SwingDJs

Has anyone busted out some good sets at Herrang this year? Any noticeable trends? Care to share your setlists? I'm having Herrang envy.

I've only been here for a few days, but I'd say that there's been much more variety than the last few years - I've heard everything from early '30s hot jazz to Ramsey Lewis' Wade in the Water (!). I played for an hour in the main room last night, straight big band swing era stuff. Haven't got the setlist on this computer, though. Had the pleasure of meeting Haydn for the first time - he's one of the staff DJs and doing a splendid job of it.

The mood is a bit subdued since a Swedish dancer collapsed on the floor and died late Sunday night. I didn't know him and I left shortly before it happened, but a few of my friends were close by and saw it happen. He probably had a stroke and was gone before he hit the floor.

Still, it's great to be here. The mosqutoes are tolerable and the weather's pretty nice. Tonight's blues night and I get to wear a tie.

trev wrote:Has anyone busted out some good sets at Herrang this year? Any noticeable trends? Care to share your setlists? I'm having Herrang envy.

I'm in Herrang for weeks 3 and 4, and DJing both weeks. It's a great place to DJ and to see other people DJ, as there are usually 3 rooms open with an average of around 7 hours dancing a night in each. I'm not sure about trends (previously I've normally been at Herrang in weeks 1 and 2, so I can't compare like with like), but my impression is the same as Johan's - that there is more variety in the music this year.

Some people have complained that the DJ'd music is too narrow and too old. The music at the camp was mentioned in one of the nightly meetings, and Lennart Westerlund (one of the camp owners) said that the camp had a conservative policy on the music played. Dawn Hampton (a regular special guest) said she preferred Big Band music and implied that she didn't like some of the small group music that was played (music with 'clarinets and violins'). I think she named Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Harry James as bands she liked, although she didn't name particular tracks or periods.

The downstairs 'Dansbanan' has been expanded in size and is now larger than the upstairs 'Folketshus Ballroom', and conditions are noticeably less crowded this year as a result.

Haydn wrote: Some people have complained that the DJ'd music is too narrow and too old. The music at the camp was mentioned in one of the nightly meetings, and Lennart Westerlund (one of the camp owners) said that the camp had a conservative policy on the music played.

Being such a large camp, I guess people have come from scenes around the world that have a different sense of what "swing" music is. I don't want to start any debates about that topic, but it's safe to say that Lennart, the Hot Shots et al. have always been strong proponents of music from the swing era (and the bands who play in that style), and that is reflected in the style of their event.

Haydn wrote: Dawn Hampton (a regular special guest) said she preferred Big Band music and implied that she didn't like some of the small group music that was played (music with 'clarinets and violins'). I think she named Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Harry James as bands she liked, although she didn't name particular tracks or periods.

This I would file under personal preference. I've been at other events where she's aired similar grievances. More Shiny Stockings and less I'se a Muggin'? Got it.

trev wrote:

Haydn wrote: Dawn Hampton (a regular special guest) said she preferred Big Band music and implied that she didn't like some of the small group music that was played (music with 'clarinets and violins'). I think she named Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Harry James as bands she liked, although she didn't name particular tracks or periods.

This I would file under personal preference. I've been at other events where she's aired similar grievances. More Shiny Stockings and less I'se a Muggin'? Got it. :roll:

it's perhaps worthwhile to note that many of the old timers (including frankie and norma) have expressed a strong preference for big band music over small group swing. i'm inclined to call it "generational" rather than "personal", though i admit we have a small sample size.

(personally, i prefer small group stuff right now.)

lipi wrote:

trev wrote:

Haydn wrote: Dawn Hampton (a regular special guest) said she preferred Big Band music and implied that she didn't like some of the small group music that was played (music with 'clarinets and violins'). I think she named Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Harry James as bands she liked, although she didn't name particular tracks or periods.

This I would file under personal preference. I've been at other events where she's aired similar grievances. More Shiny Stockings and less I'se a Muggin'? Got it.

it's perhaps worthwhile to note that many of the old timers (including frankie and norma) have expressed a strong preference for big band music over small group swing. i'm inclined to call it "generational" rather than "personal", though i admit we have a small sample size.

