Interview Joan Ribas – Music is my life

Sometimes good things accur when you least expect it.

In this case it’s about a good friend and an honest and respectable person that got into a position where he could actually change things we already thought were lost.

We are talking about Joan Ribas, faithful lover of electronic music over more than two decades being a Resident DJ of some of the most prestigious booths of this island, who not long ago decided to dedicate a good part of his life to politics. Sounds like a fairy tale but it is real, on top his commitment led him to become the new deputy of the mayor of Ibiza.

Joan, it is our utmost pleasure to have you in dub, before all other congratulations for what you achieved – and what is there to come.

First of all tell us who you are for those who do not know you yet. You are Ibicenco no?

Thank you Andy, yes I am Eivissenc, born in the centre of Ibiza with various generations of ancestors in Eivissa. I grew up playing in the port, in Los Molinos and up in d’Alt Vila. My parents fatherwise had a bakery just behind the Teatro de Pereyra, and the father of my mother, my grandpa Pedro, was a renown car mechanic, one of the first ones to drive a car in Eivissa, a car with which he drove great personalities to the island in the middle of the 20st century.

How did you come to electronic music, i imagine you witnessed the first moments of this movement as you already live in it for more than two decades.

For me there is no difference between electronic music and any other form of music. There is only good or bad music. But I understand what you mean, how did I get to work in a club playing music. When I began there was no electronic music how we understand it today, a lot of the tracks were made to sound in the clubs but it was not produced on computers as it is today. Already with 13 or 14 years I selected the music to be played in my birthdays and the ones of my friends, with 14 I went to see how the only radio program worth listening was done life and direct, the legendary ONDA VIVA. Then with 16 I started to work in the infamous FLIP MUSIC vinyl shop, selling imported vinyls – knowing your passion for vinyl Andy I am sure you would have loved this shop. After the vinyl shop I managed to play in the bars of the port and the Calle de la Virgen, such as Akelarre, Bar 22, La Nada, Atlantis, BeBop… I think I played them all. One day I accompanied a DJ colleague to talk to Piti Urgell, the director of Pacha, he asked for a job there and I ended up being his assistant. We are talking about the year 1986 when I started to share the booth with Tony Catany where I then would play for more than 25 years. As you know my music not only sounded in Pacha, I had a ten years residency in Café del Mar and I played all the clubs on the island.

How was the island in those first years being Ibicenco?

The scene was completely different, there were only four serious big clubs: Pacha, Ku, Amnesia and Es Paradis. In the first seven years of my career DJs didn’t appear on the posters, the parties were the classic ones, White Party, Full Moon etc. Most of the people came without knowing who played. All residents played every night, there were hardly any guest DJs.

20 years later a lot of things have changed as has this scene – it mutated into a multimillion Dollar business moving lots of money towards the hands of a few. I think a producer needs a lot of idealism nowadays to keep going because the same thing happens, few make a lot of money, and the same happens with DJs. As we know being a resident DJ in Ibiza is playing for coins, not notes, for idealism, not fame. How do you think about that?

The whole music business, electronic or organic, is for the most an idealistic profession as you say, big money is always a result of marketing, not quality. That does not mean that all those who make a lot of money are bad professionals, but without marketing they obviously wouldn’t make as much money.

That is a good comparison with ‘real’ life too – as I read in the program of ‘Guanyem’ – it is not a political party as the others but a union of people ready to create a different form of politics, from the citizen for the citizen, is that correct?

Guanyem Ibiza is a different political party. We call ourselves a party because the system demands it to be able to participate in its institutions, but our operating system is very different to the other parties. In Guanyem we got a lot of people from other political camps, but they participate as individual persons with one voice and one vote in our assemblies, deciding on what has to be done. Any citizen can come to our assemblies having his voice, we don’t ask anybody to affiliate, nobody pays to be a member as we do not have any members. Running costs and other things to be paid are shared between all of us, everybody puts something, like this we can cover it all. We did all our electoral campaign like this. We spent 6.000 Euros in total, that’s the cost any of the big parties spends in one of those dinners they organize for their sympathisers.

Being a foreigner living for 19 years in Ibiza the whole year round I dedicated a big part of my stay to editing magazines reflecting the essence of Ibiza, means for me the living together of people from all over the globe, of all classes and any formation in a free manner, with some conventions but always in a liberal way. Ultimately those conventions have been sacrificed for the well-being of a few on cost of the majority, be it in cultural, touristic or social issues, even in the most common way of life. How is this to be changed?

In my opinion we have to change the type, we are moving towards a Miami or Las Vegas model, and this is not adecuate. Eivissa is different and needs to maintain its position. Let me give you an example: 15 years ago we had a third of the number of tourists coming as we have now, and the per-capita income was the highest or second in the whole Spain. Now we got three times more people coming and we are seventh or eigth. What does that mean? Well, it’s obvious, the richness generated in Ibiza is very badly distributed. A few take almost all, and the majority less and less. And the worst is this wealth is extracted from our natural resources, if we keep going that way we will run out soon. We are an island, a territory with physical limits that we cannot overrun, and the equilibrium of our ecosystem is primordial for our existence.

Are you not afraid of entering a political system that has its own rules, if I think of e.g. Barack Obama, president of the United States, who for many people was the man who could have changed the world but now, in the middle of his second mandate, he seems to be a president like all the others?

Yes it does frighten me, but I don’t pretend to change the world. All I want is to induce small changes to achieve a better life for my fellow citizens. Small changes sum up to a big one. Barack Obama is a product of marketing as are the DJs we talked about before. One thing is what your advertising campaign promises, the other is what you will do, or be able to do.

What are your main objectives knowing that not all that stinks is a turd but also not all that shimmers is a diamond?

My focus is on the social aspects. I am deputy of the mayor of Ibiza and councilor of social affluence, means I plead for the aim that there is not a single person left without shelter and food on this island of Mega Yates and 50.000 Dollar dinners. Sounds wrong, but that is what’s happening. Social justice, attention for the immigrants, access to health care, to education. Those are my goals.

Coming back to your passion for music knowing that Ibiza has a unique position on a global scale for its electronic music scene, what are the changes that have to be introduced to preserve its charme for all lovers that still come to Ibiza to celebrate this. I read you don’t want to see Ibiza converting into another Miami or Las Vegas, this surely was you speaking, no?

That’s right, as I said before, Miami or Las Vegas can not be our role model. We have to maintain our leadership without converting into a mega party 24/7 where everything is allowed everywhere. If we do not retrieve the former balance between peace and party we had 20 years ago we risk to become the victim of our own success. If we keep following this model of over-exploitation we risk that the residents abandon the island – fact that is already occurring. And people come to party without really taking part in the island’s identity, leading to us finally disappearing as a village. Equilibrium, that is the word for me.

With all your involvement in politics, will we still be able to enjoy your sets in any booth in Ibiza?

Hehehe… well, for the moment I took some time-off to dedicate myself to my new occupation, but I will never abandon music, because music is not a profession, it’s my life.

A question I asked a lot of people but asking you is of special interest for me, what do you think about dub magazine?

Dub mag is a classic under the magazines being edited in Ibiza, lots did imitate you, means you are doing very well.

And last but NOT least – how is your perfect day?

I believe more in perfect moments then in perfect days. My perfect moment is when I select one of my records and play it on a deck. Like we did before, listening from beginning to end whilst holding the cover in our hands looking at it as we have never seen it before, then flipping to the b-side. As you well know these are 40 unbeatable minutes, a pleasure that got lost with digital music.

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