Roberto Lehner: I must have contact to the dancers, i MUST feel them

Another great Tango DJ in our gallery: Roberto Lehner. With almost twenty years of tango behind, Roberto has got a deep knowledge of tangoworld, his music and his secrets. He loves to be in the heart of milonga. “Sometimes the dj's place is somewhere far away from the dancers. This, in my opinion is the worst thing for a dj. I must have contact to the dancers, i MUST feel them. I ask myself why is the dj not in the Center of a milonga like in a Disco, there you can really be in contact with the dancers”.

Discover Roberto ‘s secrets!!!

 

What inspired you to get into console and play music? A conscious decision or was the result of chance?

When i started dancing Tango (1995) we only had a few CD's from Di Sarli, D'Arienzo and Canaro. After a few years of dancing i was asked for djing at a local milonga in my hometown. i played the tangos i knew this time. It was not very inspiring for me. From this time on i was djing regularly at local milongas. At the beginning of my dancing career, i didn’t like the music so much, but after my first visit in Buenos Aires i started to collect CD's and later also MP3.
What were your early taste of tango? There are significant differences with the current scene?

It was many years ago during my first trip to Buenos Aires. I visited the milonga "Nino bien" where i bought a self burned CD from the DJ. It was Alfredo de Angelis. I loved this Music so much that i started to collect more and more. I didn't play De Angelis for a long time, but now i come back to him.

The difficulty of the search for songs on cd often burned, the explosion of the Web and the consequent relatively easy to find in the music. Do you think this paradigm shift has changed the way of working of the DJ?

Of course, playing with computers makes your job very much easier than working with CD's. You can work on your music almost everywhere.
And also the easy way to find Music brings up more and more DJ's with new ideas. This give a big competition for all DJ's and is good for organisers and dancers. So if you wanna be asked for djing you have to be special and you have to work for it.

When you build your performance? Long ago, during the journey to the milonga, or sudden moment by moment?

I have a very long playlist from where a choose tandas step by step during the milonga. All the tandas are arranged.  My System is to match a milonga-tanda followed by two tango-tandas (means also with vals).the whole group should match together. But i cant say, i do it all the time like that. There are so many things happend during a Performance, that it makes almost impossible to follow a strictly rule.

Have you ever played in a boring night? Have you you understand too late that perhaps the milonga could not give you the right motivation and you could not wait to finish? Do you accept whatever you offer or try to make a selection preferring location and fascinating evening with friends?

Yes of course, i'v played at a boring milonga (not only once).
In general i must say, that organisers often don't care much about the equipment, accoustic, place for the dj etc. i think it doesn't cost very much to ask a specialist about accoustic-questions. Sometimes you can do little things to make the sound much better. And then, sometimes the dj's place is somewhere far away from the dancers. This, in my opinion is the worst thing for a dj. I must have contact to the dancers, i MUST feel them. I ask myself why is the dj not in the Center of a milonga like in a Disco, there you can really be in contact with the dancers.

My style depends on Level of dancers. time of the milonga, Country etc. I have a mix of rhythmical and melodic tangos. by myself i like more rhythmical tangos. But this is not the most important thing. i shall play what the people keeps dancing.

Do you prefer playing alone or sharing the night with a / colleague. Generally prefer to work alone, or with friends who you feeling? Or, you love the thrill of experimenting with a colleague ever heard until then?

I would prefer to play alone. But if i can try with a colleague at home, without beeing at a milonga, i would probably try it.
The reason is, because i wanna construct a milonga with a start, a part in the middle and an end. We are not musicians like Miles Davis, who was a master of Improvisation. So i think it is more a pleasure for the both dj's then for the dancers.

If someone asks you the name of a track you say it to him, perhaps suggesting where the CD is included, or invite him to venture into the trouble of searching?
the public bother you with absurd requests: what do you do? Are you a jukebox?

If someone ask me which title, i would give a correct answer. To People i know i also give Music from my selection. It is not important for me to have my own Music. You can have find Music everywhere. The art is how to match it together.
I'm not a Jukebox.

Do you like to dance and listen to your colleagues enjoy the selections and styles of others from your performances?Do you believe that the art of “musicalizador” is different for geographic areas? Argentina, USA, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean ... or is it similar in every countries?

Oh yes. there are some DJ's i like very much and like to Dance to their music.
yes, i think there are some differences in Countries. But it is not the question of the Country but probably there are actually other styles in. In one Country they like at the Moment more Canaro others more Di Sarli. But it changes all the time.

Would you like to have a milonga just for you, furnish it with the appropriate facility to your desires, try to create a wave that satisfies you over to play when you want and create a calendar of events to measure your tastes?

Oh yes, of course i was thinking about that. But there are so many milongas around, sometimes with less than 20 couples dancing. No, i think others shall do it. I try to be a good dj, thats enough for the Moment.

Three orchestras that can not miss in one evening.

Canaro, Pugliese, D'Arienzo.

Your three favourite orchestras, which may also be different from the previous ones.

D'Arienzo, Canaro, Biagi.

Suggest a tanda of tango instrumental,

Silencio
por esa mujer de carnaval
pura milonga
Chique
(Francisco Canaro)

a tanda of tango singer,

remembranzas
el panuelito
el adios
recuerdo
Osvaldo Pugliese, Jorge Maciel

one of vals and milonga.

pobre flor
adoracion¨
felisa tolosa
De Angelis

negrito
milonga del 900
La milonga de mis tiempos
Canaro

What are the three bands or singers you can not stand?

i dont know them!!

What is the band most underrated by the general public and which is the most overrated?

no answer possible.

Your top three nights (in your opinion of course …)

- Afternoon milonga in Krakow
- Open Air Milonga at Ekaterinsky Sad in Moscow
- Cafecito lungo at Int. Tangofestival Basel.

We are less serious: Last night a dj saved my life.

someone told me that once (actually some others told me that too)

The DJ rule is sexy? 

I'v never heard that.

Have you ever had a relationship with some fans and some flirt with your colleagues?
Yes.