DJ Beto is a favorite deejay for African music lovers in New York City. He spins friday and saturday nights at Kilimanjaro, 349 Broadway, in New York. His day job is at Stern's Music in New York where he hears everything coming in. (Info on Stern's on the web: sternsmusic.com). Sean Barlow talked to Beto for our "Summer 2003 Dance Party" show on Afropop Worldwide where Beto did a customized quick mix for us.

Sean Barlow: Beto, tell us a little bit about your story of deejaying, how you started and so on.
DJ Beto: I came to New York in 1989 and I had a friend who was a deejay at Club Kilimanjaro and because I was roommates with him and I didn't have any other choice, the only thing I knew and all that I could do was to listen to him and watch him while he was deejaying and I was very curious to learn to become a deejay one day. And then he told me "Ok, I want you to help me carry my records and make sure everything is ok, my equipment is connected properly, and then I'll teach you how to deejay later." And then I fell in love with it and he took me out to deejay and now I'm still doing it today.

SB: And you work every weekend?
Beto: I work Fridays and Saturdays for the rest of the year.

SB: Wow, that's great. Tell us a little bit about how you approach deejaying--how you go through a night, what you're looking for, how you choose the music--that kind of thing. Beto: Every night is different. We have multi-cultural clientele. We have a diverse crowd and I watch how the people listen to the music I play. If the floor is getting empty, I know something is not right, so I change. And also what I do is I talk back to them; I try to let them participate in the evening. You know, make them chant, call out different names--different countries, and then I get a little idea of which countries or which area they're from and then I focus more on that region because the majority always wins !

SB: (Laughs) A true democrat, ok, alright, tell us a little about your standard, your basic kit, what are the anchors in your CD bag that you bring that you know you're gonna play that night.
Beto: When I leave home I don't usually have in mind what I'm gonna play besides the new CDs which I have to introduce. Then I play a lot of CDs by request also--people who come in and request me to play this and play that. But also, I have my own format for where I will let the night go, first introducing new music and then doing the quick-mix and then just working together with the crowd.

SB: Tell us about quick-mix.
Beto: When I do quick-mix, I can play maybe about ten to fifteen songs in about five minutes and go back and forth, I cut out the rumba part of the music just to make a clubby sound, and that way there will be no break in between the songs and people will believe that it's just one song playing for the five to ten minutes. And then I can make it flow one after the other.

SB: And you find that people like that? They want to keep the action hot--keep the tempo hot--they don't want to slow down or what?
Beto: As long as you keep the rhythm and the dancing and the floor is still packed, that means you're doing something right. After all, you have to remember, people pay to go to the clubs and they get their money's worth. You know, this is New York, you don't joke around when you're playing for four or five hundred people. I know I have the bigger mouth because I have the microphone. I'm louder than they are but I still respect them as customers, and they patronize us and we have to cater to them according to the way they appreciate it.

SB: That's good, that's good. So let me get this right, with quick-mix, you're actually mixing it live or you've already pre-mixed?
Beto: No. Live. In the club, as I said before, I never plan anything. I have an idea of what I'm going to play but when I do the quick-mix I go according to the clientele I have and I can do a quick-mix in Senegal or quick a mix in afrozook or a quick-mix in Congo. It can vary. I can even do a quick-mix with Spanish music like salsa, merengue, bachata. It depends on the crowd.

SB: And how have you seen the last couple years? How have the tastes been changing? What are people liking more, what are people getting tired of? What do you see going on?
Beto: OK. I'm getting older and the crowd is getting younger. That's what I keep telling my customers. Ten years ago what we were playing is different from what we are playing now because there is a lot of mixture of music. With the new generation, there is a lot of influence from European music, American music--especially the hip-hop, also reggae, there is a mix going on, a lot of remixes. So if I have a younger crowd, I try to play more of the young music for them, the newer music, but if I do special events for embassies, or for birthday parties, or for private parties, I play different music, A lot of people say, "Why do you play differently when you are in a club?" I say a club is a nightclub, private parties are private parties. You play according to the contract--according to the way they ask you to play because after all, they hire you to perform. I would say I prefer the club because it's more fun. You have the liberty to do a crazy mix. I go back and forth, I tease the crowd, make them talk--you know talk to them back and forth. I would prefer to do the club. Radio once in a while, I guess. On the radio you don't have that much liberty because with radio, you have to be very careful and focused on what you're playing. But once in a while I get a little loose and do a little mixing, you know, just to show them what I can do.

SB: Got it. Right now, what are some of your favorite tunes that you like to play in a club say?
Beto: It's a very hard question to answer--my favorite tunes, "Awilo" has its own unique style. Not just for the francophone, but for the Anglophone. In Africa, they love "Awilo,"--especially in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and so forth. In Kenya and Tanzania, they like "Awllo", but the francophone prefers music more like that of Kofi Olomide, Wenge Musica, and Werason. But the favorite one for me would be the mix; I don't like to choose between francophone or Anglophone. I see Africa as one--African music as one. Although I have a nightclub mentality when it comes to entertaining them, when they come to a club, it's unity--it's one group. It's not segregation by country, but you have to please different crowds from different areas which is difficult because I don't know everybody and where they come from. Some people are very shy when you call the name of their country. Some people don't scream or they don't say "We in the house" and they keep quiet which is difficult because they get upset [when I don't play their music]. I'm open-minded now. I always announce on the microphone, "Come to the DJ if you want to request a song." I cannot read anybody's mind. You come to me, tell me "I'm from a certain country" and I will tell you "yes" or "no" if I will play your music. But most of the time I always say "yes" because I don't like to upset any customers. I want everyone to come back because if you upset somebody, word of a mouth is very important. It can destroy your business, it can boost your business. If somebody comes to the club and they're not pleased and especially if they came to request a song that I didn't play for them, they will go back, talk to their friends and say, "Don't go there because that guy doesn't take requests, he's stuck up," or he's "this and that." You know, I always try to please the clientele.

SB: Good! Is there anything else you would like to say?
Beto: I just want to say that I encourage people to support more African music. I wish there were more people like you to really care and give people a chance to know more about African music.

Back to Top