Jose Padilla
b. 1956, Spain. Padilla's name is synonymous with Ibiza's famous beach-side bar, the Caf Del Mar, where he was the resident DJ for more than 15 years. Although no longer there, he remains an Ibizan institution playing at various venues on the island every summer and all over Europe during the rest of the year. Not an archetypal superstar DJ (he was voted number 100 in DJ magazine's Top 100 of the world's DJs), he is an unsung hero to many and certainly the original chill out DJ. His sets at the Caf Del Mar, which, like the bar itself, used the sunset as their focal point, have become part of clubbers' folklore. Padilla crafted the quintessential sunrise soundtrack, providing the perfect antidote to the ferocious "four-to-the-floor" (slang for the traditional time signature of house) energy of the island's other clubs. His style ranges freely through classic funk, ethereal house, contemporary ambient music, soundtracks and artists as diverse as Art Of Noise, Dusty Springfield and Vangelis. In this sense, he has remained true to the Balearic tradition of dance music: the old and new juxtaposed and orchestrated into a fluid, blissful, subtly funky groove. Padilla moved to Ibiza in the mid-70s to escape the city life, and began to DJ at the Caf Del Mar. The bar's clientele pestered him for tapes of the unusually serene music he played. Eventually, this led to the recording of the Caf Del Mar compilation series that was originally released on the React Music label in the UK. Arguably, the albums have and continue to inspire numerous inferior Ibiza/chillout compilations. In addition to producing several of his own singles and an album of original material, Souvenir, Padilla has also moved into scoring film soundtracks.
Listen to Jose Padilla
at Finetune.
Albums
- (2005) Navigator
- (2001) Navigator (USA)
Top Tracks
- Que Bonito
- Walking On Air
- Adios Ayer 2001
- The Look Of Love
- Navigator
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