Notice to all Music Producers and
Nightclub DJs:
Please announce the name of the song and artist AFTER each song.
By Edie, The Salsa FREAK!! www.SalsaFreak.com
I am a dancer and
instructor.
I represent dancers and can relate to dancers. Dancers dance to Music (duh). Without music, there would be no dancers,
however without dancers, there would still be music.
I have heard over the years , via the grapevine, and from countless promoters, that there is however a very wide “disconnect” between Dancers and Musicians. To put it bluntly, there is simply the Classic “Lack of Communication” between the two.
Allow me to explain.
Most Music Artists and band members do not take the time to learn to excel in
dancing as dancers do. Most dancers do not take the time to research who
the artist of every song is, much less the song name. Most don’t
even care (sad but true), and most dancers just want the next song to start so they can keep
dancing.
After taking Albert Torres' History of Music class for the second time (we were in Switzerland) , and discussing this very subject with him, he continues to tell his audience how disappointed he is that the dancers don’t know the artists of the songs, nor the song names. He took a poll in the class and asked how many dancers knew who Tito Puente was…then Celia Cruz… then Eddie Palmieri… the results were astonishing. Less than 15% of the class raised their hands for every artist mentioned. I myself was shocked. The first time i took his class, was about five years ago in Sweden. Back then over 50% of the people raised their hands. Now only 15%?
The numbers are diminishing. As each year passes, less and less people / dancers remember who the greatest Salsa / Mambo artists of all of history were. This is truly a tragedy.
However, as a dancer, I find it difficult to accept the responsibility to research each and every artist – especially when all I want to do is dance . In the United States, I can utilize Pandora radio (www.Pandora.com) and connect to a single Latin artist that I “do” know, and just listen to that and similar genres all day – getting educated at the same time if I like a particular song. Pandora has definitely done all of us a FANTASTIC educational service in that area. But what about the rest of the world? Hm? What do the rest of us do in the meantime?
Sure, we can add beamers, but that is an added expense, and most of us don't know what that is except the DJs.
Sure we could have digital screens next to the DJ booth that say the name of the song and artist, but that is also another added piece of equipment and expense for the evening. What if the LED's blow out?
Sure we could project the song's video on the big screen and see the name of the artist and song title.. even the producer name! But how many smaller clubs throughout the world have projection devices specifically for this?
Dancers don’t / can’t / won’t research the song because the majority of the time they cannot remember “how it went”, sounded, much less the words. The majority of the time, all they know is that it was a cool song, and that’s all they can remember. They beg the DJ to play it, but time and time again, the DJ has no clue what they are talking about, as they struggle to hum the tune, and say its words… DJs will laugh at this as time and time again, night after night, they have to listen to horrible-sounding renditions of songs from dancers trying to hum their way through a tune they so desperately want to hear…
Here is a scenario that happens over and over again…
… “Oh! There’s that song again! I LOVE that song!!”
· “Who sings it?”
· “I have no idea. We’ll ask the DJ afterward.”
· “What’s the name of it?”
· “I don’t know…!!”
· “DJ booth is locked – he just told me doesn’t give away his songs (secrets) for fear “his music” will be copied by other DJs and he will not get hired anymore.”
· “So how do I find out the name and artist of the song?”
· “Bring your Iphone to the club next time, and we’ll download Shazam and find out.”
· “I tried that last time, and it didn’t work.”
· “So how do we find out the name of that song?”
· “…I don’t know. I can try singing it to the next DJ. Maybe he’ll recognize it.”
Dancers get tired of going through this on a weekly basis. So they just “stop” asking, and continue dancing.
DJs play the music, and don’t tell us the names of the artists nor the songs all night long, night after night, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Maybe they don’t know? And Musicians, Artists, Promoters, and Instructors WONDER why dancers are so ignorant of the music they dance to? Most dancers don’t even know that Musician Genius “Tito Puente” made over 100 CDs mostly for us dancers! Most of the songs we dance to were created by Tito Puente and his Orchestra – some of us don’t even know who Tito Puente is! Sometimes I am given music as a gift on a burned CD, that I don’t know where it came from, nor who the artist is, nor the name of the song, and Shazam (Iphone App) doesn’t tell me either. It’s a killer song, but “Gee, I wish I knew who the artist was… “
It would really help if the DJs at every nightclub would take less than four seconds to announce the name of the song that was played and the artist AFTER the song is over.
Simple.
What would be even COOLER is if the name of the song and artist were PLACED INSIDE the music of the ACTUAL CD before each song, as part of the track as it was being created. This way, the DJs don’t have to say a word if they don’t want to … the CD already tells the name of the song and the artist just a split second after it plays.
HHHhhhhmmmmm…. Now why hasn’t anyone thought of that? EVER?
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Making the
song/artist announcement AFTER the song is over is more important /impressive
than BEFORE the song plays because we can anticipate Who the Artist is AFTER we hear the
song. If the announcement is BEFORE the song plays, and we don’t pay too
much attention, we will miss out on the artist name and song name if we realize
we really like the song afterward. (now THAT was a mouthful).
It would analogous to
hearing the song “Hotel
California” by the Eagles for the very first time, and the DJ made the song/artist announcement BEFORE
the song played… then when you hear the end of the song, you realize you really
like it, especially after the phrase, “You can check out any time you like, but
you can never leave…” and you forgot the artist name was announced Before and not After the song, you
may NEVER REMEMBER who the artist was, and may never again hear that song
until “by chance” they play it again…
Get it? Geez, I hope so!
Sometimes the simplest answers can solve the most complicated questions. Life would be so simple, and we would be so well-educated
if the DJs or the CD itself would let us know AFTER every song, the artist and the name of the song that was being played afterward.
WHAT A CONCEPT.
That’s it.
Bottom line.
What I “do” notice however, is DJs making other types of comments, singing to the songs, announcing their own names, other’s names, upcoming events, local radio stations … everything BUT the very music they are playing.
Another thing I’ve noticed also, is the names of the songs are only on the CD covers… but NOT within the music of the CD after each song is over. We all have to sit here are “guess” what track number, and then match the name of the song to the track number to figure out which one it is. Has anyone ever thought - through the LOGISTICS of this ridiculous pain-staking process?
If you really think about it… HOW RIDICULOUS IS THAT. And then you wonder why Artists and Musicians are UPSET because they are not getting paid for their work.
GUYS.
NOBODY KNOWS IT’S YOU.
So the big question is…
What are we / they / going to do about this?
Comments / Solutions: Please email wowedie@yahoo.com