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 

Human League: nasce il synth pop

Credo che non tutti abbiano compreso la rivoluzione compiuta alla fine dei seventies dal synth pop. Puó essere questo equivoco ad aver generato quell'oblio, o  quella non adeguata considerazione, che ha fatto di grandi gruppi delle band sottovalutate. Sto parlando degli Human League che prima di una deriva pop molto commerciale hanno sfornato un lavoro eccellente quale Reproduction. Musica elettronica da ascoltare con uno spirito quasi da studioso per scovare stilemi ed intuizioni che hanno fatto la fortuna di tanto pop elettronico a venire. O godersi in santa pace un capolavoro come Empire State Human o un altro gioiello come Blind Youth. Quante perle dobbiamo ancora riascoltare.

Mitici Cure

Da quel disco, da quel lontano 1979 é venuto molto. Grazie all'irruzione  nella storia del rock del debutto dei Cure di Three Imaginary Boys, ci troviamo ancora oggi a dover ragionare con quelle sonorità gotiche , con quelle inquietudini esistenziali che Robert Smith ha somatizzato sulla sua pelle.

Un album incredibile che condivide il piedistallo, personalmente, con Unknown Pleasures dei Joy Division. Un nuovo modo di canonizzare le turbolenze giovanili, di incanalare quella energia e quello spirito di ribellione adolescenziale post punk. Per certi versi un album grezzo, ma ricolmo di una magma rock che erutta, in modo controllato e glaciale ad ogni nota. Il capolavoro assoluto dello spleen esistenziale nel rock. Mitici Cure!!!

Xenia Mikhailov: A part of my style is introducing a new danceable music from the end of twenties to the middle of fifties. Please, pay attention: the keyword is 'danceable', not 'new'.

New great TangoDJ Interview. Let’s go to Israel and meet Xenia Mikhailov 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?

Both. I come from a strange family (no, no tango at all): my father was a ballet dancer, left dancing forever due to a very dramatic personal reasons and became a very well known historian. I was not allowed to learn music and dancing and was grown up in the atmosphere of longing for dancing and music, with a feeling of a lost Paradise – and with a very firm and sound scientific approach to any information, including artistic. My MA thesis has been written about history of Russian literature in the first half of XX century (more history than literature). How I could avoid becoming DJ with such an emotional and intellectual background?

On the other hand, it was by chance, yes. I came to a milonga where just three tandas were danceable, all three were valses. I got upset and said: “Well, if people play such music, I definitely can play better”. Went home and downloaded a free player. That's it.

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

I am not a quick person by nature and it took me some time to learn how to appreciate D'Arienzo or Biagi (well, to be honest, it just took me some time to start hearing violins there). I was always fond of Canaro family, OTV, Firpo and all this sweet and creamy music, but it also took me some time to understand that in the end of twenties – beginning of thirties tango was not primitive but on the contrary, sometimes it was much deeper, much more sophisticated. I think, it was quite a typical way of development.

Do you remember your first engagement as a tango dj?

Oh, yes. It was at one of the best milongas in Israel and I was scared almost to death, but it was such a huge success that I couldn't sleep for the whole night. I had a very clear feeling that the most important thing already happened that night and now I just have to learn a lot.

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 went through few stages of development. Playlisting is considered appropriate in Israel and I was encouraged to have a ready and tested playlist before the milonga, so I started with a playlist. But I was told honestly from the very beginning that 'somewhere there' they are so cool that they even do not prepare playlists...

I think, I stopped playlisting at my second or third milonga because it was just unbearable for me, I felt that I have to change things according to the crowd, to the day, to something in the air. It just didn't sound the same as yesterday!

Then I started to bring a playlist and change according to my memory - I couldn't listen to the tandas before I put them, but I have a very good memory and know my music, so it worked for a while. Until I made two terrible mistakes, with the wrong tune and crippling sound. I learned a lesson quite quickly and immediately got a regular DJ setup, with two players, controller and headphones.

Now I have some kind of basic idea of some tandas that I am going to play, I have a first tanda, but not more. Just a very basic sketch to start a real picture in real time. And even specials may be canceled if I see that they wouldn't work. At last milonga I didn't play Los Provincianos valses, for example, because I felt that I need something heavier.
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 wish I would be able to be boring! I have totally opposite challenges in my life. There was time when I could be too overwhelming, too new, too complicated for lazy leaders. In this sense I went through some difficult periods until I learned how to deal with it. But boring – certainly not.

