Initially there were very few clubs on Ibiza, and the Balearic beat began in bars. Places run by Basques from the mainland (France and Spain), or other Europeans who`d been brought to the island by the beatnik / hippie trail. These bars didn`t have DJs as such. Simply bartenders who spun records between serving drinks. Providing a soundtrack of jazz and rock while mixing cocktails. The records belonged to the bar. So each venue had a particular, if limited, sound, determined by the owner`s preferences. Bars such as Akelarre, Bar 22, BeBop, Clives, La Tierra, Lost Sheep, Nitos, and Number 1. All were located in Ibiza`s Old Town. Be Bop in the port. Akelarre, Bar 22 and Number 1 were on, and just off, Calle De La Virgen. Clives on the harbour promenade that runs from Maritim Station. In the village of Sant Antoni de Portmany, or San Antonio, there was Club Playboy. 

Something that`s key to the “Birth Of The Balearic Beat” is the fact that Ibiza is an island. That records, like all commodities, were in limited supply. Anything from outside was unique. Imported vinyl could make your place special, pull in more customers. For example, BeBop’s owners regularly had records brought back from the US. Moving the bar apart from, say, Lost Sheep, where the play-list consisted of mainstream acts. Bands such as Iron Butterfly, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and Yes. By the late `70s La Tierra had become an important spot. Their one turntable providing a “BGM” of Bob Marley, Nina Hagen, and J.J. Cale.

Alongside the bars, were the hotels: El Mono Desnudo, Montesol, and Hostal Mar Blau. These had their own lounges and terraces, with El Mono Desnudo being especially popular. At one point there was a “Discotheque” housed in the walled costal defenses of Porto Nou. Set in a high tower, this was closed in 1976 due to complaints about noise. By the mid-80s Montesol had become the top breakfast  / lunch spot –  depending on the hours you kept – where the plans for the day / night were made. People would meet, eat, and drink in these venues until around eleven at night, and then retire to house parties. Ever so slightly more sedate progessions of the hippie happenings, which involved an eclectic mix of nationalities, acoustic jam sessions, a lot of  weed, and free love. The first real nightclub on the island was Pacha. 

Brothers Ricardo and José Maria “Piti” Urgell started the Pacha empire back in 1966, when they opened their first club in Sitges, near Barcelona. The following year the venue’s success led them to begin building branches all over Spain, reaching Ibiza in 1973. Located in Ses Feixes, just outside of Ibiza Town, across the bay from Dalt Vila, and between the beaches of Talamanca and Cap Martinet, Pacha catered to a high-end, Jet Set crowd. Many of whom moored their luxury yachts in Marina Botafoch. Back then Pacha was surrounded by fields – if someone wanted directions from the harbour then you simply pointed to the lights. Piti himself was the original DJ, and he took pride in having the latest releases – flying to Paris to pick up records for a playlist that drew on heavy and progressive rock by acts such as King Crimson, The Doors, and The Stones. A DJ named Cesar subsequently took over from Piti, and the brothers gave him a vinyl budget that allowed for trips to New York to find tracks that no one else had. Pacha boasted an open air terrace, rose garden, and two dance-floors separated by cushions.  There was no VIP room – it was “all one big VIP” – and the vibe was very definitely “hippie”. Flowers were scattered everywhere and the trendy clientele enjoyed a cocktail of champagne, marijuana, and LSD. Nights were often themed – White, Hollywood, and of course, Flower Power. When Pacha shut at 4AM, the brothers would sometimes run boats over to lavish after-parties held on the neighbouring island of Espalmador. During the `70s Pacha thrived. It was open and rammed 7 days a week. According to Piti Urgell the only way you knew it was Sunday was because the nearby Hotel Montesol was closed.  

By 1980 DJ Massimo “Max” Zucchelli was Pacha’s resident DJ, spinning a mix of more modern sounds. Primarily new wave from the US, UK, Italy and France. Max stayed at Pacha until 1983 – by which time the club had doubled its capacity to well over 1000. Leaving the island in `85, he sadly passed away in 2012. Opinions are always divided in the competitive world of DJing, but many consider Max important in shaping the alternative sound of the Ibiza. Max established tracks like Marvin Gaye’s A Funky Space Reincarnation as Pacha, and consequently, Ibiza classics. 

