Breaking it down by time period

October 27, 2006

El Matrimonio – El Gran Combo was on when I came in. It was not especially popular, but the place was still fairly quiet.

Playlist

Soledad – La 33
Mi Gente – Oscar D’Leon
Etnia – Grupo Niche
Me Libere – El Gran Combo
Guarare – Ray Barretto
Mambo Of The Times – Joe Cuba (1)*
Si Tu Bailas – Grupo Latin Vibe
1-800-Quiereme – Luisito Rosario
Trombon Criollo – Cachao*
Descarga Criolla – Ray Barretto (2)*
Que Buena Baila Usted – Oscar D’Leon
Lindo Yambu – Cheo Feliciano
Bailando – Frankie Ruiz
Dejame Sonar – Tito Puente (canta Tony Vega)
La Familia – Ray Barretto (3)
Ojos Chinos – El Gran Combo
La Pantera Mambo – La 33 (4)
Te Quiero – Oliver
Mambo – Cachao
Descarga La Moderna – Ray Barretto (-4%) (5)
La Llave – Grupo Latin Vibe
La Muerte – El Gran Combo (6)
Llore – Hector Lavoe* (7)

(1) Things haven’t really picked up with “familiar” songs like Me Libere or Etnia. Guarare was not doing it either. I thought I might as well throw something completely different and see what happens. If nothing else, it caught people’s attention, and more people were dancing to next set of songs.
(2) Vishal’s reaction was, “Mambo too early. Play them later.”
(3) It’s not a good night for Ray.
(4) As usual, Luis always wants this one. Early and late. I held off for close to ten songs.
(5) An old combination. The first half (Mambo) did better than the second. As I thought earlier, it’s not a Barretto night (yet I keep playing him).
(6) It’s not exactly a Gran Combo night either. Ojos Chinos probably did the best of the three.
(7) Luis said that I should play (more?) Hector Lavoe later. Ooookay. I had Gilberto Santa Rosa up next, but it was not played. Vishal took over for the rest of the evening.

Total 23 songs. 22 Salsa. 1 Bachata. 4 new songs. The most popular songs for dancing were Llore, Mambo, La Pantera Mambo, Ojos Chinos, Dejame Sonar, Bailando, Lindo Yambu, Si Tu Bailas. Songs that bombed in my opinion were Etnia, Me Libere, Guarare, La Familia, La Muerte. The others were either somewhere in between or seemed to have served a useful purpose (e.g. grab people’s attention or set things up for next set of songs or made its debut or possibly led people to dance nicely).

I had a little talk with Luis about the music I was playing. He talked about me playing 70s music many other DJs don’t play, etc. This led me to do a breakdown of songs I played tonight by time period.

50’s – Trombon Criollo
60’s – Descarga Criollo, Descarga La Moderna, Mambo of the Times
70’s – La Familia, Guarare
80’s – Llore
90’s – Dejame Sonar, Mambo, Bailando, Etnia
00’s – Soledad, Si Tu Bailas, 1-800-Quiereme, Te Quiero, La Llave
unknown – Lindo Yambu (90s?), La Muerte, Ojos Chinos (70’s-90’s), Que Buena Baila Usted, Mi Gente (70’s-90’s)

This seemed like a good opportunity to reexamine and post what I have; some people were curious. The list includes few albums, which I have not received yet but expect soon. It does not include albums (by Tito Rodriguez and by Estrellas Caiman) I ordered long time ago but don’t expect to receive anytime soon. The way to format this list was not easy to decide, and I am placing it on a different link for now.