“In the old days, there wasn’t much entertainment,” recalls Aruba’s musical legend, “so getting together with friends and playing music was what we did.” Juan Chabaya Lampe, known affectionately by his stage name, Padu del Caribe, has been making music since his father taught him to play the piano, as well as other instruments like the clarinet and violin, as a child in the 1920’s.
Fast approaching his 90th birthday, the twinkle in his eye is most certainly still there, as is his passion for his music, art, the written word, and his dushi tera, Aruba. Still eager and open to share his story, I sat down with Padu on his front porch in the heart of Oranjestad one morning for lessons in life, love, and art. |
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“It was a small studio in a house with what, at the time, we considered a professional recorder,” shares Padu about what was perhaps the turning point from playing for fun on the island to sharing his unique musical style with the rest of the Caribbean. “My good friend, Rufo Wever, and I recorded our songs with our own style and shared them with the island,” he adds. That unique style, a hybrid of the Aruban waltz, tumba, danza, and mazurka, would soon become linked in musical history as distinctly Aruban.
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“I made my first professional record in Caracas, Venezuela in 1955... I had taken my daughter, Vivian, there for 3 weeks for therapy she needed with an eye specialist. A friend that was living there, who had heard me play while in Aruba, convinced me to go to a recording studio there,” recalls Padu. The producers were enthralled with his variation of a popular song, “Diablo Suarte,” and recorded it onto vinyl.
“I came back home to Aruba and actually didn’t think much of that first record... I hadn’t heard from them in weeks. But then one day I was in my car listening to my favorite radio station out of Caracas, and there was my voice—they were playing my version of “Diablo Suerte” on the radio! I just could not believe my ears... and they were commenting on that radio station about my original style and encouraged everyone to go out and buy it.” |
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That first record sold all 60,000 copies that were made, and Padu received an honorary miniature gold piano by a popular Venezuelan television show that frequented as a guest. Aruba was now on the Caribbean’s musical map and, while not as widespread and mainstream as salsa and meringue, the musical styling of Padu was bending quite a few ears.
Original Padu compositions were requested, and a 14-hour studio session at the RCA studios in Caracas netted four new records. “I was astounded when I received a check for 10% of the sales of the records... I was able to put my daughter, Vivian, through school in the United States with that money,” shares Padu. Eventually, eleven mono LP’s were produced there.
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But it would be many years later that one of Padu’s compositions would forever be embedded in Aruba’s culture. Together with his good friend, encourager, and musical cohort, Rufo, Padu wrote a love song to the island of Aruba. Says Padu, “I never thought it would become the National Anthem—it was never my intention; just my personal thoughts and feelings about how much I love this island.” But years after the original “Aruba Dushi Tera” was written and recorded in 1952, it was the obvious choice for the island’s National Anthem once “status aparte” within the Dutch Kingdom was declared in 1986. “It somehow inspires patriotic feelings and expresses our boundless love for this beautiful island,” Padu explains.
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| But it is not just music that captures the imagination of Padu; in addition to being the first Aruban musician to record professionally abroad, he was the first artist to exhibit and sell his art on an international level as well. “I liked to paint typical views of Aruba when I was younger,” says the artist, “and one of my first—I think I was about ten or twelve— was a man on a donkey... very simple, very Aruban.” That first painting made it all the way to the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, when a scout came to the island looking for a local artist who painted local culture or scenes. “About 100 other artists representing countries from all over the world were chosen as part of an exhibit for the World’s Fair... they bought my painting for $100, which was a lot of money for me at the time,” enthuses Padu. The artist’s work became popular within the Dutch art community as well, where additional work was exhibited and purchased. |
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Today, the artist still picks up the paintbrush from time to time, “but only when the inspiration hits” he insists, and his later works tend to be serenely expressionistic. He feels the same about his music—it’s for pure enjoyment now, and his rare public performances are coveted by anyone lucky enough to watch and hear the maestro play... he is, after all, the true icon of Aruban culture.
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