Salsa’s on the move again – this time into the world of combined virtual dance + TV + radio
The online salsa revolution continues apace with the launch of combined TV, radio and virtual dance one-day programme Salsa Cross Borders (SCB), organised and pioneered by self-proclaimed ‘serial entrepreneur’ DJ Dustin Hogg.
The new concept – meant to continue with further offerings in the near future (e.g. WATCH THIS SPACE!!) – kicks off live on Saturday 16 May at 12noon CEST / 11am GMT with a 12-hour global programme featuring multi-award-winning Australian party band Salsa Kingz and their fantastic live televised show, then continues across the globe with TV-style interviews hosted by Dustin’s Sweden-based Agozar team, a virtual dance party to simulate the experience of being at a salsa festival, and live DJ sets and radio programmes culminating in an online ‘afterparty’.
As Sweden-based Hogg told fellow Australian Christian Guerrero in a YouTube interview on 8 May 2020 joined by Salsa Kingz band manager Maurice Cordova, SCB was inspired by Salsa Kingz’s televised format, as well as some of the creative initiatives of other online salsa pioneers showcased in the launch: “I thought, why not join all of these efforts under one umbrella on one day, like we would have at a festival?”
Hogg further elaborates SCB’s mission by adding, “Our goal is to inspire more online collaborations – so make sure to tune into the first online premiere this Saturday.
“The plan is to start the party with yourselves [Salsa Kingz], then go with Salsa Meets House, which is a concept developed with DJ Dante from Australia and Phil in the UK – I expect we’ll do more with that under the name SALVAJE.
“Next, we’ll head down to the CoBeat Party, which is an international explosion of DJs, with DJ Dmitri Matalka and DJ Rumbero doing a joint set. Then we’re going to go to Mad About Salsa, which is also in the UK with DJ Tuli [Venezuela], who will be doing documentaries and whatnot.
“After that, we’ll head to Feria de Cali, home of the world-famous festival, to have a Colombian radio show with director Alex Zulaga, a dinosaur of salsa and an historian, which is going to include a special surprise from Isidoro Corkidi – make sure you tune in for that!
“We’re also working with a group of world-renowned dancers who are going to kick off a virtual dance party from 14.00pm–16.00pm – that’s going to be fun!
“Then we’re heading over to New York for Agozar’s interview with Colombian collector Alex Gonzalez – a kind of ‘Desert Island Discs’ with 10 tracks that have never been heard before.* Thirty years of digging! So, be sure you tune in for that!
“Last, we cannot have a party without an afterparty, right? So we’re going to do that with the Salsa Lockdown Radio show, which happens in the UK with DJ Sassia [Michel] and the team there – so we’re going to have live sets with DJs from around the world [El Gringo (France), Martina (Italy/UK) and La Furiosa (France)] and an interactive online chat party going on until 12pm (GMT) – it will be 12 hours of solid fun with all these online initiatives in one day.”
So – get ready for this very unique online salsa marathon! It will be a first-of-its-kind event that will hopefully inspire further global collaborations. Says Hogg, “We’ve had Japan, Thailand, a lot of people reaching out now, but there’s only so much you can do in one day – so we’re hoping this is just the start. So look at this as Volume 1 – with more to come!”
Salsa Kingz producer Maurice agrees the programme offers an excellent platform for the world to learn more about what Salsa Kingz is doing in Australia, as well as for Australia to learn what Europe and the Americas are doing. “It’s going to be epic – I can’t wait to be in the afterparty!” he adds.
Tune in on Facebook #salsacrossborders — and stay posted here on www.smallwriteratlarge.com for further updates.
© Jane Cahane 2020. Please credit and include a link to this blog when using any or all of this post.
*If interested in Alex’s collection, please contact him via the following:
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