Competition for Pacha came in 1975 when the local Aguirre family built Es Paradis in San Antonio. Employing Catalan architect Lluis Guell, who later also designed the Cafe del Mar – in nearby Cala Des Moro. The club was opulently decked out like a Roman colosseum, with marble pillars, and fountains. The latter famously flooding the dance floor at the end of the night. Initially open-air, it was later covered by a glass pyramid.

Glory`s opened soon after Es Paradis. Located off the highway between the Old Town and San Antonio, it took over the site of the former Hippodrome Can Bufí – a dog-racing track. As a result, the club included a large outside terrace, and restaurant, which formed the entrance to the interior and dance floor. During the 1970s Glory’s was Pacha’s only real competition, but by the mid-80s its popularity had waned, and it would close and reopen several times over the following decades. It’s currently derelict. One of the club’s original DJs, Pepe Velardiez, is credited as being the first to play the Penguin Cafe Orchestra`s Music For A Found Harmonium, a piece of music that’s now a part of White Isle history. 

Lola’s was in the Old Town, catering to a predominantly Gay clientele, who also had the choice of Angelo’s and Anfora if they wanted to go dancing. Playboy, and later Playboy 2, managed by Pepe Rosello, joined Es Paradis in San Antonio. The DJs were initially Juan Suarez, and Pepe himself. 

Amnesia emerged from a former hippie hangout. The club took over an old family finca, again on the road from Ibiza Town to San Antonio. In 1970, the aristocratic Maria Fuencisla Martinez de Campos y Munoz had purchased the property. Moving to Ibiza in the 50s she used the finca to stage “happenings”. In 1976, the building was then leased to Antonio Escohotado, later a professor of Sociology & Law, and a respected philosopher. Escohotado had long been an activist for drug law reform, in 1988 publishing A General History Of Drugs, which traces man’s use of psychotropic substances as a means to acquire knowledge. Arguing in defense of responsible drug use. Born in Madrid, Escohotado spent his formative years in Brazil. When he returned to his homeland he found the constraints of the Franco regime a significant shock, and he and his wife moved to Ibiza in 1969. Setting out on “the adventure of finding oneself”. As part of his exploration of “freedom”, Escohotado converted the finca into a nightclub – “a place for live music where cool hippies could have a good time.” At the re-purposed Finca, Escohotado wanted to create a haven where people could forget their worries. After toying with names such as “El Taller De Los Olvidadizos” – The Workshop of Forgetfulness – he settled on the simpler, Amnesia. Remembered as the best venue on the island for live music, around jam sessions the DJ played music by Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, The Eagles, and The Rolling Stones. Food was served by two New Jersey natives, Aaron and Richard. Vegan noodles with herbs, where the “herb” was marijuana. Escohotado’s involvement in the club ended in 1978. 

In the early `80s the keys were in the hands of Basque Frenchman, Prontxio Izaguirre. Originally an open-air, flower-power garden, Amnesia was still considered an “alternative” place. Izaguirre installed a DJ, Freddy The Egyptian, who span the ever reliable Stones and Pink Floyd, alongside newer acts such as Joe Jackson, Madness, and The Specials. Bringing in local Ibicenco artist, Sola, to design the club’s distinctive posters. Live concerts were still an important part of Amnesia, and the venue hosted gigs by UK bands, like Funkapolitan and The Belle Stars. 

