Las Dalias
 |
Click thumbnails for large images. |
November 4th is an auspicious date in the annual calender of Ibiza - it is the date of the annual San Carlos fiesta and some might say that their annual firework display is better than those that take place throughout the British Isles on the following day (Guy Fawkes night). Let's remember that this is a very small village on a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea?
One fiesta day, some 27 years ago, Juan Mari Juan, held the opening night of his new bar - it was called Las Dalias. He had built the new bar with his own hands utilizing his skills as a farmer and carpenter in typical Ibicenco fashion and that night the most expensive drinks cost 2 pesetas. However the take that November evening in 1954 was 5.500 pesetas which was a phenomenal amount of money in those days, particularly when you consider that the total population of the village at the time might have been as many as 80. If you do the sums on these figures it would appear that over 2,500 individual drinks were consumed by these hardy individuals - Las Dalias was born? The concert hall, used for years by the Theatre Trust and more recently referred to by local hippies as the "trance room", was completed the following year and just two years later the restaurant opened too. All became hugely successful and Las Dalias was soon the social centre of San Carlos village. Local parties, weddings, baptisms and almost any other excuse found a home at the new bar, much to the chagrin of the local San Carlos church. Eventually the local priest could no longer tolerate the competition, which he viewed as the work of the devil. So he started up a regular "cinema service" in an attempt to win back the local flock. Recently, after years of hanging under the arches of the church, a sign stating "No eating, singing or sleeping under this porch" was finally withdrawn. Could this be a 'sign of the times' and change hitting San Carlos?
In the ensuing years tourism arrived and Las Dalias started a 'flamenco' barbeque in the garden - which in those days was filled with cherry trees. The chicken and champagne feast on offer at the time cost the princely sum of 50 pesetas which was considered excessive at the time, but kept the riff-raff out. Las Dalias was going up-market? However, at the end of the 1970"s the 'Club San Rafael' opened (which later became the fabled 'Ku'). They were more centrally situated and soon stole the lucrative tour operator business. Las Dalias was going downhill? Some years later however, Las Dalias bounced back from the ropes. In 1984, Juanito, son of Juan, took over management of the enterprise at the tender age of 23. Soon Las Dalias was back on it's feet, but in a somewhat cooler and more 'laid back' fashion. That same year Nina van Pallance and the Theatre Trust rebuilt the concert hall and put on possibly their most successful ever production - Oliver. It ran nearly every night for a week and partly re-established the reputation of Las Dalias as somewhere different, but happening? In the meantime 'Estudios Mediterranean', the recording studios in San Juan, were attracting some major European rock bands, who fancied the additional attractions of Ibiza.
The bands began holding their farewell concerts at Las Dalias on completing their albums. Many rock & roll heroes passed through the bar - some performing, some simply misbehaving. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Sham 69 and members of UB40 all performed here whilst Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones was allegedly evicted from the restaurant for putting his feet on the table. The happy ending however is that the restaurant manager went out the next day and bought all of the Rolling Stone's records. Rumour has it that he still owns all of these personally signed records and is possibly sitting on a small fortune? Nico from Velvet Underground died here in Ibiza, but allegedly spent many happy hours at the Las Dalias Saturday hippy market. The first garden jam sessions, following the Punta Arabi hippy market, started in the early 1970"s and soon became a regular part of the island's Saturday routine. The current Hippy Market, which in many ways emulated the Es Canar market, but saved people the arduous journey, was started in 1986 by Helga Watson-Todd and continues to go from strength to strength. In 1997 Juanito was joined by Chris Gonzales, and they soon became partners. Chris, who was previously an entertainer all over mainland Spain, brought out news of Las Dalias to the rest of the island by hosting a radio show on 'Cadena Cien' called 'Infomusica' and started producing music and concerts with many of the talented local musicians. He is responsible for the artwork for the venue's posters to this day and even had a poster exhibition entitled "The Art of Rock & Roll" at Can Pou in Ibiza's port in 2001. He introduced the regular and successful "tribute" nights with local musicians and released the first CD by the venue called "Feeling Ibiza". This year, recordings are underway on a second Las Dalias album for next year, while another artist, Esteban Lucci of "Immaculate Ibiza Music" is releasing an album this summer, which is inspired by the venue and will be called "The Spirit of Las Dalias". A brief collaboration by Chris with the local paper, "Diario de Ibiza", in writing editorials on "tolerance and music", has provoked another collaboration for this summer with "El Mundo", a Spanish national paper with a local chapter about the island. But amongst the most notable public projections, Chris, in the name of Las Dalias and many happy local residents, actually managed to provoke the creation of a "John Lennon street" in Sta. Eulalia from the local town hall . Talk about Rock'n'Roll!!
