About Igor “El Espejero”

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Photo: Vaino Treksler, 2015

Igor “El Espejero” started dancing tango in 2011, and DJing in 2012. Since then he has been invited to play his music to over 300 milongas and 60 events in England, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, North Cyprus, China, Taiwan, seven US states, and Argentina (Salon Canning and Club Fulgor, Buenos Aires), while actively DJing at various milonga venues and organizing own events in Toronto, the city of his residence.

His musical selection is firmly grounded in classics of the Golden Age, with occasional, yet necessary departures into the naive warmth of Guardia Vieja sextetos and raw energy of a few carefully selected modern orquestas, while his style is influenced by the profound and sensual choices of the younger generation of Buenos Aires musicalizadors.

Igor says: “I believe that it is the dance floor that dictates the choices to the DJ, not other way around. Thus, I neither program my music in advance of the event, nor I attempt to ‘educate’ or ‘challenge’ the dancers. My only goal is to deliver the best danceable music and abundant energy to the floor, from the first tanda to the last, without a single exception.”

 

EXPERIENCE

FEEDBACK

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Photo: Oscar Casas, 2016

“Last knight a Milonga 8 in Toronto Canada I was impress to encounter a fabulous DJ. He have control the atmosphere of the Milonga in constant go. Impossible to stop dancing. The music selection it was balance and follow the dancers needs of the knight. The music is the blood of the Milonga. Great job I’m happy fro you Toronto.”
– Oscar Casas, Buenos Aires

“Fue una noche muy linda para nosotros! Gracias por la buena música q nos regalaste!!! Te esperamos para milonguear!! Un abrazoo”
– Emanuel Orlando, organizer, Seguime Si Podes, Club Fulgor, Buenos Aires

“Thank you Igor for the tantalizing music! 🎶 You were a big hit!”
– Milton El Gallo, organizer, Milonga Nueva, Boston

11043384_1623798371166511_4176003119201850405_o“You can DJ in Buenos Aires at any time…”
– Carlos Rivarola, Buenos Aires

“Voted Best Milonga in Toronto by us!”
– Carlos y Alison Boeri, on Milonga Tula in Toronto

“Great music Igor! Thanks! We had a great time I wish we can dance till 3am!”
“Yes, last night was magical. I love every single tanda!”
– Bulent Kavabagli and Lina Chan, organizers, Milonga Ocho, Toronto

“… It was a full crime scene of retro fashion and laughter. Thank you El Espejero for the fantastic music and arranging the vinyl. It’s not an easy job at all! Looking forward for more!”
– Lina Chan, organizer, Milonga Ocho, Toronto

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Photo: Vaino Treksler, 2015

“Awesome xmas milonga!
Beautiful music by El Espejero”
– Jessie Faye Lavin, organizer, Milonga Argentina

“Oh what a night! No body wanted to leave. The music took us a mystic place of a night in Buenos Aires.”
– Bryant Lopez, organizer, Milonga Argentina, Toronto

“… ‘спокойно’ – это не про Игоря. Продумывая танды и взаимодействуя с танцполом, он стремится постоянно подкачивать энергетику милонги. Приверженец Золотого века с вкраплениями старых секстетов, тащится по Д’Арьенцо, обнимается как черт.”
– Natalia Orlova, organizer, Milonga Buena Vista, Kiev, Ukraine

“Every Tanda was smoking hot. El Espejero, you rocked the house. Bulent & Lina Tango, what a great way to close the year of 2015 of Milonga Ocho”
– Dionysius Prakash Sarvesvaran, Toronto

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Photo: Vaino Treksler, 2016

“El Espejero and Elena you were phenomenal!!!
Thank you for such a wonderfully crazy night:)))”
– Irina Rabinovich, Toronto

“Какая милонга вчера была в день танго!!! До самой Кумпарситы танцпол был полный! Спасибо тебе, дорогой El Espejero, тебе удалось сделать счастливыми всех сразу…”
– Yulia Zemlianikina, Toronto

“It was a gathering of lovers: lovers of tango, tango tea virgins and veterans alike, embraced each other to the music selection of El Espejero and danced the the dance of love. Thank you all for creating the beauty of human friendships with your warmth on a cold wintery day.”
– Dionysius Prakash Sarvesvaran, organizer, Tango Tea, Toronto

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Photo: Vaino Treksler, 2016

“Yesterday, at the Milonga Ocho there was a special feeling created by El Espejero – the feeling of solemn celebration of tango. No single tanda was not noticeable, but all were beautiful and special. Impressed. Happy.”
– Elena de Garcia, Toronto

“As I intimated, your music was especially awesome last night. With at least two different partners, I remarked effusively on how nicely the tanda was building and how perfect the sequence of songs felt.”
– A. D., Guelph

“Спасибо огромное за незабываемую милонгу в Turk’s Head, Игорь! Последняя танда подкралась совершенно неожиданно и как-то слишком скоро… 🙂 Надеюсь услышать Вас вновь!”
– Ellina Shmarkovskaya, Dublin, Ireland

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Photo: Ievgeniia Vasilenko, 2017

Congratulations Igor! You made MILONGA OCHO a great success every time ! We all know how many hours a DJ has to work to get one evening of good music. Thank you for the amazing work and looking forward to dance to your music many many hundred times in future!”
– Lina Chan, organizer, Milonga Ocho, Toronto

