President of the Foundation, Mrs. Celeste Johannes, presented a beautiful painting to Padu del Caribe on this special occasion. The painting by Rudy Martina depicts a piano raised on rocks among the blue ocean waves.
Padu del Caribe, whose real name is Juan Chabaya Lampe, composed the music for the Aruba's national anthem in 1954, with the late Mr. Rufo Wever who wrote the lyrics. It took 22 years for the recognition of “Aruba Dushi
Tera” as the national anthem. It was also the first song recorded in Papiamento in Aruba. This is one of the reasons Splika honored Padu, namely for his pioneering work promoting the Papiamento language.
Mrs. Johannes was very happy to have Padu present on this very special day. She did not realize how many songs of Padu she knew until last year when Splika organized “Herencia Musical” (a Musical Heritage), an event where all the songs and music written and composed in the native language of Papiamento were put together.
The biggest surprise came when Padu walked up and sat behind the piano to play some of his compositions. His daughter, Vivian, also joined him on the piano making this day all the more special.
This year Padu is also releasing a new CD containing all of his compositions.
