A Brief History Of Cafe del Mar

On 20 June 1980, CAFÉ DEL MAR, located on the island of Ibiza, in the locality of San Antonio de Portmany, was opened.A well-known Catalan architect, Lluis Güell, was entrusted with the design, decoration and architecture of this Café at the edge of the sea.It very quickly began to be visited by personalities from culture, literature, bohemians and intellectuals.

The reason was its particular cult of the sunset, undoubtedly one of the most marvellous and unbelievable on the planet. This ritual is accompanied by music different from what we are accustomed to hear in the Ibiza night (jazz, classical, blues, etc...). It was this music and the sunset which gave fame and a different renown to this magic place.

At the beginning of the eighties, cassette collections began to be sold of the music heard there. In 1994, the English company React published the first “Café del Mar” CD, which included work by artists of world renown like Underworld, A Man Called Adam, Stelle, Tabula Rasa, etc... The success of this collection meant that in the summers of 1995 and 1996 “Café del Mar – Volume Dos” and “Café del Mar – Volume Tres” were published.

This success led to the executives of Polygram UK (Universal Music) to decide in 1997 and 1998 to publish “Café del Mar – Volume Cuatro” and “Café del Mar – Volume Cinco”, which included artists of recognised world standingThe summer of 1998 saw the inauguration of the first Café del Mar shop, selling sportswear (T-shirts, polos, sweatshirts, merchandising, etc…) all with the Café del Mar logo.In 1998, the record company CAFÉ DEL MAR MUSIC was set up, in San Antonio de Portmany (Ibiza), recovering the rights of recording exploitation of the CAFÉ DEL MAR name. CAFÉ DEL MAR MUSIC’s first record launch was “Café del Mar – Aria”

in Spring 1999.CAFÉ DEL MAR MUSIC reached an agreement with Universal Music to exploit the CAFÉ DEL MAR name worldwide except in Spain, solely and exclusively for the recorded exploitation of:“Café del Mar – Volume Seis” (1999)“Café del Mar – Volume Siete” (2000)“Café del Mar – Volume Ocho” (2001)“Café del Mar – The Best Of” (2003)In autumn 1999, Bruno Lepretre selected, compiled and mixed “Café del Mar – Chill House”, a double CD reflecting the environment of the Ibiza night in Café del Mar.