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. 

Venue! This has to be the most important decision of prom. You have to make sure the venue an accommodate your guest count.

Theme and Decorations! Make sure the leadership team agree on the theme and how to decorate. A prom is made great by a great leadership collaboration. They have to decorate the venue or hire a company that will abide by they taste.

Entertainment! Gone are the days that schools hire bands. They go with djs since they can play all sorts of genres. It is always risky to hire a dj that never played for your school before. Make sure the dj played for you during homecoming and if you never had them play for you then ask the neighboring schools for recommendations. A lot of the same music is played in certain areas of the city so you want someone who knows the crowd. Why not add a photobooth to the mix!

Catering! Often times the venues can provide their own catering but as a class you should look at their menu and see if there are other 3rd party options. Also keep in mind not everyone can get everything. There are vegans and folks who cannot eat diary or bread. It is good to have alternative options.

Promotion! Offer a discount on early ticket sales and increase the ticket prices as it gets closer.

Safety Measures: You want to make sure kids are sober and ready to have a good time and you do not want to deal with drunk party goers so its good to have plenty of chaperones around.

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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.

I got to be a part of a holiday event on a Sunday. They had a lot of local vendors selling a lot of Christmas items and plus also provided a pancake breakfast. I was here at 6:15 in the morning since the event started at 7. Since their typical Santa was not available to partake in the event they suggested a Santa Dj.  I do not own a Santa Suit but they provided a hat and coat. So I was a Santa DJ. I have   no issues wearing what the  lient wants. It is all about making the client happy. We were up on stage and we were able to hook up with the house system. There is a good benefit to that since we do not need to blare the music for the back to hear and the front folks would get the loudness since   they are close. I was able to have a good volume and the halls speakers reached the whole venue. Not all venues have house systems but its nice when it is actually connected.

  It is early Sunday Morning, so what do you play for a Christmas event? Of course we go with the Christmas Classics then you throw in some covers of the classics with todays stars. I would throw in some 90s 00s 10s pop but would always return to the Christmas music. It was a good event overall and they mentioned that typically they would just play an iPod but this was a way better experience.

 We are living in a Barbie world at the moment. Seem like that movie is blowing up and they were having a Barbie theme at the Brea Mall. All the cosmetic section was sporting Barbie shirts. I have been at this mall a few times already and it was being a good time every time. Most djs could just come by and just start playing what they feel but for me I have to prep since I don’t want to play the same kind of music over and over. I want it to be different every time I play. I had the instruction to play fun positive music. Most folks who play at retail stores usually play a certain type of music and let it ride the whole time. That is not me and I want it to be as diverse as possible. There were at least 8 folks who came by to tell me they liked the diversity of the music. I talked to one worker who stated the dj before playing 90s  songs over a house beat. That could be fun but a little of the same. I try to find songs that everyone knows and play it in the original format as possible. We did play a lot of Spanish cumbias and did a lot of old school music. This time we did 90s alternative, freestyle, 90s house, 90s pop, cumbia, Spanish ranchera. I even threw in Barbie Girl since it was the theme. Most djs would be afraid to play that but I have no fear. It was a very fun vibe at the Brea mall.

 A party is not a party without a bounce house. You would think it would be just for little kids but high school teens love the bounce house. They can be a kid again!  We were able to contact Cal Jumps to set up two bounce houses. They were awesome to work with. We were able to get an obstacle course bounce house that was about 70 feet in length and also got a decent size bounce house. Since we did not have a power source the company brought some generators. We had them out the whole day and students could not get enough of them. Cal jumps has a number that you can call and text and they respond pretty quickly. What is neat is that you can text them and it is shared with the drivers so they can see the communication. It took them about an hour to set up and about 45 minutes to put it away. Other events were a tug a war with a pool of water in between. They had a basketball game and   volleyball game going on. They had a dunk tank and students were having a ball. They did have speakers playing music but it would have benefited from a do playing Latin music and current pop and hip hop. A dj would have made the party an epic one.  A dj can help the atmosphere become more festive and raise the fun so much.

Djing in retail stores does not just happen in Christmas time. It can happen anytime and I played in May at the Brea Mall last Saturday by the Make Up Area. Love playing at Nordstrom since they have a booth of their own so it just makes it easy to set up. The staff is very helpful and let me borrow a cart to load my gear on so I can do everything in one shot. Love the energy of the staff since a lot of them love the music and sway with the vibes. They even gave some cool requests to. Songs that seemed to be big hits were the funk and the Spanish songs. Why play the same tracks everyone else plays? Its best too go against the grain and not be the same cookie cutter dj who plays the same songs every time.

  The theme was flower that day so we made sure we played a couple of different edits of Miley Cyrus Flower song. Lots of people did stroll by but the goal was to get the heads bobbing. I did all pop and feel good songs and I threw in some Latin songs in the mix. I think we did play over 10 Latin songs in the 5-hour session. If you think about it, California is full of latin people so why not throw some Latin flavor in the mix. Why not throw some reggaeton and come cumbia songs? Speaking of 5 hours, it felt like 15 minutes since playing music for me is super fan and trying to be creative with the mixes and playing songs that go together.