(Three track tandas I)
“Say a DJ told you, as they will: “I always play tango tandas in fours except if the organiser requests threes”. That is another way of saying "I always play tango tandas in fours except when I don't", which is a fairly useless statement. It also tells me: "I let the organiser mess up DJing".
It is the same with DJs who say:
- You know I would play 100% traditional music if it were up to me.
- Indeed yes. So why then this single tanda of alternative music?
- I was asked to play it.
This shows, interestingly, that a DJ who might prefer to play in fours (or would prefer to play only traditional music) and who may even play good tandas and have good soundcraft is nevertheless a mere hand for hire who will not only compromise what they believe to do as they are told but will do so presumably just in exchange for the pittance most get paid or if not, then for the the supposed status of DJing or to "get known". What else makes sense?
Someone commented that such DJs are like women who accept invitations from guys who can’t really dance.
It's a fact of life that unless the DJ is also the event organiser, he/she IS just a hired hand - and frequently not very well paid (if at all). I have twice, recently, made it clear that if an organiser expects anything except 100% traditional music from me, they should look elsewhere; but having accepted an engagement, I have never experienced an organiser trying to influence what I play.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't think it does your argument much good to use the pejorative 'Kindergarten' label. A garden in which tango dancers can grow ought to be right up your street.
Clive wrote:
ReplyDeleteIt's a fact of life that unless the DJ is also the event organiser, he/she IS just a hired hand.
It may not to you but to me that term “hired hand” has more than just literal meaning. In the film ”Begin Again” Dan wants “session musicians” for their album that is to be made outside around New York. I didn’t know the term but expected it to mean jobbing musicians, “hired hands” with no particular allegiance, with no particular skill other than "could they fill that particular need at that time with a basic competency?" From the context this seemed to be the case. "Basic competency" incidentally, leaves a lot open to interpretation unless it is somewhere defined.
In contrast, imagine a DJ (or anyone actually) hired, indeed for perhaps just that day but this person has particular skill, experience, will reliably deliver a good quality, popular set, is principled and respected. To call such a person a mere “hired hand” belies your implication that it has no more meaning than someone who gets paid to do a job. For me, calling such a person just a “hired hand” would be derogatory and inaccurate. I think “hired hand” has the sense of being easily replaceable by someone else, yet to find the qualities I have just described in one person would not mean, I think, that they were easily replaced.
Perspective counts for much. If the aim is as much profit as possible or as many in at the door as possible and you know that a DJ with those good skills will do that then you probably will see even such a person as nothing more than a “hired hand”, a means to an end. Hired hands often aren’t treated well and such a skilled person likely being in demand will be able to pick and choose their jobs and go places where they are perhaps less likely to be treated as hired hands.
If you don’t tend to see people as means, or you think profit and/or success follows from a good quality product service or experience rather than being the primary aim, then again I think that sort of person would be less likely to think of such a good DJ which they might employ as merely a hired hand. I suppose one might want to provide a good experience using quality “resources” and still believe a good DJ to be nothing but a “hired hand” but I think the two mentalities rather contradictory.
It is worth noting that far from all DJs can or do charge, and I suppose (and hear) nor can many organisers, especially new ones or those including food, afford a DJ who charges, rendering the idea of a “hired hand” quite irrelevant in those contexts. In this scenario of course it is far easier for any conflicted DJ to stick to their beliefs.
Clive wrote: “But I don't think it does your argument much good to use the pejorative 'Kindergarten' label. A garden in which tango dancers can grow ought to be right up your street.”
It is true I believe some milongas have better conditions where beginners to thrive than others. That does not mean I believe in “beginner milongas” which I think has a different implication. I’m not quite sure what your point is. If it was that three-track tandas are better suited to beginners or that any milonga is better than none for beginners I would not be clear on your reasoning.
So a DJ is a hired hand, much in the same way as most of the musicians in the orchestras of the Golden Age. So what?
ReplyDeleteLike Clive, I'd turn down a gig if I was asked to play any significant amount of non-tango music, but otherwise I'm happy to work with the organiser to deliver the experience that they want to give to the dancers. As a dancer, I have a mild preference for four songs in a tango tanda, but three can work well too, especially at short milongas in an environment where you have more potential partners than you can possibly dance with.
Iain wrote: "at short milongas in an environment where you have more potential partners than you can possibly dance with."
DeleteThis reminds me of why all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants are a problem... to people who want all they can eat. :-)
Iain said: "So a DJ is a hired hand, much in the same way as most of the musicians in the orchestras of the Golden Age. So what?"
ReplyDeleteIt is well known that many of the Golden Age musicians were really talented. Many people for instance can pick out Di Sarli or Biagi on the piano and I've said before that for me, for instance Rodriguez' pianist is very recognisable. The bandoneons in Laurenz have a unique sound for me. There are examples of this sort of thing in all the orchestras. So no, I don't think of some of those musicians as just hired hands. As I said, if skilled people are treated just as such they tend to walk and those musicians did all the time. That worked OK then because in those unique circumstances there were so many other orchestras to go to.