KU evolved out of Club San Rafael, located in the village of the same name – and walking distance from Amnesia. Parisian Patrick Michaut had already been working as a DJ for ten years when he was flown in to renovate the old restaurant / discotheque. Patrick managed the club, and DJed, through 1977. He continued to DJ through 1978, when Club San Rafael was purchased by Javier Iturrioz, José Luis “Gorri” Anabitarte, and former professional footballer, José Antonio Santamaria. This team from San Sebastian renamed the club KU, after the Hawaiian god of war and prosperity. They employed the creative team of Faruk Gandji and Brasilio de Oliviera to transform the venue, with its outdoor terrace and swimming pool, into Ibiza`s answer to New York`s Studio 54. They organized parties, contests, and with assistance from music promoter Pino Sagliocco, concerts. Acts such as James Brown, Divine, Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, and Talk Talk. With these events getting bigger and bigger, drawing larger and larger crowds. Michaut clashed with the commercialism of the new venture and quickly departed. Going on instead to work with Glory’s. He was replaced by two DJs. Another Patrick, Landre, from London, who specialized in disco, and Gerardo, like KU’s owners, a Basque, from San Sebastian, who favoured rock and new wave. The pair made George Kranz’ Din Da Da, and Ain`t Nobody by Rufus & Chaka Khan, the White Isle soundtrack of 1983. 

KU contained its own hippie market, where patrons could purchase “consumables” that would help them party through the night. Bar staff would bring customers their drinks on roller skates. Exotic animals freely wandered around. It’s no surprise that Prontxio Izaguirre worked here before taking over Amnesia. 

Frenchman Yves Uro created KU’s promotional artwork and posters. Born in Paris in 1954, after studying at Beaux Arts, in Metz, Uro moved to Ibiza in 1976. In ’78 he started work as KU’s “illustrator”, and for ten years he effectively “branded” the club. His posters have come to define a Balearic aesthetic, and become highly collectable. Returning to Paris, Uro unfortunately passed away, at the age of 40, in 1995. 

As far as the development of “Balearic Beat” is concerned, every DJ mentioned so far made a contribution. There was fierce completion over play-lists, and whenever somebody span a record that worked, it stuck. Others would take it, and build upon it. This becomes obvious when looking at time-lined track-lists, which form a kind of musical relay – the top tunes passed on like a baton from one year to next. In this way a less commercial sound began to coalesce around the mid-80s. Bit by bit the White Isle playlist progressed more toward to an underground mix of indie electronics and rock. While this eclectic mixture, and many of the songs themselves, may now be familiar, in the mid to late ‘80s it was exclusive to Ibiza. A product of the incredible atmosphere of the open-air clubs, and the passion of the people who worked in them. A small, tight knit community of folks who believed in the party, and frequently worked for a pittance. Creating something from nothing. Once the clubs on the island were established, the “battling” each other for customers began. During this time DJs chopped and changed between venues – season to season, always movin’- but some names are key: Alfredo Fiorito, Leo “Mas” Marras, Cesar de Melero, Giuseppe “Pippi” Nuzzo, José Padilla, and Joan Ribas. 

José Padilla was a Spaniard. Born in 1955 in Girona, one town on from Barcelona, he, however, spent his childhood on the family farm in Perpignan, in the south of France. A fan of “symphonic rock” – bands such as Genesis, Manfred Mann, and Black Sabbath – and emerging German electronic artists like Klaus Schulze, Padilla moved to Barcelona when he was 16. He landed a job working as a DJs assistant at Pacha in Lloret de Mar, on the Catalonian coast – where his mind was blown by “the colour, the costumes and the amount of beautiful young people”. By the age of 19 he was DJing himself. Having landed in unspecified hot water, at 21 he sold his records and left for Ibiza – arriving on the island in 1976. His trip inspired by Barbet Schroeder’s film, More. 

“The film, More, that’s what made Ibiza famous. That was it for me, the Ibizan white house with no water or electricity, hanging around, knackered guys from Vietnam, cheap living.”

Padilla immediately fell into drug deals – with the caretaker of Elmyr de Hory’s home – visiting Amnesia, and dropping acid on beaches with French hippie chicks, watching the sunrise. Initially he worked construction and waited tables before securing a gig DJing at a small hotel called Bergantin. He built his DJ reputation at Es Paradis, where between 1979 and 1982, every night, he would play marathon sets. The club would be open from 10PM to 8AM, and Padilla would spin sides by James Brown, Chic, Fischer Z, Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, The Salsoul Orchestra, Supertramp, Timmy Thomas, and Ultravox. Pink Floyd’s Money and The Rolling Stones` Honky Tonk Women. John Miles` Music would be his last track of the night. The club’s set up of two turntables and two cassette decks allowed him to experiment, playing sound effects – waves, thunderstorms and birdsong – over the music. 

