What is something you wish Latin DJS would do more?

T

toowideforturns

Changui
My personal wishlists:
* Take requests
* Play more recent music
* Not play lightning speed dura at 2 AM.

I am generally biased towards slow and sensual music with lot of breaks. Also mention which city you're from.
 
As a DJ doing salsa+bachata not long ago someone asked me for marcarena ... requests sometimes are tricky.
I take requests as long as they are sensible and according to the vibe. Yesterday I was asked a song at peak time that I understood was not good for peak time so I told the guy I plan to play it but more than an hour after and made sure to point at him just when I started playing it.
Later he came to thank me.

I would not play a song that I don't know though. If I get a request that I don't know, I write it down and tell the person I won't play it this week but I wrote it down and if I like it I may play it next week.

I love to play recent songs, although not every week I play new songs there are songs from 2025 that I played over 20 times already. Unfortunately some dance teachers that run latin nights prefer to play the same songs they started playing 10+years ago. I guess it is because it is easier for dancers but I find it boring and I don't see myself playing the same 70 out of 100 songs every night until I decide to retire...
Recently I got one of those dance teachers asking why was I playing so many new songs, I was confused,
Me - What do you mean?
He says- This song it is new! (Christian Alicea - Hello, What's Up)
Me - No, it is not! It debut in March, I've been playing it regularly since last spring, you should come more often :D
On the other hand, there is a recent post (december) from someone who when to festivals in europe but didn't recognize the music. I understand people who like to go to a new place and the sound is familiar but I believe there must be a showcase of new/recent music and if the crowd likes a new song I keep playing it.

Generally, I avoid playing above 102 bpm salsa. If I really want to play a song that is faster than 102 bpm I usually reduce the tempo to 102 bpm. Also songs longer than 4m30s I tend to do a shorter edit. Our crowd is made of definitely not professionals and I don't want them to get tired too fast.

Fortunately me, the dance teacher I work with and our crowd don't like romantic salsa much, we got bachata to do romantic dance anyway.

Based in Didim/Turkey
 
I'm the opposite.

I need:

-More Dura.
-More classics and obscure stuff that his hard.

What I don't need:
-Soft instrumental stuff
-Anything remotely sensual

Slow is fine, though.

Where I'm located: In a city that values crap music and caters mostly to casuals and all kinds of sensual shananigans

P. S. Our local DJs aren't primarily Salsa DJs and wouldn't know good Salsa if it hit them in the face. I only hear good music when we have international DJs playing.
 
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1derpalm said:
They should do more 'stop being a percussionist at a Salsa event when your djaying, especially if the rhythm or pattern you are doing completely ruins the song."
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Yeah this is very annoying. Most of the times, they use the cowbell to accentuate ****. It completely ruins the song even if they're on beat. Now have a loud ass CLONK going off every second beat over Fragilidad.
 
My
toowideforturns said:
Yeah this is very annoying. Most of the times, they use the cowbell to accentuate ****. It completely ruins the song even if they're on beat. Now have a loud ass CLONK going off every second beat over Fragilidad.
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One friend (from India but seemed more Guyanese lol) grabbed the cowbell and took over. She was amazing. Rhythmically perfect accents whilst also dancing more reggaetonish.
 
This is what I tell people when making requests: "My official answer is no, but you can tell me what you want and if it works with what I'm trying to do, then I got you! But if you don't, enjoy the night and don't pout." Everyone's been cool with that explanation.

And I can only speak for myself regarding requests, but most of the people who make them lack self awareness and/or are inexperienced. Again, that's just my experience analyzing the people who make requests. There's 200 people in the room and you want me to play a song.....FOR YOU....at this particular time in the night, regardless of what state the flow of the room is moving. And when I honor the request, 75% of the time, it's a damn crime what I see they do with the song.....
 
That's fair. My gripe is when they don't take requests when there are like 2 people dancing. This happens in the small town I live in. Quite a bit. Even in a room of 10 people all of whom are clearly tired, they still have to play 10 min obscure salsa songs. Actually one particular DJ I can think of.
Also I think there should be some way to request songs in advance. There's like 500 find socials apps(last moneth and I am not even kidding) yet not one of these has a request song feature.
 
TurqoiseHexagon said:
... I can only speak for myself regarding requests, but most of the people who make them lack self awareness and/or are inexperienced.
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All too true, and also my personal experience. But, on the flip side, around 10-15% of my requestors make great requests, and always put a smile on my face when I see them walking up to the booth with something scrawled on a napkin. Those people make the crap requests worth it and I'm always ready with a fist bump if I saw one of them coming up.

