YOUR 2023 DJS were

Brendon Varcoe - Nelson

"Tango and the country of Argentina holds a special place in my heart. I am excited to be able to share my love and passion for tango through my dj'ing. Music is such a big part of my life. As well as playing and studying bandoneon in Buenos Aires, currently I am also studying a Masters degree in Orchestration so my love of the orchestra has given me a deep appreciation for both traditional tango orchestras as well as the many incredible modern tango orchestras. I have tremendous respect for the musicians of today who continue on the tradition of playing live in the milonga as well as those who have gone before. All music evokes emotion and tango music especially, from the dramatic to the playful, the romantic to the melancholic, the best music brings out the emotion in the dance and always when I prepare a playlist I am thinking with this in the forefront of my mind. So expect a playlist full of life, emotion, a little drama and hopefully some fun, because at the end of the day we all come together in this great dance to enjoy ourselves and the people around us." 

Junko Kobayashi - Nelson

Like many tangueras, Junko loves to travel and seek out dance opportunities wherever she goes. When travel became difficult due to the recent pandemic, she found solace in classic tango music and discovered the pleasure of searching for hidden gems, this led her to start DJ, building on her passion for tango music. To her, every tanda is a unique and once-in-a-lifetime encounter that cannot be replicated. Have you ever experienced a dreamy tanda where the music, your partner, and you are in perfect harmony? She aims to help you experience more of those magical moments and fun-filled experience through her DJing.

Ariel Salto - Argentina

“La Vida es una milonga”  - Life is a milonga!

With this quote from Ariel we already have an indication of his passion for tango music and dance.

 Ariel is a Porteño, direct from Buenos Aires,  who had contact with tango music from a very early age.  He would listen to tango music with his father all day long.

Ariel DJs as a professional DJ in Buenos Aires' popular milongas as well as numerous tango events and festivals in Europe. These are detailed below.  His music style features great orchestras' quality recordings and aims to bring a taste of Buenos Aires  Golden Age Tango to dancers. Being passionate about tango music,  he creates the atmosphere people feel when dancing in Buenos Aires.  Seeing happy couples on the dance floor,  enjoying the great orchestras and noting the huge variety of beautiful tangos, valses and milongas is what is the greatest gift for him. 

Buenos Aires milongas include Caricias, Milonga el Pisoton, Mi Refugio, El Rodriguez, Milonga Solidaria, El Beso, El Trovador.   10 years ago he ventured to Europe and  started DJjing mainly at the milongas in the south-west of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia.  He took part in Festivals like Ostertango Festival in Basel and Tangofestival in Karlsruhe as well as Milongas in Munich (Tango Lugo), Bern (Tangolounge), Bregenz (Tangissimo), Ulm (Ballhaus, Donautango, Risstino), Stuttgart (Ocho, Loft, Waldheim) Augsburg, Heidelberg, Kehl, Freiburg, Zagreb and Rijeka, Paris,  to name a few.

We are looking forward to welcoming such an esteemed  DJ to Autumn Tango, our special little festival in Arrowtown and are proud that he can add this event to his festival list!

Matthew Civil - Warkworth

Matthew needs absolutely no introduction to you!  But did you know he has been DJing for a long time as well as being an accomplished dancer and teacher?

From various trips to Buenos Aires Matthew has amassed a reasonable collection of tango music from which he once DJed for events he ran in the early days of tango in Wellington. Others started to run milongas and new DJs came along which meant his DJing was reduced to putting on some music for the Saturday Práctica in Wellington from 2000 to 2017. Since moving to Warkworth Matthew helps out event organisers from time to time with DJing.

I am honoured and thrilled that these wonderful DJs will be delighting you this Autumn Tango. 

With excitement,  Anne-Maree