Hagen Schroter: I search for the right proportion of good music people are used to dance to and something special to give the right kick

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• We continue our journey through the interviews with great TangoDJ. Today we stopped in Germany to meet Hagen Schroter. A DJ who carefully chooses his DJSet. As he himself says, " I only do what I want to do". Enjoy!
• 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?
  When I started to dance I loved a mix of good classic Tangos and Alternative or Non Tango Music. At my favorite Milonga the DJ always prepared some very special „tandas“ I danced on them like crazy. He told me years later that seeing this made him ask me if I would like to try to put the music at his milonga for some hours. People liked it, he kept on asking me and I enjoyed it...
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  What was your early taste of tango? There are significant differences with the current scene?
  As I said already at the beginning I loved both, traditional and modern/ alternative music to dance. Now for dancing I prefer the Tangos from the early 30s to  early 50s and the current taste luckyly goes along with that.
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  Do you remember your first engagement as a tango dj?
  I was very exited and I used the Cds of another DJ, so I was struggling a lot but I loved it!
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  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 have a big library of prepared Tandas. From time to time I work on them, change them and try to bring them to perfection. That gives me the time to smell the mood of the dancers and go with them.
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  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 had my own Milonga (Clärchen's Ballhaus) for seven years and put the music there for five years every week. So of course there where boring nights from time to time. When it started to happen more often I asked another DJ from Berlin (Ossian Fraser) to put the music every second week. Two years later I found Felix Naschke, a young motivated dancer, teacher and Dj, to go on with the milonga and I stopped. Now I love to DJ because it is never routine.
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  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 only do what I want to do.
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  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...
  Everything is important. I always try to adopt to the circumstances and convince the people to enjoy what I can offer. I search for the right proportion of good music people are used to dance to and something special to give the right kick. 
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  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 worked very rarely with a colleague. It was always fun but in general I think I prefer to work alone. And absolutely not with someone I don't know as I have some responsibility for the night if I put the music.
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  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?
  I am happy if dancers are interested in the music. I will tell them whatever I can.
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  The audience bothers you with absurd requests: what do you do? Are you a jukebox?
  If requests are absurd I will not do it.
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  Do you like to dance and listen to your colleagues enjoy the selections and styles of others from your performances?
  I love good DJs!
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  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?
  The appreciation for good DJs developed a lot during the last years. For example in the US that happened much earlier than in europe as I experienced it. 
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  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 have this at Nou Tango Berlin with it's friday milonga. I put he music there just very rarely as we usually have guest DJs every week. But it is wonderful to have a place created for dancing and good wipes. 
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  Three orchestras that can not miss in one evening.
  Di Sarli, Canaro and D'Arienzo
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  Your three favourite orchestras, which may also be different from the previous ones.
  Canaro, Di Sarli and Pugliese
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  Suggest a tanda of tango instrumental, a tanda of tango singer, one of vals and milonga.
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  Tanda instrumental:
  Di Sarli: Como los nardos en flor, Milonuero viejo, Ciudad con los cuarenta, La Cachila
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  Tanda with a singer:
  Calo with Beron: Que te importa que te llore, La abandone y no sabia, Un crimen, Tristezas en la calle de Corrientes
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  Vals:
  D'Arienzo: Alma dolorida, El aeroplano, Orillas del plata
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  Milonga:
  Julio De Caro: Saca Chiaspas, Canaro: No hay tierra com la mia, Reliquias porteñas 
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  What are the three bands or singers you can not stand?
  De Angelis except of the Valses, that's it
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  What is the band most underrated by the general public and which is the most overrated?
  Underated: Julio de Caro and Domingo Federico, overrated: D'Arienzo
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  Your top three nights (in your opinion of course ...)
  Way too many to decide. But I will never forget the night when I heard Alberto Podesta live!!!
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  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?
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