“It was beautiful.”

After 3 years José quit Es Paradis – something he called a mistake – and took a job at a new “macro-discotheque” called Manhattan. At Es Paradis, José was replaced by an influential, but now largely forgotten Argentinian DJ, remembered only as Carlos, who played an underground eclectic mix of electronic, new wave, and indie. Working in lesser known tunes, such a Exotica Maximus’ Western Fields and La Batterie’s Shogun. Carlos left Ibiza in `86 for Tito’s Palace in Palma.

Manhattan was a multi-storey complex that housed not just a dance floor, but a cinema, and a swimming pool. Manhattan was a financial failure, and then it burnt down. This left Padilla bouncing around the small clubs of San Antonio – Extasis, Nightlife, Nitos, and Playboy, with the occasional guest slot at KU. He would also host regular Moon Dance parties at Pacha. In 1986, with 2 friends, Padilla opened his own club, Museo, in Cala Vedella. A 400 – 500 capacity open-air, garden venue, it was called Museo because it was furnished like a museum with paintings and sculptures throughout, including a large egg-shaped structure at the centre of its gardens. Posing in the bar’s Gaudi-esque architecture, between the statues and palms you’d find an exotic clientele that stretched from pop stars, such as Steve Strange, to minor European aristocracy. Being the boss allowed Padilla to indulge in more experimental playlists, which included bossa nova, jazz, Pat Metheny, Miles Davis, and modern classical pieces by ensembles such as the aforementioned Penguin Cafe Orchestra. However, tragedy struck when one of Museo’s partners, during the slow winter season, shot himself in the bar. With Museo now saddling debt and sporting blood stains, after struggling for a year, José was forced to close. At this point he quit DJing, and and instead began making a living selling mixtapes in the hippie markets. Initially these tapes were just his own selections, but as business started to boom, he commissioned others from the island’s leading DJs – Alfredo, Pippi, Cesar de Melero – and sold copies of these as well. By 1989 he was running 8 copying machines around the clock to keep up with demand. These tapes led to José being offered a DJ residency at Cafe del Mar in 1991 – by then owners Carlos Andrea, José Les, and Ramón Guiral. Every day, while continuing to sell tapes from behind the decks, he would supply a sundown soundtrack. Here chart-hits sat next to new age, jazz, mellow hip hop, and deep house that bordered on trance. Rubbing musical shoulders with sides on Windham Hill, and ECM. Seemingly everything the German imprint, Innovative Communication, ever released. In 1992 UK record label React approached José and asked him to put together a compilation based on these mediative, introspective selections. The compilation became a series of compilations, which went on to sell millions of units, and make both the Cafe del Mar and José globally, synonymous with sunsets and chilled-out sounds. 

Cesar de Melero was born in Barcelona. His sisters had moved to Ibiza, where they made clothes and owned a boutique. In the Spring of 1979 Cesar joined them on the island. Initially for a holiday, but falling in love with the place – which he describes as a “paradise” – he stayed on. Finding work as a waiter at KU. 

“The island was magical, but it was also the people. It was like livin’ on another planet. A lot of harmony and happiness.”

He’d spend his nights off, however, at rival club Pacha, listening and dancing to Massimo Zucchelli. Befriending the DJ and subsequently spending a lot of time in the Pacha booth, learning from his mentor. 

“Max was the best DJ in Ibiza…..Every other DJ in Ibiza copied Max.”

According to Cesar it was Zucchelli who moved the Island’s clubs away from `70s hippie records, toward a more electronic sound, by only playing modern music. 

“He was on a crusade. We went from dancing to The Doors to dancing to Depeche Mode overnight.”

