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DJ El
When it comes to Salsa dance – and I mean to the classic stuff: Guarachas, Mambos, Boogaloos and salsas of the ‘50s through mid ‘70s – nobody beats Colombian transplant Felipe Martinez: DJ El de La Clave. I first noticed El while dancing at the Glass Kat south of Market on a Tuesday night (yes, we have Salsa just about every night of the week in San Pancho). As one song ended, the horns and guitar of Javier Vasquez’s hot “Que tu no me has visto Miguel” (Youtube it) entered, and I looked at my partner and said “Damn! Who is this guy?”.
It turns out El has a deep knowledge of Classic salsa and excellent taste, and as opposed to a typical salsa set (think “Brujeria”, “No Hago Mas Na”, some Romantic junk, and if you are lucky, “Rebelion”), El digs deeper but not too obscure, keeping it hot and moving on the dancefloor.
In 2008 El started the social networking based Undergroundmambo, uniting lovers of Latin music and dance online and informing Salsa fans about gigs and goings on around the region. The site has individual profile pages for its members and brings together over a thousand Salseros y Salseras around the Bay Area and Northern California. El continues to play the Glass Kat, Club Monteros and the Agenda Lounge in San Jose, while also DJ’ing in Reno and at high profile gigs like the SF, Dallas and Tokyo Salsa Congresses.
Come and Rumba when El de la Clave is on the turntables!