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

No, I choose places. I need an atmosphere, I need to feel comphortable with an organizer and I want them to trust me. Besides, I work for free only in case if this milonga has a donation purpose, otherwise I charge an average price.

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...

The best compliment I've ever heard until now was: “Even when you play a well known music, you make it sound as if it was something new”. I was proud of myself for... may be even for half an hour! They are right, I play a new music. Who cares that it's Poema by Canaro? Can't Poema be new?

Well, to be serious, yes, I got a very personal style. There is a well known company that has a slogan: tango for smiling people. If it wouldn't be their, I would take it, I love smiling tango and try to create a happy, dynamic, light atmosphere at my milongas. Of course, I play Pugliese at three am as everybody does, and if I see that people want something heavier, I would go for heavier music, but in general I am trying to make people smile and to keep a very high energy wave.

A part of my style is introducing a new danceable music from the end of twenties to the middle of fifties. Please, pay attention: the keyword is 'danceable', not 'new'.

I do not agree with so called evolutionary theory in tango and don't think that the most popular tangos are the best. A lot of great orchestras and tunes are just discovered in recent years and a lot of them are to be discovered, why we should throw them out? The best example is Ilusiones pasadas by Jose Granados that was totally unknown until couple of years ago but deserves to be played at every milonga because it is simple, strong and beautiful. And no one is guilty that the disc was found just few years ago.

I am sure that restricting ourselves by 300-400 tango tunes we rob our dancers not only of lots of beautiful tangos but first of all of knowledge and then – of an experience of improvising to an unknown music.
Almost all leaders lead for a first couple of years to an unknown music and they manage, they learn to predict music, because classical tango is definitely predictable. It is a skill and as every skill it has to be exercised but after a couple of years they learn their 300 tangos by heart and demand from a DJ to hear just these 300 tunes.
It is quite different in different communities but the tendency exists everywhere and the only exception that I know is professional musicians. All of a sudden they don't need to know a tune by heart, even if they are not so advanced in dancing! So, apparently improvising can be taught?

I am a beginner leader myself and I know a lot of music by heart but if I hear something new for me, I go for it. I dance slower but I enjoy a dialogue with music, expecting what it will say me next moment and being ready for something unexpected. In the time when people used to dance to a live music – that very time that we call Golden now – leaders were leading for the whole night to a live orchestra. Why do we expect our music to be dead?

Don't worry, though, I don't play a lot of new tandas at my milogas. I know, at the moment things are the way they are and I put just tanda here and tanda there, for those who like diversity.

Everything influences me, of course. A place, a crowd, a day.

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?

At the moment I play only on my own. Things change, who knows...

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 would give them the name of the track. And if they look interested, I would also tell them fifty stories about this orchestra.

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

Absolutely not. I can understand such DJs, it is the easiest and the cheapest way to get popular, but you end up as an alien in Ray Bradbury's story: half masculine, half feminine, one eye is blue and another brown.

No, I would not play Otros Aires, I am not going to remove next milonga and put tango instead, an organizer will not interrupt Calo's tanda after two songs and the second D'Arienzo in the same evening would not work as well.

On the other hand, I am happy to play “something instrumental, please, during next hour” or move Pugliese from three am to one am. If a request is not absurd, I love to do everything.

To say it short, I like requests but I am the one who decides because I take all the responsibility for the music at this milonga.

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

I love many very different DJs, sometimes I can even predict their choice (different from mine), I deeply appreciate and admire many of my colleagues and can't see myself without learning from them. I will not give any names because they are dozens and I don't want to exclude somebody, but I am really blessed by lots of Djing brothers, sisters and teachers from all parts of this world. Thank you, dear friends!

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?

Very different.

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 try to never say 'never' because usually I end up doing exactly that 'never' thing, but at this moment I can't see myself as an organizer.

Three orchestras that can not miss in one evening.

Biagi, D'Arienzo, Di Sarli...
But I do not miss any of 'a must' orchestras, I always play all of them.

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

Francisco Canaro, OTV, Firpo (or Lomuto, can't choose).

