dj nyc

Latin Music U.S.A. - PBS

Saw the first part of this special last night on PBS,highly recommended, traces the history of Fania records, development of latin music in the USA throughout the last 50 years. The next portion is on 10/19.

Panama! 2 Calypso tracks

Another solid Panamanian Calypso compilation, so far my favorite tracks are Papa Brandao's take on La Murga, Maximo Rodriguez' Flora and Ese Muerto No Lo Cargo Yo by the Exciters. I would've liked more spaced out instrumental funk tracks like The Duncan Brothers "Dream" track and it doesn't quite have the same tropical feel as the first compilation I posted about.  I've posted about La Murga before in the djnyc salsa playlist and what an infectious track it is.  (lyrics here) Papa Brandao's version fits into the style of this compilation with more of a cocktail/ latin soul feel than straight up salsa. To listen to a sample click below.

Papa Brandao - "La Murga de Panama"


In case you were interested, in Uruguay murga is not the same as what the people in Panama and Puerto Rico call murga. In Panama and Puerto Rico the murga is an orchestra that uses trumpets, trombones, drums and other percussion instruments including the key or clave. The murgas gather around 15 to 20 musicians. They typically appear during carnivals and play for four days in a row. In countries like Puerto Rico, it is also a custom that the murgas play on Christmas. One key component is that the murga can play without a stage. They move from one place to another and are usually loud and fun.

djnyc salsa playlist

Since New York is so diverse often at events we will spin all kinds of music.  Salsa is one genre we love to spin, and there are many considerations if you are going to play salsa at your event. The first is if you have a few people who salsa and many who don't, or may prefer Merengue,Cumbia, Latin pop or Bachata, etc.  How do you keep a balance where everyone is happy? There are some great sites in New York which have salsa lists including salsa web and salsa new york, but they tend to be geared more for events where the entire night or the vast majority of the music played will be latin music.  If you have some salsa dancers but also some people who just want to fake it for a bit (can fake it to most of these except for Cubanismo's Descarga De Hoy) this is a list of some great, mid-tempo salsa tracks which may work in a more mixed crowd.  There is so much great salsa out there and this list is by no means exhaustive, only some suggestions.  While some would be considered too mainstream to the hardcore salsa dancer, for those don't know salsa much they might be more recognizable. Here is the playlist below and on Itunes. 

1. Descarga de Hoy - ¡Cubanismo!   
2. Los Dos Jueyes - Domingo Quiñones & Zion   
3. Lo Que Triago Es Sabroso II - Eddie Palmieri   
4. Si Tu No Vienes No Bailas - Edwin Bonilla   
5. Aguacero - El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico   
6. Vamonos Pal' Monte - Fania All-Stars   
7. Puerto Rico - Frankie Ruiz   
8. Barranquillero Arrebatao - Fruko y Sus Tesos   
9. No Quiero Na' Regala'o - Gilberto Santa  Rosa   
10. La Negra No Quiere - Grupo Niche   
11. Che Che Colé - Héctor Lavoe   
12. Abuelita  - Héctor Lavoe   
13. Que Bonito Es Sonar - Jimmy Bosch   
14. A la Hora Que Me Llamen Voy - José Alberto
15. Me Voy Pa'Cali - Oscar D'León   
16. Lloraras - Oscar D'León   
17. Micaela - Sonora Carruseles   
18. Mama Guela - Spanish Harlem Orchestra   
19. Mambo Gozon - Tito Puente
20. La Murga - Willie Colón       

djnyc slower cha cha recommendations

This is by no means a comprehensive playlist since there are so many great cha cha songs if you delve deeper into the catalogs of Oscar D'Leon, Tito Puente, Willie Rosario, El Gran Combo, Hector Lavoe, etc, but this is a start. This is a list of some good, *slower cha cha songs to dance to beyond Tito Puente's Oye Como Va. A good starting point which sounds similar to Oye Como Va is Ray Barretto's Cocinando Suave.
Here is the list of 20 solid, slower cha cha songs

1. Ndiabaane - Africando
2. Cha Cha # 3 - Bebo Valdes & His Orchestra
3. Me Lo Dijo Adela    Bobby Capo   
4. Sabor Sabor - Curtis Folks, Frank Reyes
5. Cafe - Eddie Palmieri   
6. Negro de Sociedad - Eduardo A. Lopez Boniatillo
7. Que Cosas Tendrán - El Gran Combo
8. Quitate Tu - Fania All-Stars   
9. Oriente - Henry Fiol   
10. Mi Negrita Me Espera - Ismael Rivera
11. Salchicha Con Huevos - Jimmy Sabater   
12. Wabble Cha - Joe Cuba Sextette   
13. Cha Cha Rene - Johnny Pacheco   
14. Ay! Que Frio - Ocho   
15. Mata Siguaraya - Oscar D'León   
16. Ahora Si - Ray Barretto
17. Quizas, Quizas - Ruben Gonzalez   
18. Escucha el Ritmo - Spanish Harlem Orchestra   
19. Cha-Con-Cha - Tito Puente   
20. Ven Vida Mia a Bailar- Tito Rodriguez

