Confession time - I don't think I'd ever heard of Aruba and certainly would not have been able to point to it on a map.
It turns out that it is an island in the Caribbean and about north of Venezuela. It was part of the Dutch Antilles and it became a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in1986. Its popultion is equivalent to Greater Glasgow.
It was a bit of a struggle but I managed to find five acts (of varying quality) to feature today. I have not included the most famous singer from the country namely the recently sadly departed Bobby Farrell of Boney M fame
Lets kick off with Padu del Caribe who it seems is a legand and the father of Aruban culture. For those of you interested here is a fairly detaild Bio..His offering today is the song Arubanita.
Next up are the band Tsunami who apparently had a Euro Tour in 2024. Their song Blessings features reggae artist Blaka Dan.
It seems that Jeon is more than an artist - he is one of Aruba's strongest musical exports .Today's offering is the Spanish version of Caya Ta Papia
Vince Irie is a singer-songwriter born and raised on Aruba.He gained notoriety in The Netherlands when he appeared on the 4th season of The Voice of Holland in 2014. Here he is with the song Unfaithful featuring Ashwin Jaydee.
Finally , the one you have all been waiting for Wally Warning. Ewald "Wally" Warning was an Aruban roots reggae, ragga, gospel and Latin singer who lived in Munich, He sadly passed away in September 2025.
That's your lot. We are back in Africa next time round.
Tsunami (ft Blaka Ban) - Blessings
Vince Irie (ft. Ashwin Jaydee) - Unfaithful
Oh go on then
I was going to make an official complaint at the lack of Boney M.
ReplyDeleteare they using a Cozy Powell song in Night Flight to Venus?
ReplyDeleteAruba, Bahama, come on pretty Mama...
ReplyDeleteI like the MAR (Mandatory Aruban Reggae)
ReplyDelete