DJ Maral:"I love to improvise! A night with surprises makes me always feel very excited. Improvisation keeps my energy and excitement always up"

New Great TangoDJ Interview!!! Let's go to wonderful Istanbul and meet DJ Maral and her secrets. Happy Reading!!! 

From the beginning: I suppose that your first approach with tango, like for other dj, was with the dance. What inspired you to get into console and play music? A conscious decision or was the result of chance? 

It was a conscious decision for sure. I’ve been dancing for three years and dj’ing only for two years. My passion for Tango Dj’ing comes from my passion for Music. Even before tango I have been always into music since I was 5. I played the piano when I was in high school. I used to sing in school-bands, chorus. And after schooI, I became semi-professional in my music career and started singing jingles. Despite of my young age, my favourite music genres were always Jazz and Classical Music. I think that’s why after 5 months I started dancing Tango, I decided to be a DJ. I was in love with Tango music and I felt like Tango Music was becoming more important for me than Classical Music tracks I was listening before. And knowing that there were numerous tracks out there for me to discover fueled my excitement every day and kept my passion alive to become a well-known Argentine Tango Dj. 

What was your early taste of tango? There are significant differences with the current scene? 

It has been 2 years now and I can say that there aren’t radical changes in my taste. I was always on the side of more ‘classical eras and orchestras

For example, I never liked electronic tanda more than classical one. Even the tracks after 50s-60s are too modern for me. But of course I am open to change and new influences, who knows maybe my taste will change in the future 

Do you remember your first engagement as a tango dj?

Of course I remember, it was the only night that I didn’t improvise 

After one year of preparation, my friends were pushing me to start to play! And if they hadn’t pushed me, probably I would never felt ready to perform.

On my first engagement, I created a playlist with everything set clearly before; each tanda, length of each cortina etc. I was so happy at the end of the night, when people were complimenting about my performance. The day after that day, I never stopped and after that continued to practice more and more everyday. 

When do you prepare or construct your Set? A long time before the gig, on the day of the milonga, or do you improvise freely during the evening? 

I love to improvise! I love to improvise! ! I love to improvise! A night with surprises makes me always feel very excited. Improvisation keeps my energy and excitement always up. This is what I love most about DJ’ing. But on the day of the milonga, it doesn’t matter if it is a local milonga or a big festival, each time I spend 3-5 hours listening to music, organizing my cortinas and getting motivated for the night. 

Have you ever played a boring set? Did you maybe understand too late that the milonga could not give you the right motivation and you could not wait to finish? 

I never felt that I played a really boring set. Even if the night starts with low energy, I always try to increase the level of energy with my cortinas!:)

Do you accept whatever gig is offered to you or do you try to select engagements, preferring a special location or fascinating evening with friends? 

I’m always little bit picky about offers I take. I work with organizations, where they also respect the DJ and not only care about the cast or the location or the food...

How would you define your style? Has it evolved over time? Into which direction? What can influence you during an evening, the audience, the dancers, the acoustics of the location, the duration of the Milonga...

My style of DJ’ing in 3 words; Rythmic, Flowing and Romantic! But anything can influence me during an evening. The most important thing for me is the ‘energy’ in people, in their eyes, in their dance, on the dance floor, in the venue and even outside the venue. That’s why my number one aim in a milonga is to keep the energy always up! And I try to achieve this by trying to choose the best cortinas for each night.

Do you prefer playing alone or sharing the night with a / colleague. Do you 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 generally prefer to work alone, because I believe in the energy of people, if you divide the energy into two different spirits, I find it a little bit risky. But for sure I would accept the challenge to play with a collegue that I never heard before or met

If someone asks you the name of a track, do you give him the requested information, perhaps mentioning the CD where he can find it, or do you refuse and thus force him to engage into an adventure of search and find? 

If people ask kindly, I do always share the requested information. The only thing is that I want them to come back at the end of the night and not to keep me busy during my performance. Mostly people ask just for listening to that song again at home or in their car, so I share the song with them through Facebook or e-mail. But if the request comes from one of my colleagues, usually they only ask the name and they should know how to figure it out the rest

The audience bothers you with absurd requests: what do you do? Are you a jukebox? 

Of course NOT! I always listen to the requests but never promise...I don’t want to hurt their feelings, but if you are improvising you can never promise about playing a requested song.

Do you like to dance and listen to your colleagues enjoy the selections and styles of others from your performances?

I really love to listen to my colleagues from all around the world. I believe in ‘Inspiration’. For sure I feel inspired when I listen to my colleagues. It is not important for me whether I like all the selections or not, it is pretty enough for me if I feel inspired by even one single tanda. So listening to my colleagues carefully comes first, second comes dancing.

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? 

Music is international. True. Tango is international. True. Dance is international. True. Cortinas are international. FALSE. In my opinion, cortinas can’t be similar in each country at all, even in each city. You should always try to feel the culture of that city, feel the sense of humor, feel the rhythm in that city and the crowd and organize your set according to these facts. 

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? 

I think I’m lucky! We already have a milonga and I’m responsible for the creation of our calendar We conduct survey to understand our customer’s needs. And when we organize our DJs, I always try to consider the results of the survey andchoose the most liked DJs.

Three orchestras that can’t miss in one evening:

Francisco Canaro

Juan D’arienzo

Carlos di Sarli

Your three favorite orchestras, which may also be different from the previous ones:

Francisco Canaro

Juan D’arienzo

Osvaldo Pugliese

Suggest a tanda of tango instrumental, a tanda of tango singer, one of vals and milonga.

Tanda instrumental:
Francisco Lomuto

Recuerdo - 1941

Sentimiento Gaucho - 1942 

Criolla Linda - 1942

Condena – 1937

Tanda with a singer: 

Juan D’arienzo – Alberto Reynal

Orquesta Tipica – 1941

No te enganes, Corazon - 1940

El Corazon Me Engaño - 1940

El Tigre Millan - 1940

Vals: 

Orquesta Los Provincianos

A tu memoria madrecita – Luis Diaz - 1934

Samaritana – Alberto Gomez - 1932

Junto Al Mar – Luis Diaz - 1934

Milonga: 

Francisco Canaro 

Se Dice De Mi - Carlos Roldan - 1943

Cuando Un Viejo Se Enamora  - Carlos Roldan - 1942

Soy Un Porteno - Carlos Roldan - 1942

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

Singers: Horacio Palma, Roberto Mancini, Argentino Ledesma

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

Most underrated – Orquesta Tipica Victor

Most overrated – Hector Varela

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

Summer Tango Fest Bodrum 2014, Beirut Tango Fall Fest 2014, 333 (Weekly milonga in Istanbul - 31 July 2013)

We are less serious: Last night a dj saved my life. Are DJs sexy? have you ever had a relationship with a fan or a flirt with a colleague? 

I got married 2 years ago, before I started DJ’ing. And my husband is one of the most talented and well-known Tango instructors of Turkey