We had a great time playing in North Hollywood the other day. It was a surprise 80th birthday party.  It was such a surprise even I did not even know.  It was a dark street and the address was semi hidden and I typically can tell who is having a party on a street. I unloaded my gear and my start time was at 7 and I was there around 610 and I was asked that grandpa is close and I have to be ready soon. So I got everything set up and was playing 15 minutes before I was supposed to start. Anything to make the party go smoothly. We were stationed in the backyard and when grandpa came in he was greeted with Las Mananitas then Vicente Fernandez. The first hour we were playing Mexican oldies then an hour in we just mostly did cumbias the rest of the night. It was a catered party with a lot of desserts. The cake had a picture of the man of the hour. It was a festive group that liked to dance. All the requests they wanted I was able to find them on my computer or I had to stream them via the internet.

  It was a cold night but the dance floor was hot. It was my kind of party. They offered me cake like three different times. They were the perfect hosts. We had the music at a good volume and we did not get any complaints.

  Recently I received a call to do a Latin event over in Granada Hills. The client sent me a list and I was digging the vibe. It was a lot of reggaeton and some cumbia. Artist like Bad Bunny, and  Karol G filled up the list.  A really popular artist was Los Socios Del RitmoOther artists like Ozuna, J Balvin, Rauw Alejandro There were a few English songs and even went as diverse as some country songs by Morgan Wallan. What I noticed about Latin parties that they really and I mean really love the cumbias. You can not go wrong with the classics and get the party going.

Originally we are going to play at a house then they got a studio over in North ridge.  It was small venue in a retail area.  They had a bar and a table to have dinner and a small dance floor. It was quite an intimate space. You can easily have around 25 folks to have dinner there and then they can let loose on the dance floor. Once I got there they had a musician who was jamming on a guitar and singing covers everyone knew. I set up next to the guitar player and I was ready to go. I was going to play 15 minutes ahead of schedule but I was prepared to start anytime they needed me. They started to eat then I started to play more music to get the party vibe then they cut the cake then it was time to get down. 

  We are up for anything. We had a last minute event (anything 2 weeks or less is considered a last minute event) and we had a dj available and what made it perfect was it was our latin dj so it was a latin party in Gilroy.  The weather has not been the greatest so we had to figure out if we needed a tent or if the party was going to be inside. We kept in communication with the client to see what the status was going to be.  The party was at a ranch with a lot of room but it was outside inside a tent. When the dj got there there was a mariachi playing and the dj was the dessert of the evening.  There was a lot of Ozuna and Maluma on the playlist. Definitely a lot of reggaeton. It was like 95 percent Spanish and 5 percent English.  It was a lot of   dance music that did a good job of covering the aspect that it was raining. It just proves that when enough planning you can still have an event or a plan B.

 They did have a piñata there too. The kids and adults had a shot at it! Even though there was rain it still was a happening party. It was so fun the police came to visit. So there was loud music going on with mariachi and early on the police did visit but they did not come again once we adjusted the volume. I did speak with the client and he was happy with the night. 

Spanish Bilingual djs who are proficient in English and Spanish music does not happen much. Usually one dj specializes in one type of music but it’s a rarity they can rock a party in two languages. Not everyone has the opportunity to be immersed in both languages and cultures. It is important for events like weddings and quinceneras.

People try to do both without doing it justice. I like to share a playlist with my prospective clients to see what kind of Spanish music I would play. I also share my English mixes I posted online so they can feel the energy and mixing style.

A lot of events that I do it seems like the Latin music is what drives people to dance. A good dj feeds the crowd what they want. I did an event recently where they wanted some English and some Spanish. I like to over prepare and I had a lot of Spanish songs in my playlist just in case. It seemed like people really wanted the Spanish music and we went hard with it and they even requested another hour.

Playing cumbias, merengues, reggaeton, and bachata music is a cheat code since they make people want to dance but its also good to have English classics in the back pocket in case the vibe wants to go there.

Bilingual djs should know their limitations and not bite off more than they can chew for the sake of the client and transparent communication is vital for the success of the event. Call Black and White Affair Djs for your Latin Bilingual Spanish dance party.