(personally, i prefer small group stuff right now.)

Another factor to consider is that big bands were more associated with the big ballrooms and dancing whereas many of the small groups played in nightclubs (e.g., on 52nd St). I think the Savoy Sultans were probably the smallest group that regularly played the Savoy [does anyone know for sure?] I suspect the association of big bands with ballrooms was partially due to pragmatic considerations; it's hard to fill up that much space with music in the absence of amplification.

trev wrote:Has anyone busted out some good sets at Herrang this year? Any noticeable trends?

I heard Fatima Teffahl from the Harlem Hotshots play some great stuff in the Dansbanan (she was DJing with Mohan from Stockholm) - and it wasn't early 1930s blues. A trend this year was for shorter sets - an average of say 1.5 hours instead of 2.5 hours, which helped keep things fresher.

J-h:n wrote:Still, it's great to be here. The mosqutoes are tolerable and the weather's pretty nice. Tonight's blues night and I get to wear a tie.

I'd heard there was DJing from/on (?) vinyl (shellac?) this year. How did it go? How was the sound quality compared to laptop/CD action? Were there any scratching horror stories? I wish I could've seen/heard it. Hellz, I wish I could've been THERE!


I've always liked the thought of Herrang as having a conservative policy re music. It's interested in a very specific group of dances, so the specificity regarding music just makes sense. Also, that's the music I like, so I enjoyed it when I was there. I think it's also cool to see an event developing a particular 'brand' or 'style' re music - you go there knowing what you'll get.

I'm also a fan of themed nights or rooms because it means you _can_ cover a range of styles, just over the course of a week or month, not in a single night. It also means you can delve a little deeper into one particular style over the course of that night. I think that's the appeal of Herrang's conservative policy for me - it means that we'd not only hear a heap of 30s big band action, but a wider range (and greater depth) of bands and styles within that specific group.


About how many DJs were there playing at Herrang this year?

dogpossum wrote:I'd heard there was DJing from/on (?) vinyl (shellac?) this year. How did it go? How was the sound quality compared to laptop/CD action?

I know there were some problems getting some of the vinyl set-ups working. Everything was geared to laptops of course, so there were extra set-up hassles for the vinyl guys. I don't think I actually heard the vinyl sets, so I can't compare the sound quality.

dogpossum wrote:About how many DJs were there playing at Herrang this year?

I guess there were about 30-40 over the 4 weeks. The policy was to have around 4-6 regular 'staff' DJs each week with a number of other 'volunteer' DJs.

Haydn wrote:

dogpossum wrote:About how many DJs were there playing at Herrang this year?

I guess there were about 30-40 over the 4 weeks. The policy was to have around 4-6 regular 'staff' DJs each week with a number of other 'volunteer' DJs.

Guess there were around 15 staff DJs during the camp. Volunteer DJing was at minimum - I think there were around 10 volunteer DJs that played during the camp but most of them had played only 1-2 sets. I recall only two 'volunteer' DJs that played regularly.

I understand that Peter Loggins went "extreme" and DJed off a windup Victrola with 78s

ps not sure how you go transporting lots of vinyl (esp 78s) around the world to a gig.

russell wrote:ps not sure how you go transporting lots of vinyl (esp 78s) around the world to a gig.

That's what the entourage is for!

trev wrote:

russell wrote:ps not sure how you go transporting lots of vinyl (esp 78s) around the world to a gig.

That's what the entourage is for!

I will know I have reached the DJing Big Time when I have an entourage.

russell wrote:I understand that Peter Loggins went "extreme" and DJed off a windup Victrola with 78s

lol - that's awesome.

russell wrote:I understand that Peter Loggins went "extreme" and DJed off a windup Victrola with 78s

ps not sure how you go transporting lots of vinyl (esp 78s) around the world to a gig.

He played some great stuff off those 78s - made for a some fun dancing in the Bal room. I got some fun photos of him and his rig next to the blinky modern mixers. Mark Kihara also did a set of the Worst Songs Played on the Lindy Floor (or something to that effect) that was awfully amusing.