It was Max who got Cesar his first DJing job. Max put a word in with Pepe Rosello, and the next day, September 1st, 1982, Cesar started at Playboy 2. He’d never DJed before. He span for two months during the autumn season. Playing tunes such as Modern Romance’s Everybody Salsa (Can you move, can you move, can you move to the Latin groove?), Kid Creole & The Coconuts` Annie (I`m Not Your Daddy), Tears For Fears` Pale Shelter, Trio’s Da Da Da, and Yazoo`s Don’t Go. As winter set in, Cesar moved to Lola’s, where he stayed the whole season.

In `83 he did a month at Glory’s, but by this time the Clubs `70s glamour, and popularity had faded – “It was empty” – so Cesar moved to Amnesia, warming up, and winding down, for Freddy The Egyptian. Playing tunes by artists such as The Comateens and Tony Allen. In `84 he was recruited by Pacha. After DJing there for a year he moved to Madrid, but returned to the island to play at KU, through `85 and `86. In `87, he bounced back to Pacha before returning to KU, where he stayed until 1990. 

Giuseppe Nuzzo, AKA DJ Pippi, was born in Southern Italy, but left for Germany at the age of 17. There he began DJing. Eventually landing a residency at a “hot spot” called Malesh, in Dusseldorf. Spinning for “pop stars” that included Mick Jagger and Kraftwerk, and supermodels, such as Claudia Schiffer. In 1984 he was offered at job at Pacha. 

“For me it (Ibiza) was The Promised Land.”

Pippi had previously visited the island in `78, to catch Bob Marley play at Plaza De Toros. Part of the European leg of the Kaya tour. According to Pippi the “Balearic Sound” was already in place by `84. A mixture of musical styles into which he threw Black artists such as Sade, Prince, and Grace Jones. 

Pippi has lived on the island since `84, and played in all the major clubs. Just like Cesar, moving between Pacha, Ku, and Amnesia. Spinning pretty much everyday through the `90s until the 2000s. 

“I’ve had the chance to travel around the world, and definitely there is no place like ibiza for living. The Freedom we have here is unique.”

Joan Ribas was born in Ibiza in 1963. A “natural born Eivissenca”. His family have lived on the island for generations. Growing up on Ibiza, it was “like a small village…We all know each other…There were only two schools.” Interested in music at a young age, at 16 he worked in the record store, Flip. He would spend so much time in the shop that the owner, Diego Gimenez, suggested he take a job there. Joan paid his dues DJing in the bars of the Old Town, and on local radio. Then, in 1985, due primarily to the knowledge he’d acquired behind the counter at Flip, Joan was hired by Pacha. He DJed there for close to forty years. When asked for a “Top Ten” records from his first year at Pacha, Joan said, 

“I can try, but it wasn’t like now… we don’t change the music every week.. A good tune you can play it for some years. It will be a list … but not a top ten and not from the first year… first two or three years.”

Alfredo Fiorito is Argentinian. He was born into a relatively wealthy newspaper family, but fled his homeland in 1976, as the right-wing military Junta took control. Between 1976 and its overthrow in 1983, the Junta, and its “Proceso”, made an estimated 30, 000 people “disappear”. Employing torture and death-squads. Alfredo and his girlfriend found themselves on a boat full of actors, architects, artists, authors, doctors, journalists and politicians. All going into self-imposed exile in Europe. Alfredo and his partner travelled to Barcelona, then Paris, then Switzerland. As winter approached, and the weather turned cold, they took another boat to Ibiza. Coming from the horrors of Proceso, Alfredo’s first impression of Ibiza was, unsurprisingly, 

“Freedom.”

There was no industry as such on the island. Everyone was “a painter, a writer, a designer.”

“It was a community. People knew each other by their first name, not their family name.”

In Argentina Alfredo had been a rock critic and concert promoter. In Ibiza, he and his girlfriend rented a house without electricity or running water and made candles to sell at the hippie Market in Es Canar. Eventually renting a shop where they made and sold clothes. His girlfriend’s dungarees, in particular, were a hit.