Willie Colon - Idilio

This a great track, often described as salsa romantica, and perhaps less played than Willie Colon's more famous of La Murga, Che Che Cole and El Malo.  There are so many different directions you can go when spinning salsa, most of it depends of course on the crowd, how many people can dance salsa, if there are more couples or more single people, Idilio is a good choice for a mid tempo track but perhaps less recognizable than La Murga. 

Tips for djing Salsa

There are so many different styles, tempos and eras with Salsa music that it's important to ask people exactly what they like to dance to if you will be spinning salsa at their event.  Often if they love salsa but their guests are not as keen on it you have to play more well known tracks from Willie Colon or Tito Puente, and often slower tempo particularly if they can't really salsa but like to fake it.  The event we dj-ed Sunday there were several guests there who loved Jimmy Bosch and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra but were less keen on the Tito Puente tracks, which is different than what we expected. As always the best nights are the ones where you can move between many different styles/ genres of music which is what we did, we eneded up playing country, Detroit funk, soul, disco, salsa, merengue, bachata, cha cha cha, Cuban son, Nigerian funk, roots reggae, latin jazz and latin soul.

Here are some of their favorite salsa tracks

We'll be spinning a few of these at the Scorpello event.

Willie Colón/Ruben Blades Homenaje a Levoe
Oscar D'Leon Mi Mujer es Una Bomba
Willie Colón Idilio
Ray Barretto Guarare;  Descarga la Moderna;  Cocinando Suave;  Ahora Sí;  Son con Cuero
Spanish Harlem Orchestra Cuando Te Vea
Johnny Polanco y Conjunto Amistád La Receta
Sonora Ponceña Fuego en el 23 (4:44 version);  Nanara Cai;  Canto al Amór
Cal Tjader Tumbao;  Alonzo
El Gran Combo Por Siempre
Eddie Torres (Dance City album) Pa' Gozar;  Caraván;  Tú Me Estas Volviendo Loco
Tito Puente Gozar Timbero;  Swinging the Mambo;  Oye mi Guanguanco;  El Cayuco;  Ran Kan Kan
Jimmy Bosch El Avión de la Salsa;  Cocosito

Last night at Flute Bar Grammercy

Last night was excellent, we went very late until about 4 am. Alexandra was from Venezuela and Joel was from London so it was an amazing opportunity to play all kinds of music from Manu Chao to Wilfredo Vargas to Ray Barretto to Willie Colon, it helped that they had great taste in music.  Below our a few photos of Alex and Joel dancing on the bar at the after party while we were spinning.  Will post some more photos tomorrow. 

Here's a list of some of the tracks for below

Depois Do Carnaval -  Azymuth            
Tudo Que Voce Podia Ser  - Azymuth            
Hot N' Cold    Basement Jaxx            
Watch Out Now - Beatnuts            
I Know You Got Soul - Bobby Byrd                      
Viejo Socarron - Eddie Palmieri            
Águas De Março - Elis Regina E Tom Jobim            
Congo Man - Ernest Ranglin                     
Quitate Tu - Fania All-Stars            
Usted Abuso - Fania All-Stars            
Nappy Root    Funkadelic            
You Can't Miss What You Measure - Funkadelic
Barato Total - Gal Costa            
I Get Lifted - George McRae            
Happy Friends    The Greyboy Allstars            
Jungle Strut - The Greyboy Allstars                   
Lowdown Popcorn - James Brown            
It's A New Day - James Brown                              

It's Dancing Time - Mr Scruff & Quantic            
Suena Tu Bongo - Ocho            
La Cosa Se Pone Fuerte - Ocho            
Spottieottiedopaliscious - OutKast                     
The Heart's a Lonely Hunter - Thievery Corporation
Ran Kan Kan    Tito Puente            
Timbalero    Tito Puente
Che Che Cole - Willie Colon   

Willie Colon - The Player

This album is on the Ipod today, favorite tracks are Malo, The Hustler, Che Che Cole, La Murga y Siembra.  Willie Colon has some of the best classic album covers in addition to some of my favorite Fania latin music.