Ibiza is key in the development of electronic music in more than one way. This December 4th was the 69th anniversary of the birth of DJ José Padilla (Barcelona, 1955). The musician developed his career on the white island and left a legacy that made him go down in history. Padilla is recognized for being the creator of the chill-out genre, which he developed through his sessions at Café del Mar, Sant Antoni. In the ’70s, he moved to the island and worked as a waiter until he came to play in iconic venues such as the aforementioned or also, for example, the famous Es Paradis. In the style of the time, he released several albums under the name of each venue, and also, among other works, he was the creator of the soundtrack of the film El sueño de Ibiza. The dj passed away in Can Misses in 2020, on October 18, due to colon cancer. He spent the last months of his life in a tough economic situation because of the pandemic and asked for collaboration to his followers, reaching to raise more than 30,000 euros that helped him to end his days in peace. “He has often been cited as a maverick and in many ways he was. He was a conflicted and sometimes complex character; funny, generous and modest, but never quite satisfied. The relaxed happiness of his musical output belied a personal longing that always led him into dramas and collisions with those around him. Much of what he loved he also despised, and much of what he disliked was forever a temptation,” his friend Jono Podmore said of him in a tribute article titled
‘A farewell to the legend of Café del Mar, José Padilla’ and published in New Sound Generation, Music Magazine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drL4lgId1cQ
