Jens Dorr: Always happy when people want to know more about tango music.

Ready for another great tango DJ Interview? Here, for you the secrets of Jens Dorr. Have a good reading.

From the beginning : I suppose that your first approach with tango, like for other dj, was with the dance. 

I started listening to tango by the time I played the tenor sax, playing tunes of Astor Piazzolla some 25 years ago. It was only about ten years later that I started to dance.

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

Chance. I was invited to dj every night during two weeks of tango holidays in Greece. I didn't have anything better to do, so I went. It was so much fun, that I kept on doing it.

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

In the beginning I had around 500 pieces on my computer. 

Some traditional tangos, some non-tangos and, what I liked most, some modern Troilos from the 60s and 70s(!) ... and the people loved it.

After a while of developing my dance and listening more carefully I didn't like the non-tangos anymore. Today traditional tango music is appreciated much more than in those early days. By the way, I still like listening to the late Troilos...but not on the dancefloor.

Do you remember your first engagement as a tango dj?

Yes, see above.

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 like to prepare a folder of some pieces I'd like to play that evening. How I put them together, I decide during the set.

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? 

First: Yes of course this happened in the past. 

Second: Yes of course I played at milongas where I had the feeling that people were not listening to the music and that can be tiring.

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? 

At the beginning I took everything to gain experience. Today it is more a question of time because of my tango school/milonga

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...

Of course I became more and more familiar with the music I have. Nowadays I can more easily react to the needs of the crowd. But that does not mean that I am always right... Everything around has an effect on me and on my music. 

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 prefer to play on my own. But there are some colleagues with whom I could imagine sharing the dj set.

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 rather generous with this kind of information. Always happy when people want to know more about tango music.

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

If I don't want to play it then I don't play it.

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

I don't know if I understand the question.. Of course I like to dance on other djs sets. Otherwise I could not dance at all.

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? 

I think it is more a question of the type of event. Is it a local regular milonga, is it a festival with live music or a marathon. I play a different set at each of them.

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 already have it... and I love it!!

Three orchestras that can not miss in one evening.

Juan d'Arienzo, Rodolfo Biagi, Francisco Canaro

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

Anibal Troilo, Ricardo Tanturi with Enrique Campos, Pedro Laurenz

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

Tanda instrumental:

d'Arienzo 

-Yunta Brava

-El marne

-Por que razon

-Maipo

Tanda with a singer: 

Tango:

Tanturi/Campos

-Que sera de ti

-Y siempre igual

-Oigo tu voz

-El sueno del pibe

Vals:

Laurenz

-Caseron de tejas

-Mascarita

-Flores del alma

Milonga: 

Donato

Sacale punta

Ella es asi

De punta a punta

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

Heino, Kastelruther Spatzen... just joking, back to Tango: Nearly every orchestra has something to offer: I think it is always a question of when and how much of it.

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

To be honest... I don't like that kind of discussion.

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

I liked all those nights where I had the feeling that I am with the dancers and they are with me.

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? 

A gentleman never tells.