Amongst the current individually, representative events that Las Dalias is renowned for, the Namasté party on Wednesdays has become a classic of northern Ibiza. 'Namaste' (which means 'Welcome' in Hindi) represents another experimental night that has proved tremendously popular. This esoteric, ethnic night combines Indian Food in the restaurant with shows in the garden. The garden is decorated in extravagant 'Flower Power' fashion and at midnight there follows a trance party in the concert hall. The first of these for this season will be on the 7th of June. Another standard classic is the Trance Night on Sundays. Over the last 4 years, the party has been hosted by the 'Tribe of Frog' - top-class English Trance promoters. This year, the party takes a twist upwards with the all-out unity of several different Trance 'tribes' and labels, including Spun Records and Etnica, another well-known label, along with 'Ibidelic' and 'Can Fly' - the two main island tribes that have been known for years as those responsible for the countryside raves that made Trance a world-famous Ibizan tradition. The 'Art Night', on the first Friday of each month, is a cultural event that converts the garden of Las Dalias into a 'branch office' of Montmartre with some 40 painters and sculptors on exhibition. Other Fridays include shows by Nur Banu, the world acclaimed Egyptian Dancer with world-class guests from Germany & Madrid. Several Reggae and classical music events round off Friday's programme this summer....
A novelty this year, will be 'Ladies Night' by Kato, the well known local promoter of the 'What's Up?' parties that are now being exported to South America. This will be on Thursdays and will bring together many of the classic characters of the Ibiza night scene with the 'creme' of Ibizan womanhood. Tuesdays also have a new focus. Las Dalias is preparing an 'Esoteric Night' on which those seeking the more mystical side of Ibiza will have a chance to dibble and dabble in New Age arts and sciences.Hand-reading, Card reading, astrology, etc, etc will be the stars of the evening.Of course, the star events in Las Dalias are the markets. On Saturday, the classic 'hippy market' is a sprawl of some 200 stalls that contain everything from arts and crafts, to the most exotic wares brought from the far reaches of the globe. Several different food and beverage points, including a beautiful traditional Ibizan Restaurant with a 'World Cooking' menu and an authentic Moroccan Tea-tent, make the visit chilled and laid back. On Monday nights, a somewhat smaller, but much more relaxed, night market gives the visitor a chance to shop under the stars in a beautifully illuminated setting that includes an acoustic stage, with live acts that often include the unannounced presence of well-known rock stars. and the restaurant set up outdoors under the vines of Ibizan grapes! Aside from all these weekly events, Las Dalias has a few special 'one off' events this summer that will include concerts hosted by 'Ibiza Rocks', the new visionary department of 'the world's biggest party', Manumission. Quite an appropriate brotherhood for what is undisputedly the island's oldest Rock venue. Visionary and imaginative new projects for a venue in the North of Ibiza, where profit margins (and therefore prices!) are not as high as elsewhere on the island. For this reason you'll find the partners doing almost everything - behind the bar, waiting tables, making posters or even fixing the plumbing - true 'Payés' (Ibizan peasant) style. A far cry from the industry monsters - the Ibiza super clubs with their dozens of specialized employees. This place runs itself. Those who say that the island has changed are sadly overlooking this sort of place and the true 'speak-easy' style of the Ibiza of the past. If you think that the island has lost it, open your eyes and check out some of the special events that true island lovers are arranging for themselves. Even hardened veterans, when quizzed, can't think of a better alternative to our 'changing' Ibiza. Nobody seems to be able to precisely put their finger on what makes this place so special that we stay, but there are many like those at Las Dalias who continue to strive to restore the spirit that the 'time hardened' refer to as the Ibiza of the good old days. The island that epitomizes the phrase 'sex, drugs and rock & roll' in the eyes of the foreign press, jealously hides its true secrets and traps us all within her grasp.
