Having arrived in Ibiza in 1975, Spanish DJ Jose Padilla is without doubt an Ibizan institution, maybe THE institution of the island. Think the smell of pine needles and the warmth of the Balearic sun on your skin as you step off the plane, lying by the pool listening to tunes that send you into you into chilled heaven, coming back from a club with beautiful people and slipping on a mix where everyone drifts off into the world of Neverland. DMC, meet the god of Ibiza and the man behind the new Cafe Mambo 15th Anniversary Compilation…
Hi Jose, thank you for bringing us the spine tingling tunes over the years that are so synonymous with the most magical island in the world. The term ‘Balearic’ means so many things to so many different people – to me though, it represents a movement when a selective bunch of DJs started to play records, duly because they could, basically, play whatever they wanted to play…?
“Well Dan, it’s not that simple. A few years ago I wasn’t even clear myself about what Balearic meant, but basically, ‘Balearic’ was born in and grew in Ibiza over 20 years ago. It began as a word to describe the way of playing records. As DJs we didn’t have much choice in Spain and we didn’t have a lot of records coming in, so we’d have to play for eight or ten hours every night to keep the crowd going, playing lots of different styles – sometimes we’d have to play the same records two or three times. That developed into a way of playing, it was very eclectic – Tamla Motown, Reggae, Rock etc. But with the beaches, the weather, the Mediterranean and when House music came in, people started to pick out house records, and when they merged it and mixed it with these styles it became known as the Balearic sound. Balearic should be any track that’s played in a nice environment which puts a fucking smile on people’s faces.”
You very kindly invited me for lunch at your house in the middle of the island in San Miguel, er, how do you put up with the…
“I know, I know, the bloody mosquitoes and flies – a nightmare. But you know, I have access to the beach, I can be isolated from everyone and have my privacy.”
What’s the worst thing about Ibiza?
“The Summer traffic. Don’t go there. It is absolute chaos”
So a new Cafe Del Mar series coming out celebrating their 15th Anniversary, a great album…
“I wish I’d done it ages ago. I have been asked so many times to do it but I just didn’t have the time, I am really happy with it. Everyone knows me for my Cafe Del Mar releases, but, well the times are different now. Different music, different crowds, perhaps even a different vibe. But the sunsets, views and the smells are still the same – that’s what inspires and inspired me for this mix.”
It took a while for you to walk the twenty metres from Cafe Del Mar to Mambo though…
“Ha! I remember when Javier was building Café Mambo and he wanted me to play there and at the time I wasn’t very happy with Café Del Mar because I was working there for five or six hours a day with one day off – no guests or anything and they were paying me 100,000 Pesetas a month (about 500 euros). So Javier came over to me and he said – ‘I’ll give you a blank cheque for anything you want, I’ll build you a DJ booth, whatever you want’ and I was so fucking stupid for turning it down! But fifteen years later I’m there.”
How would you feel about owning your own beach bar one day?
“Yes it’s actually something that I’ve been thinking about lately because, for me, there’s not many places that play the quality stuff in the way I want it. At the end of the day, because I’ve been DJing for so long it’s very important for me to play sets which are of really great quality and to play what I want to play, so that’s why I’ve been thinking about having my own place as I would then be able to do just that.”
How do you find your records now? Do you still do it the old way of searching through vinyls or do you do it with digital downloads?
“I do both. I get some promos because of the radio show I have. I buy some online and I go to vinyl shops, I’ve been to the Indygen which is one of the best vinyl record shops in Europe and I went fucking mad-ass, I went crazy man! There’s another one called Ultrasuoni, I must say that the owner is nuts, he starts work at 7am and leaves at midnight and his wife says she’s going to leave him – ha!”
So, tell us about the album, what is the mood of it and have you managed to get any exclusive tracks for the album?
“Well I managed to get some really rare records, such as ‘The Canyons’ from Australia, which in the beginning they didn’t want to give to me. The record is quite Balearic and also a bit down tempo – kind of like ‘Lounge(y) Balearic’. It’s very eclectic and the way I approached the compilation was to make it appeal to the biggest ranging audience as possible, from 20-80 year old!! That was the idea for the compilation. When I do a compilation I have to like all the records on it, sometimes I grow tired of certain tracks more than others, but only sometimes. Amy Canbe’s ’24 Hours’ is a very beautiful record, it’s a proper electronic chill-out record and I love it, it’s the kind of record I can play 20 times in a row and not get tired of. There’s a very good quality down tempo house tune of about 120bpm by Sis N’ Jones, it’s South African house and they’re two guys from Johannesburg and you wouldn’t be able to tell that they’re from Johannesburg- it sounds like it should be a U.S house outfit.
So to an Ibizan virgin, is this the sort of stuff you’d be playing daytime?
“Yes, if you came to a bar on the beach I would start off by playing this sort of soundtrack and then I’d raise the tempo going a bit tribal, jazzy and some slabs of Balearica.”
Are there any specific tracks on the record which you’d like to tell us about? Any ones which you’re very passionate about?
When I do a compilation I have to like all the records on it, sometimes I grow tired of certain tracks more than others, but only sometimes. Amy Canbe’s ’24 Hours’ is a very beautiful record, its a proper electronic chill-out record and I love it, it’s the kind of record I can play 20 times in a row and not get tired of. There’s a very good quality down tempo house tune of about 120bpm by Sis N Jones, its South African house and they’re two guys from Johannesburg and you wouldn’t be able to tell that they’re from Johannesburg- it sounds like it should be U.S house.”
Cafe Mambo Ibiza 2009 mixed by Jose Padilla is out now