Sometimes there are good one-off requests. For example, I rarely play Merengue nowadays because the local crowd is not really into it, but last week a group of 20 Colombians came in, and one of them requested La Vaca. I got kinda excited and I said "La vaca? ... Moo?", he grinned and said "Si! La Vaca ... Moooooo!" (it makes sense if you know the song). Anyways, it packed the dance floor and I ended up playing a merengue for every rotation that night (SBK) --> and every merengue packed the floor, which surprised me and made me super happy.

Though of course some of the sensual bachata/zouk dancers were immediately distressed, since their moves don't work with Merengue. And of course they started pre-emptively requesting super sensual (bachata/zouk) songs (I happily obliged them). But it made me shake my head, cuz I was thinking just chill out man, I got you guys, I know your group is here (they are here every week), just because I accommodated another group, doesn't mean your songs aren't coming up next. The really insane part about their sensual requests, they mainly requested songs that I play every week anyway, so all the new cool "sensual" songs that I had ready to play had to wait for the next time.
 
toowideforturns said:
I would love to hear what songs you like. One obscure song that I love that nobody ever plays is okairi okaira by fruko y sus tesos
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That is hardly obscure. I like the song and so do most of the dancers (in EU). It gets played very regularly at the EU festivals.

I hardly hear it played by local and USA DJs. Only when we have a DJ visiting from Europe that I have heard it play on this side.

Where are you based ?
 
toowideforturns said:
That's fair. My gripe is when they don't take requests when there are like 2 people dancing. This happens in the small town I live in. Quite a bit. Even in a room of 10 people all of whom are clearly tired, they still have to play 10 min obscure salsa songs. Actually one particular DJ I can think of.
Also I think there should be some way to request songs in advance. There's like 500 find socials apps(last moneth and I am not even kidding) yet not one of these has a request song feature.
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The question is: Is the DJ putting on the event or is there an organizer who is putting on the event and hiring said DJ? A DJ's own event means you're attending what they want the night to be. If it's an organizer who hires that DJ, then you take up the issue with the organizer. A lot of organizer's either hire their friends or just direct the DJ to play what they want.

Regarding requests in advance, I'm more apt to accept those because I can plug that in and make it work during the overall scheme of the night. Folks walking to me during the night and making on the spot requests are viewed unfavorably.
 
Groove On said:
Though of course some of the sensual bachata/zouk dancers were immediately distressed, since their moves don't work with Merengue. And of course they started pre-emptively requesting super sensual (bachata/zouk) songs (I happily obliged them). But it made me shake my head, cuz I was thinking just chill out man, I got you guys, I know your group is here (they are here every week), just because I accommodated another group, doesn't mean your songs aren't coming up next. The really insane part about their sensual requests, they mainly requested songs that I play every week anyway, so all the new cool "sensual" songs that I had ready to play had to wait for the next time.
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I've made sure to keep merengue's in my sets as well as it does bring everyone on to the floor.

I keep my bachatas between 120-130 BPM's for the majority of the night but I make sure the artists that are played mix between the traditionals (old and new) and the contemporaries who some may call sensual artists (Pinto Picasso, Roman, JR, Esme etc). I'll get closer to a slower BPM as the event slows down towards the end. Some of the "sensuals" balk at it but either deal or move on. Bachata is being played, so figure it out.

IMO zouk people tend to be "ABSers" (anything but salsa) so I don't have that in my mind and also plays a part while I wait to the end for the slower stuff.
 
toowideforturns said:
I would love to hear what songs you like. One obscure song that I love that nobody ever plays is okairi okaira by fruko y sus tesos
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Sorry, but since when is this "obscure"? It is pretty well-known, sometimes to the point of overplayed - or at least it has been in the past... Maybe the new generation DJs have forgotten about it...
 
I'd like for the DJs to attempt to do some basic steps and even a shine or two to the songs they regularly play. Maybe then they'll realize that about 75% of their repertoire should rarely ever be played and if so, only rarely, with breaks in between for more danceable songs. Many of the DJs where I live seem to think they're DJing mainly for a 20-year-old Johnny Vasquez on crack. I'm too old for this ish (and when I wasn't I still hated it).
 
Gaviota said:
Say "**** no" if someone requests a song like

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Thought I knew the name - El Vikingo is actually a good salsa trombonist from Germany in the footsteps of Jimmy Bosch, as you can hear from 1:42 on. But he should have avoided this elevator piano opening.
 
Chris_Yannick said:
Where I'm located: In a city that values crap music and caters mostly to casuals and all kinds of sensual shananigans

P. S. Our local DJs aren't primarily Salsa DJs and wouldn't know good Salsa if it hit them in the face. I only hear good music when we have international DJs playing.
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My scene is the same. Most DJs are 'SBK' and have no clue about salsa. For a Cuban dominated scene they're also utterly clueless about timba. It's pretty much Enrique Eglesias Bailando & Marc Anthony Vivir mi Vida on an infinite loop.

So basically I am happy if a DJ rises above that.
 
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