“When we arrived the discotheque was Pacha and Glory’s, and there was live music. It was not fundamental to go to the clubs. There was the beach, the markets, the shops. These were more important.”

Alfredo’s son, Jaime, was born, but the couple separated, and after a short period of Alfredo continuing alone, the boutique went broke. He played professional rugby for two years. Then in `82 he was offered a job tending bar, and playing records, at Bebop. Using the bar’s records, and equipment, Alfredo found his calling. 

“I tried the mixer. I discovered that you could move from one record to the next with the volume controls. It was like a miracle to me and I enjoyed it like a kid. After one winter I decided that this would be my profession.”

Alfredo spent the summer of `83 in neighboring island Formentera. When he returned, after a stint at Lola’s in `84, he became the resident DJ at Amnesia. He’d set his heart on working at the venue because it was “THE alternative club”. 

“A very cool place with live music by underground musicians, and sannyasins selling food.”

While Amnesia opened at 11 or 12, it was empty until 3AM. The regular crowd made up of people who`d been working in other clubs, such as Pacha. 

“There were Italians, french, three or four English (laughs), Spanish, South Americans, Germans, and to bring them together I made a mixture with my music, something for everyone, that was Brazilian, South American, flamenco, rock and roll, Pink Floyd, reggae, and soul.” 

This effort to include all and exclude none – is another key factor in what defines the Balearic beat. 

Amnesia itself would close at 5AM, at which point those still partying would attempt to move on to KU. At the beginning of Alfredo’s residency, Amnesia was failing. A lack of customers, and lack of profits meant that support DJs, Joan Ribas and Paco Belucci were let go. However, the club and Alfredo’s fortunes were to change by accident. One morning, at 5AM, he was waiting around to be paid. His girlfriend convinced him to put on a few records to pass the time. Chilled stuff, such as Art Of Noise’s Moments In Love. Passersby – who’d been up all night – heard the music and began to come into the club. The decision was made to stay open til midday, and within a week the club was busy. In `84 Alfredo was assisted in these marathon sessions by Joan Ribas, and then Paco Belucci. In 1984 Alfredo then also met Leo Mas. 

Leonardo “Mas” Marras was born in the Catalan speaking part of Sardinia, near Alghero, but grew up in Milan. In the Summer of `84 he was on holiday with friends on Formentera. The day before the mid-August party Alfredo was also on the beach, handing out flyers, promoting the event, and the two were introduced. At the close of the day, Leo and his friends gave Alfredo a lift back to the ferry. On the way, they listened to a mixtape of Leo’s. This tape contained music by Blancmange, Dominatrix, Felt, David Sylvian, and Tones On Tails, and made an impression on Alfredo. Leo also gave Alfredo a cassette copy of Sade’s Diamond Life, which Alfredo “rinsed” at Amnesia. He`d often play the whole album. That winter Alfredo visited a girlfriend in Milan and ended up crashing at Leo’s apartment. Alfredo stayed for a total of five months, with the two of them talking incessantly about music, going to gigs – hanging out at Milan club Killer Plastic O, listening to DJ Nicola Guiducci – and shopping for records at places such as, Tape Art, Supporti Fonografici, Pippo’s Bazaar, Mariposa and Disco Piu’ in Rimini, No Stop – the biggest warehouse vinyl store in Milan. A firm friendship was formed and Alfredo invited Leo to stay at his place the following summer. Convincing Leo to join him DJing at Amnesia. Leo did the month of August in `85 and `86, then in `87 quit his job in Milan and played the whole season. 

During the summer of `85 it was well known that Amnesia would stay open until 9AM, sometimes, midday, sometimes until 2PM on a Saturday, and the place would be full by 4:30AM. The lengthy sets allowed the duo to do something that Leo calls a “crescendo”. Start slow, build to an eventual peak, and then take the dancers safely back down again. For two hours they’d hover around 95BPM, then steadily climb to 130, before winding back down to 105 for the last forty minutes. Leo had been influenced by the DJs and play-lists of Milan’s punk and new wave clubs – La Luna, Odissea, Plastic and Viridis. He would “warm-up” between midnight and 4AM, playing an eclectic mix of afro beat, dub reggae, electro, flamenco, hip hop, indie rock, jazz, soundtracks, and synth pop. Handing over to Alfredo at around 118BPM. 

