Our International Musicalizadores
We are proud and happy to welcome to our encuentro a very international and talented group: Milena Lanza, Jo Switten "El Huracan", Lynn Collins, Prasenjit Saha and Antonio Martinez.
It is a reunion of sort because all of these talented musicalizadores have been to Saarburg before. We love their music and we thought there is nothing better than being with "old friends" after such a long time.
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Jo Switten "El Huracán"(Belgium, Bruxelles)
Jo's passion is Tango Argentino. He loves to play his excellent sets in milongas around Europe. He warns that he is an authentic tangodeejay and he does his sets in tandas and cortinas. His favourite milongas are Sunderland and Canning in Buenos Aires. His music has great energy, a trait that has gained him the nickname of "El Huracán."His favourite quote: "Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music." This will be the third time that Jo dj's for us in Saarburg. We love his music! |
Milena Lanza
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Milena is Italian and lives in Bari, in the beutiful region of Apulia. She has been dancing tango for over eighteen years, having learned to dance in Buenos Aires from the old Milongueros.
She still visits Buenos Aires regularly, also for long periods of time. Besides teaching and organizing tango events, she also dj’s, something she has been doing since 2005. To prepare herself as musicalizadora, she has taken workshops in Buenos Aires with Damian Boggio and with Osvaldo Natucci, whom she has also invited to Bari in order to give talks on the tango music. Milena djs mainly in the local milongas, offering selections that include mostly themes from the Golden Age of Tango with frequent forays into the thirties and the fifties. She travels frequently to dance at many encuentros all around Europe, something that has allowed her to develop a special attention to the “danceability” of what music to select and offer at milongas when she djs. We are very happy to welcome Milena to Saarburg for the second time! |
Lynn Collins
(UK/France)
Lynn is a member of Tangokombinat and, before moving to France, she co-organised Abrazos Encuentro Milonguero in Devon, England. She’s played at encuentros all over Europe and delights in selecting and tailoring music for widely diverse events. The Golden Age is her main focus, with a few gems from the late twenties and maybe the early fifties to add intrigue and flavour.
We welcome back Lynn to Saarburg for the third time!
We welcome back Lynn to Saarburg for the third time!
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Prasenjit Saha (France)
Prasen, a dancer first, then the curiosity brought him behind the turntables. Discovered Argentine tango in Paris out of the blue, the love at first sight was an inspiration to learn this gracious dance and its culture. He first started organizing open air milongas in Paris in order to know more about the tango music and understand how to DJ. Then he went on djing in different milongas in Paris and elsewhere in France be it milongas, festivals, marathons or encuentros. Apart from being a DJ, with Séverine, he co-organizes the milonga "Esta Noche de Luna" in Paris where the maestros are regularly invited for workshops/courses and performances. "En Tus Ojos", a tango meeting, an another event that two organize in the south of France. Tango is to understand one-self and to better know the relation with the other. The milonga is a social place where people go to meet each other, have a drink with friends, meet new people, listen to the music, it's the inherent part of "who we are". Dance is a part of it but not all of it. It's a party, it is the Argentine culture. Like any society, the milonga has its own custom, behaviours and rules. The dancers and the DJ must respect the decorum of the milonga. In order to dance and dj, we need to know about this culture. The music tells something, why and what? it is necessary to feel these. The role of a DJ in a milonga is to offer the energy and vibes to the dancers unique to each moment until the end of the evening in order not to let them leave. To give them the desire is a game for the DJ. The cortina is a crucial part of the ambiance, "it is the signature of the DJ”. Prasen is also on his third visit to Saarburg as our dj. Welcome back! |
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Antonio Martinez
(Buenos Aires/Germany)
Antonio Martinez, Argentinian from Buenos Aires, a well-known and much appreciated teacher and dancer of tango, had the opportunity to gain his experience as “musicalizador” in Buenos Aires when he was collaborating with the organization Unitango. During that time, he was the regular DJ at the weekly milonga that Unitango organized at Confiteria Ideal, the historic cafe’ of the “tango porteño”. During his years in Argentina he also collaborated with several milongas in La Plata (in the province of Buenos Aires).
Antonio is very much inspired by the work of Carlos Rey, the resident DJ of some of the best traditional milongas of Buenos Aires, like “Cachirulo” and “Lujos” at El Beso.
While attending these traditional milongas as a dancer, he also had the unique opportunity of receiving a training as musicalizador, so to speak. Listening to those tandas and watching how the old milongueros were responding to the music gave him a deeper understanding and knowledge on how to prepare tandas that are truly danceable. To this "training on the pista," over the course of the years Antonio has also had the opportunity to take workshops with Osvaldo Natucci, Damian Boggio, Marcelo Rojas. Especially with Osvaldo, a maestro and friend, Antonio has had many conversations on the history and the philosophy of tango music and many precious suggestions for his development as tango dj.
Antonio is also very grateful to Susana Miller, an incredible source of knowledge and experience that she has been very generous to share with him.
Since moving to Europe Antonio has been gaining a strong reputation as musicalizador thanks to his classic, but yet very personal and original selections. He creates well-balanced tandas of music from the 30’s, the 40’s and the 50’s.
Antonio is the resident Dj at "La Tradicional" Milonga in Saarbrücken.
In Antonio’s words: "Cada tanda va con la energia que es reciproca con los bailarines en la pista. Las cortinas, como un balsamo, descansan en el corazon, para volver en otro abrazo, como un bailarin de sueños."