Carnival in Aruba is filled with the beat of steel drums, brass bands, calypso-inspired tunes, and a drum-driven tumba and Aruba's own unique Roadmarch. Both spectators and brilliantly costumed participants celebrate during parades, competitions and "jump up" street parties.

During the traditional St. John's celebration of Dera Gai, a rooster takes center stage in song and as a symbol of renewal. Aruba celebrates all our traditions and shares them with guests during the weekly Bonbini Festival, held at historic Fort Zoutman in downtown Oranjestad.

New Year’s in Aruba is signaled by the arrival of the Dande group of traveling musicians. The inhabitants of the house are at once joyful and expectant as the Dande singer begins to spin his or her own variation of an age-old song about blessings and the promise of opportunities for the coming year.

As December roles around again, it's the harmony of voices of Gaita that heralds the start of the holiday season.

Every evening, music can be heard drifting down from our terrace bars, flooding through the doorways of nightclubs and intimate pubs. Latin rhythms of salsa and merengue, mixed with American top forty and European house music offer a cornucopia of musical backgrounds in which to experience Aruba's exuberant and cosmopolitan attitudes.

Our local musicians can be appreciated during live performances regularly scheduled at the local theater of Cas di Cultura, nightclubs or in Aruba's finest hotels, dinner theatres and restaurants.