Initially Amnesia didn’t have direct-drive, vari-speed turntables. It was only with Leo’s arrival that they invested in a pair of Technics 1200s. By his own admission, Alfredo couldn’t beat-mix. He would instead instinctively cut between records. When the clubs in Ibiza seasonally closed, Alfredo would find DJ work in Italy, and it was on these trips, during `85 and `86, under the tutelage of DJ Marco Trani, that Alfredo learnt to mix. 

“Marco said to me, You play very hot music but you need to try to put it together.”

Alfredo’s sets were influenced by the energetic rock he’d heard Belgian DJ J.C. Maury play at Glory’s and KU. Maury was resident at Club Mirano in Brussels, but he’d spend his summers in Ibiza. Spinning for seasons at Glory’s and KU during the mid-80s. One knock-on effect as Amnesia took off, was the closure of Glory’s in 1985. Unable to compete, it re-opened, under Swiss ownership, as an after-hours venue in 1987. A DJ from Barcelona, Paco Carro, was hired, and he brought with him his friend, Antonio Dominguez Rey, aka Nelo, to assist. Paco, however, after an argument with the management quit, and Esteban Lahoz, again from Barcelona was recruited to replace him. Glory’s, in this incarnation, was the start of Ibiza’s now infamous after-hours party scene, with the venue open from midnight until 12, or 2 in the afternoon. Esteban would play through the night, mixing electro and house, which at that time was still a very new, emerging, genre. The Information Society’s Running can be considered his signature tune. Nelo would then take over until closing. This was Nelo’s ever first DJ gig and according to him, “I could afford to play what I wanted, because nowhere else was open.”

Nelo considered the music being played in the island’s other clubs to be commercial and instead span sets of harder, darker, sides – a mix of Industrial, Electronic Body Music (EBM), Belgian New Beat, and rock by bands such as The Clash, The Cult, and New Model Army. 

“I`d play music by Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, A Split Second, Cabaret Voltaire, Anne Clark, Severed Heads, Neon Judgement, but also stuff with a big guitar sound. One day I even closed with My Way by Sid Vicious…… can you imagine? In Ibiza!”

The reinvented Glory’s sadly lasted for just one season – only 2 to 3 months – but the mix of music played was hugely influential and the extended after-hours idea resurfaced at Space, picked up by Pepe Rosello and DJ Rafael “Rafa” Urbaneja Blasco, in 1988. 

Esteban returned to the mainland and found success in the booths of fashionable clubs, such as Verdi and Satanassa. He later joined  the new beat band, Amnesia. Nelo landed a residency at Pacha, alongside Joan Ribas, where he continued to pursue his “darker” sound – describing the high-point of his time there being when he had 2000 people, in this more commercial venue, dancing to Cabaret Voltaire’s The Crackdown.

The alternative rock records that Alfredo and Leo found on their Milan shopping trips were a huge part of Amnesia’s success. This ritual of traveling to Milan to to buy vinyl to play during Amnesia’s summer season, continued annually until 1988. Their discoveries gave the pair a significant musical edge over the island`s other DJs. The Woodentops` Why, bought from Supporti Fonografici. Elkin & Nelson’s Jibaro, The Residents` Kaw-Liga, and William Pitt’s City Lights from No Stop. These were songs that you could only hear in Amnesia.***

According to Leo, “Amnesia was another world. The crowd – super freak! A bit posh, but a mix of world famous musicians, actors, actresses, film directors, hippies, gays, and drug dealers…..1987 was a revolution. We all danced together in total freedom.”

“Amnesia was a utopia, a dream, a Garden of Eden. It was forbidden to take photos, there wasn’t a VIP Area, and you could see mixed up the gypsy pusher and the Prince of Monaco.”