“Спасибо за волшебную милонгу! Душевно и тепло…Впрочем,как всегда.. El Espejero,я была в предвкушении…Но реальность превзошла все ожидания! И да…Спасибо партнёрам за незабываемые танды! ”
– Irina Zarenina, organizer, Milonga della Gata Negra, Kiev, Ukraine

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Photo: Stanislav Parkhomenko, 2021

“Sunday was such a gem!
El Espejero
I have no words…
and you know what I mean
THANK you!”
– Natalia Shylova, organizer, Tesoromio Tango Weekend, Kiev, Ukraine

“Очаровал, околдовал, затанцевал вхлам и вусмерть, пленных не брал(с))), живыми не ушли – уползли))) Каждая танда была в тему, каждый трек – на своем месте, каждая кортина – в кайф! СПАСИБО!!!!!”
– Katerina Yegornkova at Tesoromio Tango Weekend, Kiev, Ukraine

“thank you for your wonderful music!! fantastic night.”
– Mina Tango, organizer of Corrientes Social Club, London, UK

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Caliente Tango Marathon, Antalya, 2022

“Your animated persona along with your fabulous playlist, made our tango-time spectacular & memorable!! Thank YOU!!”
– Sandra Uri, at En Tu Abrazo Encuentro Milonguero, Chicago, IL

“Thank you for inviting Igor El Espejero to Cleveland. You are the best Dj ever! It’s obvious that you have a passion for your work and love what you do! It was so much fun”
– Victoria Gavrylyuk, at La Milonga de Malena, Cleveland, OH

“Folks like him is why tango never dies!”
– Tom Lee, on the subject of “milongas clandestino” in 2020

“Thank you Igor, that was the best set I’ve ever danced to. Forever in your debt!”
– Gaye Harris, organizer, at Las Carolinas 2021, US

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Elegante Marathon, Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus, 2022

“You have been wonderful. We will always remember how you helped tango out of the shadows in these dark times. Gaye and Steve”
– Stephen Correl, organizer, at Las Carolinas 2021, US

“From bottom of my heart my gratitude goes to Bravehearts who hold the human dignity integrity and hopes high all the time. These events held by Bravehearts gave to a dancing community hope for tomorrow, mental health, physical strength an opportunity for socializing during this inhumane lockdown.”
– Odzun Odzneci, Toronto, Canada

“We enjoyed another great milonga in Prague. The DJ El Espejero was fantastic!”
– Mike Frerichs with Catherine Sattlethight at Milonga Rest.Art, Czech Republic.

321288609_737206094514079_3600827280292615809_n“Thank you, Irina and Igor, for the lovely milonga. For myself this is the most welcoming place in Toronto to dance. Music is perfect and the place is the closest to what milongas in Buenos Aires feel like. Thank you.”
– Inna Klimbovskaya, at Milonga Zorro Gris, Toronto

“I personally really like Igor for his amazing talent to give a cool and needed GROVE to people on the dance floor. ”
– Eleonora Kalganova, at Milonga Deseo, New Jersey, NJ

“El Espejero, your music at the Summer Colours Milonga Portena was so beautiful, every song in every tanda ! There were quite a few songs I have never heard before , very lovely songs and I loved them all! Your music created such a wonderful night Thank you”
– Liga Losseva at Milonga Portena, Missisauga

“I hardly can find words to say thank you for last night El Espejero…  Music was exceptional as always and with extra birthday touches.”
– Naz Milonguera at Milonga Ocho, Toronto

QUALITY OF SOUND

“In recent times there have been two major papers which sustainably unveiled a new approach towards transferring and dealing with tango records […] The Equalizer for Tango DJs is a comprehensive guide which shows how to use an equalizer to get the best sound out of a given tango recording. Showing precisely how the sound spectrum of a tango recording goes and where frequencies might be attenuated or amplified to obtain a certain result to fit the venue or the sound quality.”
From “D’Arienzomania – Review of the new Tangotunes transfers”,
by Jens-Ingo Brodesser

“El Espejero, Technical features of your equipment can impress me little, but the music you play … and which sounds like at a concert hall… is very impressive !”
– Liga Losseva, Toronto

Current Equipment

  • 16″ MacBook Pro 2022
  • NI Traktor Pro, Focusrite, SPL, API, Klanghelm, VoS/TDR, Rogue Amoeba and Bome software
  • Halide HD, Audient ID4 and FiiO K3 sound cards
  • Numark DJ2GO mkII MIDI controller
  • Radial Workhorse Cube 500 series housing with:
    • Fredenstein f609 dual tube, class A pre-amplifier
    • Fredenstein Artistic Optical Leveler
    • Crane Song Insigna passive parametric EQ with class A tube output stage
13″ MacBook Pro 2017 with Traktor Pro player; Numark DJ2GO MIDI controller; Halide HD audio card; Pioneer HDJ 2000 headphones; Shure SM-58LC microphone; Radial Workhorse Cube housing with Fredenstein f609 dual tube, class A pre-amplifier, Fredenstein Artistic Optical Leveler, and Crane Song Insigna passive parametric EQ with class A tube output stage.
13″ MacBook Pro 2017 with Traktor Pro player; Numark DJ2GO MIDI controller; Pioneer HDJ 2000 headphones; Apogee One sound card with embedded condenser mike.
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Pioneer HDJ-2000, mate and booze