  We got a call a few weeks ago to do a company party. They wanted me to provide a song list and I shared one and they were good with it. On the list was a mix of all the genres and I was asked to have some Christmas songs. Also they wanted some Spanish music so that would not be a problem.

 I got there two hours early and it was plenty of time to unload the car then you have to park the car like a 5 min walk garage. I did get my ticket validated but it did not work so had to pay 39 dollars. La living! Never experienced that in the Bay.

 They had pro piano player getting down on the chords while they were having cocktails. While I waiting for the grand entrance I had Celebration ready to start up. We went straight party music for the start to set the mood. To help with the celebration we had Chris Kringle taking pictures with the guests. One of the best scenes of the night was santa getting down and luckily Mrs. Clause was not watching!

 How funny you can prep for a night but you need to go another direction. I prepped to play maybe 15 spanish songs but ended going for 90 percent of all the songs. Cumbias was what hit the hardest then salsa was second. At 11, I ended it a few minutes after the cut off time but the boss man told me to go an extra hour.

 It was a hot Saturday this past weekend and it helped that the party started at 7. In Sylmar, we had a huge backyard to play some fun music. It was such a big back yard that they had a full court basketball court there. Anyway when I was there they were playing like reggaeton music in the background so I had a general idea of what kind of music they liked. At the fiesta, they were getting the tacos ready and they had the corn with the   chili and the raspodos (sort of like an icee).  Started off with old school Spanish music then went with the lively reggaeton. Then when it was dance time, we went with the cumbia. You cannot go wrong with the cumbias.  Did also threw in a little merengue and salsa and some banda. Then we did hit up some hip hop from the 1990s   and the 2000s. Some songs that hit for the night were by Peso Pluma, Selena, Sonora Dinimita, and Chingy.  At 10:30, we made some speeches to the birthday girl and we played the Mananitas was there  till 11 but the party still continued to after I left. These folks did not mess around and they had a portal potty outside. It was a fun event overall with good Spanish soundtrack. This party could have easily gone late late night but I left at 11. I did like the fact that the backyard was so big so we did not have to worry about the neighbors complaining about the noise level. Please call Black and White Affair for you latin party vibe.

I was fortunate enough to do a party in the Bay Area recently and it was a good celebration. They just wanted party music. I was told just get Cumbia music and some old school. So I did set up the music but realized so what do they are going to listen to when they are eating. I was scheduled to play for five hours. Usually the first hour or so they will be eating then it is the dancing. I was told the party will be going on before hand and they will be eating before I start. This is my kind of party! More time for some dancing.  They had a speaker connected to a phone and they were playing like slow songs for dinner. I can tell it was not music the party planner selected but it was something the venue put together. And I was right since the phone belonged to someone at the venue. They were going to have a performance at 430 so I was asked to be already set up by that time so I would not be a distraction. I said no problem. I got there around 4 and I was set up by 417. It was an easy set up. The performers asked if I can connect to their phone. It was 430 and I wasn’t supposed to start till 5 but I happily obliged and connected the phone and made the microphone available. They had a Hawaiian performance and they had dancers from all ages get down. They had a few drummers but it was very lively.

  From 5 to 10 we went straight cumbia. We probably did 80 percent cumbia for 5 hours and did some ranchera music. We did a little old school but it was Spanish that got everyone on the dance floor.

How do you set up a Sweet 16 Party?

I got a call month ago and the mom had no idea where to start. She did not have a venue so I gave her some suggestions. We could not book the dj yet since the date was not set in stone.

Once she found her location then we can talk about scheduling the events of the day. We were able to jump on the phone and figure out what events would fit on the special day. s

 We had a great party with a young lady with all her 130 guests in South San Jose. The party started at 4 and it went to 10. It was a good amount of time to celebrate the birthday. For the first hour and the half we played background music while folks had appetizers. Dinner was served and mom arranged a surprise by having a singer sing for 20 minutes at the end of dinner. After dinner, then it was open dance time with salsa and cumbia music as the main music of the hour. Then it was cake cutting time and then it was the major event time! Special people in the birthdays girl’s life were invited to the front. Mother did the shoe exchange and the brother brought a ring then later danced with the birthday girl. The birthday girl later danced with her step dance then it was open dancing. Open dancing was fueled banda, rock en espanol and it was instructed that most of the music will be Mexican music.