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

Francisco Canaro. La Maleva.
Francisco Canaro. Pura parada.
Francisco Canaro. Fiebre.
Francisco Canaro. Por tu querer.

Tanda with a singer:

Enrique Mora y su cuarteto. Elsa Moreno. Arrepentido.
Enrique Mora y su cuarteto. Elsa Moreno. La bien paga
Enrique Mora y su cuarteto. Elsa Moreno. Destellos.
Enrique Mora y su cuarteto. Elsa Moreno. Fumando espero.

Vals:
Antonio Bonavena. Antonio Buglione. Cariño que mata.
Antonio Bonavena. Nicolas Gianastasio. Ecos del alma.
Antonio Bonavena. Neña mia.

Milonga:

Las Bordonas. Alberto Podesta. La mulateada.
Las Bordonas. Morena pilar.
Las Bordonas. Campo afuera.

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

I wouldn't say that I can't stand anything from classical range... But if I would smoke, I would go smoking when there is Troilo or Pugliese playing. At the moment I don't like later and heavier music but don't nail down, may be in a month I will say “Whom? Me?! But it was a month ago!”.And I play it, of course.

 

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

Underrated: Firpo (OTV is gradually receiving it's proper status).
Overrated: Fresedo. In Israel also Rodriguez and De Angelis.

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

I have an up and down moment at every night. Really, every milonga is like that – at certain moment I would say that it's my best and in couple of hours I would say that it's my worst. And so on.

We are less serious: Last night a dj saved my life.
Are DJs sexy?

Depends on a DJ :)

Have you ever had a relationship with a fan or a flirt with a colleague?
No, not yet. I wonder if I would fight with him in half an hour or fall in love forever...Probably, it could be a chance to start Djing with somebody else?

The Cult: nel 1985 il mitico Love

 

 

 

Quanti si ricordano dei Cult al giorno d’oggi?  Quanti  nel  1985 sono impazziti ascoltando pezzi del calibro di Rain e She sells sanctuary?  Questa band inglese gotica nell’aspetto e nei testi, intrisa di lirico pathos ha segnato la mia gioventù ed ancora oggi ascoltare il loro album Love, edito dalla mitica etichetta Beggars Banquet, mi fa sobbalzare dalla poltrona.  Un album incredibile dove il rock duro si shakera con l’ultima inquietitudine new wave, senza tralasciare striature psichedeliche o talune in farciture kitsch glam, un must all’epoca. Di sicuro la parte del leone la fa Ian Astbury, un frontman  di indiscusse qualità che porta sul suo corpo le stimmate della ribellione giovanilistica , in primis l’urlo dei pellerossa. Mi ricordo ancora la cover, il suo effetto quando ho visto l’album dal negozio di dischi : simboli religiosi affiancati dalle ali spiegate  di memoria sioux su quello sfondo scuro. Favoloso. Un disco da recuperare assolutamente e riascoltare, con nostalgia per chi non lo sente da tempo, con meraviglia per chi lo scopre. I Cult hanno sicuramente raccolto meno gloria di quanto ne avrebbero meritato, ma di ingiustizie la lunga via del rock è costellata…

 

Dario Argento: Paura

 

 

Ci siamo, lo stavo attendendo da tanto tempo. Uno dei miei personali miti cinematografici si racconta per l’Einaudi: Dario Argento. Quanta importanza ha avuto per la mia formazione cinefila. Ora, mi travolgono i frame di Profondo Rosso, L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo, Suspiria, Quattro mosce di velluto grigio…capolavori che non sono solo immagini, ma musica, tensione emotiva, pathos…dialogo continuo fra fantastico e relae, onirico e crudeltà terrena… Una autobiografia da divorare tutta d’un fiato…ho appena acquistato il volume e già fremo… voglio essere masochista… aspettare qualche giorno e divorarmelo in un viaggio aereo che mi porterà a Mallorca… Voglio scoprire i segreti della Paura… cosa ha affascinato e colpito a tal punto il maestro da farne il tema portante della sua opera cinematografica...Uno spirito libero e indipendente, al giorno d’oggi ancora sottovalutato. Ma sono sicuro che all’ormai vecchio Dario questo essere di nicchia non dispiaccia affatto…