Page 7 - AHATA

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local Thursday 7 November 2024
Meet our Aruban trailblazers:

Padu Lampe

(Oranjestad)—This week we states.
remember one of our most Over the course of his career,
beloved Aruban giant, Juan he received many acco-
Chabaya Lampe—better lades and awards in Aruba,
known as Padu Lampe or Curacao, Venezuela and the
Padu del Caribe. As one of Netherlands.
the most important and re- Padu del Caribe passed
nowned artists in the Aruban away on November 29th,
cultural sphere, Padu’s long 2019, at the age of 99 years
career led him to be hon- old. Padu brought the Aru- ferent languages. Padu also
ored today as “the father of ban culture around the wrote our national anthem
culture.” world. His legacy will remain “Aruba Dushi Tera”, along
ingrained in the Aruban cul- with Mr. Rufo Wever. This song
On April 26th, 1920, Juan tural history, and he will be was approved by the gov-
Chabaya Lampe “Padu playing albums (LPs). ed by the Prince Bernhard known forever as one of the ernment of Aruba and was
Lampe/Padu del Caribe” Padu Lampe was a multifac- Funds Netherlands Antilles. most influential trailblazers of named the official anthem
was born in Nassaustraat, eted artist, inspired by his in- Besides that, Padu passed our community. of the island in 1976.
Oranjestad. He grew up in terest in parapsychology and his exam on “Society to Ad- Padu will always be in Aruba’s Other songs that have been
a happy musical environ- supernatural phenomenon. vanced Ethical Hypnosis” heart, because he had com- considered as being almost a
ment, and it is because of He wrote three books in Pa- in 1964 in New Jersey. He posed various special songs second anthem for Arubans
this that he developed a love piamento on the subject in received a certificate as dedicated to the mothers of is the special composition he
for music. Starting from the 1986, which was published by a hypnotechnician, which the island; his song “Sonrisa di wrote for his wife Daisy Croes
age of 12, he was agile in the Aruban National Printing gave him the authority to un baby” (“A baby’s Smile”) called “Abo so”. Daisy later
the clarinet, mandolin and Press with sponsorship provid- practice hypnosis in some has been written in three dif- passed away in 1994. q
cuatro. Henry Lampe, his fa-
ther, was also a well-known
pianist and musician.
In a publication of the infor-
mative seminar, “Observer”,
from august 1st, 1962, Padu’s
many merits and friendly per-
sonality stood out. It was said
that he was an excellent pia-
nist with a personal style and
full of surprises. Secondly,
though the composer was
not too familiar with music
theory, he showed innova-
tions in his compositions.
Lastly, Padu was a promoter
of Creole music around the
world.
One of the most important
moments in Aruban history, in
which he was able to witness
first-hand, was the first radio
broadcast on the island on
March 20th, 1954. Here, he
was accompanied by An-
tillean guitarist Julian Coco
and Hubert “Loi” Booi.
In the art world, Padu was
also a known painter. During
his youth, he made several
painting using his unique
style. In 1939, he participat-
ed in an art exhibit in New
York, where he won a bronze
medal for his painting “Typi-
cal View of Aruba.”
Padu remained a popular
artist within the Dutch An-
tilles and the Caribbean
as a pianist, singer, author
and painter. Padu Lampe
was a local artist who be-
came renowned in Venezu-
ela, Colombia, The U.S. and
The Netherlands too. In the
1950s, he sold no less than 50
thousand copies of his long-