It’s nostalgia weekend with ‘80s DJ Paco Perez

Memories of that era will be revived this Saturday April 16 at a gig called “Reminisce: The Soul Factor” at the Carnivore, Simba Saloon hosted by some of the biggest club DJs from that period.

Old school
Special guest will be the legendary DJ Paco who played at the Club Boomerang in the 1980s and 90s.

“Most of the fans from that era have asked me to get together with Paco for an event in a good atmosphere like the Carnivore where they can enjoy music in an old school club set up,” says organiser DJ Kareez.

For Kareez, whose career includes stints at Lips (1990 -92) and both Florida clubs in Nairobi (1992 –2008), this is also a double celebration: his 25th year as a DJ and his 45th birthday, which falls on that day.

“What started as a plan for a small birthday party has transformed in to a major show thanks to my two children, who are 20 and 22, and who urged me to do it on a big scale,” says the DJ who is among those from his generation who were mentored by Paco.

“Kareez and I know each other for many years and so when he asked me to play at this gig he was organising at the Carnivore, I was happy to accept,” says Paco.

Paco who is now 66 has spent his entire life in music having started as a musician playing the guitar at age of 14 and then coming to Kenya for the first time in the 1970s as a member of a Spanish band that was invited to play at Hotel Continental in Nairobi.

‘We were playing at La Chateau restaurant at the hotel and I fell in love with Kenya. I also played at other hotels like Hilton and the Stanley,” he says.

He left Nairobi after just two years and headed to the Canary Islands where he started a discotheque called Kenya, only to find himself back in the country playing as a DJ at the then Pasha Club at Elite House on Kimathi Street.

He spent another brief period in the same Spanish islands, before returning to Kenya as resident DJ at Tamango Club on Kimathi Street, later known as Visions.

“My life is complicated because if you have a chance to be happy in life, then you must follow your heart,” says Paco.

He doesn’t remember the exact year that he started playing at Club Boomerang but estimates that it must have been either 1985 or 86.

“It was at Boomerang that I spotted one of the singers, a tall and beautiful lady and I said ‘she has to be my wife,’” says Paco.

Incidentally, this interview last Friday took place on the eve of his 24th marriage anniversary to his Kenyan wife, Janet, with whom he currently lives in Dusseldorf Germany.

Turntables

Paco says that as he plays in Nairobi this weekend, his mission is to keep the music from the 1980s and 90s alive because this is the music that made him popular with club goers in the country.

However, even today, he still collects music and sometimes experiments by playing contemporary African beats and dancehall alongside the older repertoire.

“Music is music, as long as it has good rhythm but I am not going to be in competition with DJs who are 17-years-old,” he says.

Does Paco Perez still play music from turntables as he did at the Boomerang those many years ago?

“No, we have to change to modern trends so all my music is on the computer and in any case.”

Kareez says that even though the profession has embraced technology, playing the right music and reading the mood of the crowd is an art that cannot be taught at the DJ academies.

Live drums

Fans of Paco Perez will remember that he punctuated his mixes at Boomerang by playing live drums and he is looking forward to having a drum set next to the DJs cubicle during the show at the Simba Saloon. He jokes: “I will hit those drums till the people say ‘that’s enough, we want to hear the music now’.”

“We are looking forward to seeing all our fans come out in their favourite denims because that is the dress code for the night,” says Kareez.

He would also like many younger people to come to the event to experience what the culture of disco was like in an era before mobile phones and the internet.

Other DJs playing on the night are WDJ from Capital FM and DJ Nijo who plays regularly at Sailor’s Lounge in Hurlingham.

Tickets will be on sale at the Carnivore for Sh1,500.