cuban event when he played endlessly Timba, but that was to be expected and I just didn't fit well into that evening.
 
Looks like more artists/teachers were confirmed for the dancehouse July event in Budapest. It's mostly the regular attendees.

- Rumen and Julia (Bulgaria)
- Sophia
- Talia and Pocho (Madrid)
- Ouissam and Martina
 
desconocida said:
For me, DJ Gabriel (France), DJ Rumbero (Germany), and DJ Willy (NL) come to mind, to name some well-known ones. I don't think I've ever witnessed either one of those play a bad set. Maybe some not completely aligned with my taste, but never bad.
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While I agree they play very nice sets, Gabriel and Willy NL are not top tier with regard to events they play, and Rumbero does adjust to mainstream tastes the more he plays, I think he just entered market later.

When you play smaller events or like Gabriel make your own parties, then laws are different and you get more freedom of expression.
 
Smejmoon said:
While I agree they play very nice sets, Gabriel and Willy NL are not top tier with regard to events they play, and Rumbero does adjust to mainstream tastes the more he plays, I think he just entered market later.

When you play smaller events or like Gabriel make your own parties, then laws are different and you get more freedom of expression.
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I honestly think it's kind of silly to start distinguishing into A, B, and C line DJs in this context. Especially when we talk about people who have been for something like 20+ years in the business and are very well established. I very much think they check all boxes on your list: 1) play big popular events (not ALL of them, clearly, but that wasn't the requirement) 2) don't mold their sets to average person's taste (in Rumbero's case I feel he's very consistent in his choices, of course every DJ will allow for some flexibility), but then again, this is a highly subjective criterion 3) keep getting invited for 10+ years - ok, here I'm not entirely certain how long exactly Rumbero has been around. For Willy and Gabriel it must have been around 20 years or more.
 
desconocida said:
I honestly think it's kind of silly to start distinguishing into A, B, and C line DJs in this context. Especially when we talk about people who have been for something like 20+ years in the business and are very well established. I very much think they check all boxes on your list: 1) play big popular events (not ALL of them, clearly, but that wasn't the requirement) 2) don't mold their sets to average person's taste (in Rumbero's case I feel he's very consistent in his choices, of course every DJ will allow for some flexibility), but then again, this is a highly subjective criterion 3) keep getting invited for 10+ years - ok, here I'm not entirely certain how long exactly Rumbero has been around. For Willy and Gabriel it must have been around 20 years or more.
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What I'm saying when Dimitri was that caliber DJ as Willy he got praises from @Offbeat, if that makes sense. I know he's researching salsa music all the time and can play amazing stuff. All those top line DJs can, but their job is not that. Their job is to cater to masses and it molds their sets.
What Gabriel does is amazing, but I consider him local DJ who rarely plays in festivals. So he does not have this pressure to please everyone to keep getting invites.
does that makes more sense?
Rumbero now is running with the big boys and I can hear difference.

Willy plays smaller and local festivals and there is this example - other Willy who was more popular while playing Mauri level garbage in team with Mauri. They got confused all the time. So worse is better the larger events you play. That's my observation and how I calibrate complaints on internet.

Privately I know many top DJs know my taste and in smaller events drop some songs for me, they would never play in rovinj or berlincongres. They're professionals, they know time and place.
 
Mauri level garbage lol.

I rememeber when Willy and Cesar were being heavily promoted as a duo. Music got tiresome really fast.

Ever since then I've developed an allergy to any DJ named Willy.

When I was still in the habit of rubbing shoulders with the DJs, they would often ask me what songs I wanted to hear rather than me having to ask. The bad DJs were the ones who weren't open to adjusting their playlists nor caring what the crowd wanted to hear.
 
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Offbeat said:
Post-Covid last time I was at festivals was in 2022 I think I did a couple where he played.
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So Dmitri earned brownie points from me because of Cobeatparty. His online sets were often to my tastes. Then I rememeber him taking some of those songs to festivals once they restarted.

With being mainstream, some of that lustre wears off. I don't expect greatness though.

It's a sadder state of affairs when local DJs seem to not get the music right while even playing for a small niche crowd.

I have to go to festivals to experience good Salsa music, which didn't used to be the case.
 
Yeah, local DJs who also organize has a lot more freedom and they can also take educational role. We have few who play much better music on average than average festivals.
Then on other hand there are dancers who become teachers who become DJs. They gained authority not by playing good sets, but pivoted into it. That's another story. But local parties /festivals have a lot of those.
 
DJs must adapt like chameleons to the crowd they play for, therefore I learned to not judge them too early. It's their job to please the crowd, not themselves. A local DJ I would have sweared he can't do a good set then surprised me at an on2 party with great music.

Btw. Mauri played a great set on a Zurich on2 party last year. I know because at the end I thanked him and asked for his name. Well possible he plays mediocre mainstream at other events.
 
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