Leo and Alfredo fell out in 1989. Resulting in Alfredo playing Amnesia, with Leo staying in Italy, and instead starting at Movida in Jesolo. Leo’s long running residency there made him a house / techno legend in his homeland. Leo did however return to Amnesia in 1990, as Alfredo moved to Pacha. Leo brought Nelo with him to Amnesia. The two of them dividing the night, with Nelo generally playing the first set. Nelo left at the end of that season, and then in came two Italian DJs, first Andrea “Cirillo” Raggi, followed by Alex “P” Petrides. After 1990, while both Alfredo and Leo continued, and still continue, to DJ on the island neither became a resident at Amnesia again. 

Alfredo: “I am really grateful to the people, everyone that worked with me (at Amnesia). I got the chance to build my style, you see. I got to start with two dancers on the dance-floor. I got the chance because all the people want to listen to something different. I got the chance to tell a story because I`ve got a very long time to play.”

Alfredo’s story is impossible to separate from that of Amnesia. Both the man and the venue are responsible for making Balearic Beat the phenomenon that, once exported, and given a name, sparked the so-called “Second Summer Of Love”.

Notes

***The story of this tune, the live version of The Woodentops’ Why? is actually much more complicated. For many it’s an anthem associated with Amnesia. However, if you were to ask Alfredo where he heard it, he will tell you that Nelo played the track first, at Glory’s. Leo, on the other hand, will explain how he clearly remembers buying the record – from Supporti Fonografici in Milan – and how he was spinning it at Amnesia, independently of Nelo. That Alfredo doesn’t remember, or simply wasn’t there. It’s important to note that Alfredo would take “rest days”, and on these occasions Leo would man the decks at Amnesia, solo, for whole night. Now Nelo and Leo are firm friends, and they are also both good friends of mine. They are both at pains to point out that after 30-plus years they don’t want to fall out over who played what, and that they are simply grateful for having been part of Ibiza’s history, soundtracking paradise. So, I’ll post the two stories here, in the notes, just so that you have all of the background, and leave the last word to Nelo: 

“It doesn’t matter who played this Ibiza hymn first, it’s been 30 years since I’ve DJed professionally, and I don’t want to get into any controversy with anyone. The important thing is that “Why Why Why” can be considered as one of the emblematic songs of Ibiza, and I am very proud of that, for my part in it. It’s the true Balearic sound.”

Thank you:

I’d like to thank everyone who kindly agreed to be interviewed, including Joan Bibiloni, Antonio Dominguez Rey, Alfredo Fiorito, Trevor Fung, Mark Hey, Cesar de Melero, Patrick Michaut, DJ Pippi, Joan Ribas, and especially Leo Mas, who made most of the introductions, and granted the project legs.  Extracts from some of these interviews were previously published in the Test Pressing booklet: IBIZA DJs 1976 – 1988, while others are available in full here on Ban Ban Ton Ton. 

I’d also like to say a big thank you to Bill Brewster, whose extensive oral history of Pacha and in-depth interview with the club’s founder, Piti Urgell, were essential references. Bill and Frank Broughton’s brilliant book, The Record Players, was also an invaluable source of information on José Padilla.

The first 2 installments of Looking For The Balearic Beat – Bohemians, Beatniks & Hippies and Soundtracking Paradise – have been collected and physically published by San Francisco’s Et al. etc. & Et al. Books. The publication marks the opening of the exhibition …Tomorrow Another Dream Will Start. 

Et al. is a gallery directed by Jackie Im and Aaron Harbour, with help from Kate Rhodes and Zac Singer, and located at 2831a Mission Street. The exhibition, which runs from July 15th until the 22nd, coincides with the San Francisco Art Book Fair. Curated by Wild Life Archive, it presents a selection of promotional posters from clubs such as Amnesia, Glory’s, Pacha, and KU, with the underlying aim of having these pieces recognized as important, influential, works of art. Local electronic artist, Khotin, provides the sounds. The publication, designed by Daniel Lucas, will be sold at the SF book fair, and at the Et al. gallery.