Salsa Seduction

The world's unofficial No 1 salsa DJ Henry Knowles knows the power of a sensual latin beat - and plans to use it on his Hong kong fans, writes P.Ramakrishnan.


As the world's unofficial No 1 salsa DJ Henry Knowles is not used to seeing people sitting down at his gigs. "The only time when I did not get the reaction I expected - and I've been doing this for more than 20 years - was when I was the DJ at the wedding of some Jehovah's Witnesses. That was one tough audience. I couldn't play some of the sexier songs and they freaked a bit," the New York-based disc jockey says.

Fresh from a whirlwind tour of Japan, the salsero recalls the experience so vividly because it is a one-off. Normally, the response to his sensuous Latin-laced tunes involves something closer to wild abandon.

"Everywhere in the world, the music gets into the blood. It's an addiction. Whether they're in Japan, Korea, Italy or Belgium, the people just start dancing when salsa's in the air," he says, a few hours after landing in Hong Kong.

In the past two months, Knowles has touched down in Hawai, Germany, the Netherlands and San Juan, where he was part of the world salsa congress. He's used to setting such a pace with two decades of DJ-ing under his belt. He's also used to his No 1 salsa DJ sobriquet, which was bestowed on him by enraptured Italian fans years ago. "There was a time when I was flying to Italy every month and on one of the programmes, they introduced me as such. The label stuck. With the internet bringing the 'salseros' of the world together, it's brilliant to be recognised in the street when you're halfway aross the world from home."

Salsa, the Latin American dance characterised by Afro-Caribbean rhythms, Cuban big-band dance melodies and elements of jazz and rock, has found a fanatical following in Japan, South Korea and a number of hot-spots in Malaysia and Singapore.

A form of music and dance that could not be more of an alien culture and sound finds escalating popularity - marked by the repeated invitations for people such as Knowles and other latin music exponents.

"It is a form of liberation. When I meet some old friends in Asia, I hug them. I kiss them, ther's a very hands-on greeting which is completely different to, let's say, the Japanese culture where physical contact is completely avoided as a greeting.

"You shed inhibitions with the culture of salsa. You move, you get hot, sweaty and sticky," he says, trying to explain why he's frequent flier to Asia as Latin music's unofficial ambassaddor.

"People may not understand what the words are and they might get a better appreciation if they understood it, but this is really about the rhythm, the music itself," he says.

Though a New York resident, as a young boy he was sent to Puerto Rico to stay with his grand parents and developed an ear for the local music. "I bought all kinds of records. Even today, two thirds of my money goes into buying music," he says as he points out why in his luggage, at any given time, there are more than 200 CDs.

"When I was in high school, at a party I brought all my records and I played them. The reaction was so great that I've never looked back.

"I'm a manager for music acts, a promoter, I do the marketing, I do parties, I dance - everything I do involves music."

Like DJs of any genre, Knowles says his greatest skill is reading people - a talent that has overcome cultural differences across the globe. One of the keys, he says is not following the charts, but his audience.

"When we started off, radio stations came to us to find out what was hot in the club scene. We could make or break a track and, if we played the song often enough, we got people addicted to it. Now it's all about the marketing strategy, completely commercial. It's about the musician's look, not their sound.

"It makes no sense to play something just because it's the No 1 song in New York. That song might not necessarily work in LA or Brussels. Knowing the pulse of the audience is important. I don't prepare anything in advance when I have to work at a gig. I go in, feel for the audience and play something. No pre-recorded and pre-planned tracks - otherwise I might as well mail a compilation and not turn up. It is an art to understand the audience."

It's hard to pinpoint when a worldwide audience found a flavour of South American sounds and let it make merry on their eardrums, but it was well before the live-in-leather performance of Ricky Martin at the Grammys.

"The Ricky Martins and the Jennifer Lopez-es have opened the doors a bit wider for an international audience to get into this style of music that has been around for many years. Their music is Latin pop or rock but having brought in listeners, the more curious will do a bit more digging and find a world of sounds that come from Latin culture."

He adds: "Here I'm a one-man show. Sometimes I have musicians or dancers accompany me and we mix and match things. I love open-air events and am really looking forward to my first gig in Hong Kong."

So what can Hong Kong expect at the first official visit as a DJ on sunday in Harbour City to kick off the Salsa In The City festival? "A lot of fun. Apart from playing the music, I go out to the dance-floorr and mingle with the crowd. I work the auience and don't just sit up there with my equipment ignoring the world.

"I will dance with anyone who's willing. You don't have to be an expert and have taken lessons to enjoy this. If it gets hot, humid, sweaty and sticky, then it gets hot, humid, sweaty and sticky!"

With a sly grin he says, "That's the way all good things progress."

Indeed.