Page 11 - AHATA

a8 local
Friday 24 OctOber 2025

Ever heard of the cah’i orgel? A key instrument in Aruban folklore music

(Oranjestad)— The cah’i or- streets of Barquisimeto. Back mahogany wood, it contains
gel music box is an important in Curacao, he started his a cylinder with a maximum of
and unique instrument that own cah’i orgel business eight music pieces. By rotat-
is used on the ABC islands along with his brother Luis. ing the lever on the front side
in the Dutch Caribbean. This In Aruba, it is said that the of the box, the cah’i orgel
instrument is a staple in our cah’i orgel was introduced produces music similar to
folklore music, and its sig- by Rufo Wever, who later in that of a piano, and is ac-
nificance in the traditions of his career became one of companied often by some-
Aruba has and continues to the composers for the Aru- one else playing the “wiri”, a
bring together the old and ban national anthem. percussion instrument made
young. out of steel and reminiscent
Rufo Wever was a young to the Spanish guiro. Back
The origin of the cah’i orgel musician in 1937 when he then, you would often also
is said to have come from established his own cah’i find someone playing the
Europe around 150 years orgel business on the island. triangle alongside the cah’i
ago. A cross breed between Before that he experimented orgel and wiri. In Aruba, the
the barrel piano and the or- with his uncle’s cah’i orgel, cah’i orgel and wiri is used
gan, the most popular sto- and he over the years he for traditional music genres,
ries said that the instrument learned to build and repair such as the Aruban waltz,
came from either England the instrument. In fact, he tumba, mazurka and more.
or Germany, but made its was incredibly skilled in this,
way to Italy down to Ven- and he was one of the few Fun fact: another name for
ezuela, where in 1881, Mr. to have recognized from the the cah’i orgel is the “tin-
Horatio Sprock (1866-1949) start that the cah’i orgel is gilingi box.”q
from Curacao was first in- an instrument that needs
troduced to it. After that, preserving. Source: “E Cilinder Magico
Sprock made his own cah’i entre Aruba y Curaçao” by
Marilyn Alcalá-Wallé, Herta
orgel “Josefina”, and suc- As mentioned, the cah’i or- Parabirsing-Balentina and Ni-
cessfully debuted it on the gel is a music box. made from dia Rosaria-Wallé.

Aruba’s first Ombudsman and what she can mean for you

(Oranjestad)—Last year Aru- of Aruba can still receive and
ba marked a milestone with handle your complaint even
the introduction of the first from abroad. You only have
Ombudsman of Aruba. Ju- to provide a way for them to
rima Bryson, appointed on reach you.
October 1st 2024, is proud to
represent Aruba and is pre- Because this is the first time
pared to help both locals Aruba has an Ombudsman,
and tourists with their con- the bureau office is still not in
cerns. operation, but Ombudsman
Bryson assured that the of-
What is the role of the fice will be open sometime in
Ombudsman? the second half of the year.
In a nutshell, the Ombuds- In the mean time, you can
man is the middle man be- follow the bureau on Insta-
tween you and government gram and Facebook. “We
or semi-government agen- provide almost daily informa-
cies. This means that as a lo- tion so they can understand
cal or as a visitor of Aruba, the role of the Ombudsman,
you can file a complaint to what she can do for them
the bureau of the Ombuds- and which kinds of com-
man against government plaints they can submit.”
and semi-government agen-
cies. Follow the ombudsman on
Instagram: @ombudsmana-
Already left the island? No ruba and Facebook: Om-
problem. The Ombudsman budsman Aruba q