The man who brought us the House music

(By Pablo Burgués)

Hi, my name is Alfredo Joaquín Fiorito Lagos and I was born in 1953 in Rosario (Argentina). There, in addition to playing rugby, I was studying medicine, but I gave up everything for music. As a young man I frequented concerts and discotheques until 1976 when a coup d'état broke out, causing 30,000 people to disappear. I had left wing political ideas so I spent 15 days in prison. When i came out they were chasing me, like in the movies, so me and my ex wife decided to left Argentina. I had never thought about leaving my country before and it wasn't easy for me to make that decision.

How yo made your living before arriving in Ibiza? I worked as a journalist in the newspaper La Capital de Rosario as a journalist and also organized concerts of national rock bands.

When did you first come to the island and what caught you from it? After leaving Argentina we went to Barcelona, then Switzerland, Paris and finally back to Barcelona. One day we sat down in a bar to read the letters our friends had sent us and they were all talking about Ibiza. As we went down the ramblas and reached the port we came across a boat called Ciudad de Ibiza. So we decided to do what all the signs were marking us and we came to the island. As soon as we arrived we felt the aroma of freedom, peace, joy... So we said to ourselves: this is our place. In my case it still is.

And what "legal" things did you do to survive in Ibiza before becoming a Dj? First we made candles to sell at the Es Caná market, but they melted (we didn't think about the sun). Then I started making cakes that I sold to Restaurants. Later we opened a Coq... One day, after a game of Rugby in the Salinas, a friend told me that he left a bar in the Port and if I wanted to take it. The Be Bop! The place had two turntables and a mixer and between drink and drink I dedicated myself to play music. Two years later I was playing in Amnesia!

How was that first night inside the cabin of one of the most famous discotheques in the world? It was in 1983 on the occasion of a fashion show party. The night was a success but the owners of Amnesia did not accept me like a resident Dj until years later. So I spent that summer working in a bar on Formentera. I loved it, I had a bicycle and most of the nights, after working, i went to sleep on the beach.

I have been told that you are the guy who brought the House music to Ibiza... Well yes, it was the year 85 and I was working in Madrid, in Amnesia. A DJ told me that there was an american basketball player who had brought records from the USA and he was selling them. I called him and he said: "I'm going to make you listen to something very different". And he released a few albums from the label "DJ International" and "Trax". That raw sound, the rhythm boxes and the basses freaked me out! It was the most different thing I'd heard in years. I started playing those albums mixed with Depeche Mode, Belgian New wave and original Northern German techno and it was a success.

If you were born again, would you waste again half of your life in the dark of a nightclub cabin or would you get a real job like decent people? Darkness didn't go so badly for me. I have two children whom I love, I have travelled all around the world, I speak 4 languages... And all thanks to those nights in dark cabins.

Was the Ku disco (now Privilege) as cool as they say? Ku was a spectacular discotheque for the time, although, like almost everything, time and fuzzy memories change everything.

Imagine being given one of those huge billboards at the airport exit that are the first thing tourists see when they get to Ibiza. What would you put on it? "This place is a paradise:clean what you dirty" (or something like that).

Which Ibicencan character would you like me to interview next time? One who has lived through all the changes produced by the clubs on the island.

If you liked this post don't hesitate to share it, it's free and you'll make me tremendously happy ;)

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