Extract of 'Salsa brava,' a mix of Carlos Niño on Mixcloud. For the complete mix, go to: https://www.mixcloud.com/latinosinlondon/salsa-brava-winter-selection-2016/
Track 1 - London Calling (Cumbia remix)
Map according to the participant's perspectives. It is NOT an extensive map of all te Latin-American venues of London.
International Cosmopolitans
Bars devoted to Latin-American music, but many of them also present 'world music' in general. This implies specific aesthetics (see CD 2), and a varied public. With Latin-american parties, the public is mainly ("alternative") british/europeans, and Latin-American students and settled professionals. Music can be either old-school classics, or mixed with other rythms (electronic, reggae, rock). Either way, these bars are trying to show the 'authentic' Latin-american music.
'Sur', or Hardcore Latino
Venues targeted towards Latinos specifically. Many of those are Latinos that came through different migration movements and for economic reasons rather than political or educational (see McIlwane, 2012), which implies a class-based differentiation with the musical taste of the Latinos that attend the 'international' bars. Therefore, the music and the atmosphere are different too. These venues are not treating Latin-american music and identity as "other". Rather, they are trying to build a good Latin American-like party environment (it is a subtle difference difficult to express with words).
Track 2 - Selectors, not DJs
The participants would always present themselves as DJs in public, but many of them told me in private that they like to consider themselves more as "Selectors" than DJs. For them, being a DJ implies technical knowledge in mixing software so that they can mix in-between the songs.
If the definition of being a Selector does not include software knowledge necessarily, it does invoke a sense of song organizers. This implies organizing the songs according to the rythm, speed and type of music. But most importantly, they are mixing the order of the songs by taking into account the 'atmosphere' of the event. It is not that being a Selector and a DJ are two different things. Rather, being a Selector is to highlight an organizational aspect and not a tecnical one. DJs are also Selectors in that sense.
Being a 'Selector', and a DJ, then, is to read the environment in order to build the atmosphere. It is to improvise the order of the songs according to the number and type of people, bar, and the general dynamic of the night that is sensed by them.
@TheForge (Camden) - Carlos arrived in London a decade ago. He first worked as an architect, and now he is a Dj, party organizer, and a node within the Latin American network of Djs, bands, and musicians.
Besides the CDs, Carlos likes to organize live music, because he likes to show traditional and emerging music of Latin America. When he performs as Selector, he shows a wide selection of music, from old-school salsa, electro-cumbia, and rock fusion. He is also the creator of Latinos in London, a widely followed webpage of news and events.
- www.latinosinlondon.com -http://www.mixcloud.com/latinosinlondon - @arribalacumbia @latinosinlondon
@TheForge (Camden) - Carlos arrived in London a decade ago. He first worked as an architect, and now he is a Dj, party organizer, and a node within the Latin American network of Djs, bands, and musicians.
Russ is DJ and Londoner. He started performing in Dalston, and since then he has done presentations all around London and all around the world. His music repertoire goes beyond Latin American music and includes hip-hop, rock n' roll, reggae, and African music. - www.facebook.com/HackneyGlobeTrotter
Photo reproduced with the permission of Russ.
Russ is DJ and Londoner. He started performing in Dalston, and since then he has done presentations all around London and all around the world. His music repertoire goes beyond Latin American music and includes hip-hop, rock n' roll, reggae, and African music. - www.facebook.com/HackneyGlobeTrotter
Track 3 - CD Kings
There are three options: Records (vynils), CDs, or laptops (also iPad).
Even though the use of vynil is increasing, the main participants of my research don't use vynils for two main reasons. First, they are big and difficult to carry, and the equipment necessary can be expensive. Second, the offer of Latin American LPs and vynils is very limited, so it is very difficult to acquire a nice variety of Latin American records.
CDs, on the other hand, are easier to get because it is possible to download the songs from the Internet, and then transfer them into the CD (burn it). On top of that, CDs afford more mixing practices: effects such as loops, wah, or echoes (with the CDj Pioneer); but also to alternate between songs is easier, as CDs contain more tracks than vynils.
Laptops, finally, are very practical to carry to the events, and they allow to collect, organize and display the music. DJs sometimes use them instead of CDs. However, efficient organization is not necessarily what DJs are looking for. They look for a way to organize the songs so that they feel comfortable. The way CDs are organized in cases might be messier than the archive-like interface of computers, but they are practical enough to let the Selector find the appropriate song for the moment/atmosphere.