Musical musings: Mark Broadbent
Meet Mark Broadbent: Ibiza resident, club promoter, music programmer, DJ and all-round raconteur. Having played, partied and worked on the island for close to 30 years in some of Ibiza’s most iconic venues, hosting what has often been described as ‘the best day/night out you’ve ever had’, Mark is in the perfect position to host an up-close-and-personal audience with some of the people he considers to have played a pivotal roll in the making of modern Ibiza.
Over the coming weeks and months (and maybe even years!), he’ll be asking movers and shakers, friends and family, in and outside of the music industry about their perfect way to spend 24 hours on the wonderful white isle, in addition to tapping them up for their perfect Balearic playlist and their reasons for choosing each track.
“So that this doesn’t become too wordy and potentially boring for those of you who couldn’t give a fig about where I prefer to take my morning coffee, I’ll also be asking my guests for ten tracks they feel best embody the sprit of Ibiza,” he says of our collaboration. “Tracks that after first hearing them, have stayed in their psyche and take them back to the place they heard them first. After all, this is Ibiza and Ibiza is music. To get the ball rolling, I will be posing questions to myself whilst looking back across ten tracks of musical musings in the Balearic realms.”
With golden sands, plenty of space to relax, swim and meditate on the Mediterranean, Es Cavallet is Mark’s holy grail of Ibiza beaches.
You have awoken to another fabulous day in Ibiza, assuming you went to bed last night! Where do you take your first cup of coffee?
Living in Ibiza town and being a bit of a traditionalist, I generally head down to the port. Passing the guilty on the walk of shame, feeling pretty smug at having kept things tidy enough to welcome in the new day with a relatively early start, I head to Café Estrella. Portside and central, with the only monument dedicated to privateers (pirates to you and me) in Europe sat squarely in front. Once known as Bar Juanito, it was here that the bohemian – and later – hippie diaspora gathered to await the arrival of ships from the mainland carrying mail, food and gifts from family back home. Sat waiting for coffee that has been roasted to just this side of burnt, it is still possible, on a good day, to experience the spirit of old Ibiza and those who have passed this way… if only fleetingly.
Friends have arrived – almost on time – and you’re heading for lunch. Where are we eating?
Much to my long suffering wife Sarah’s chagrin, I like to eat certain food at certain restaurants. For example, if I want to eat lamb chops then I’m heading to The Fish Shack at Sa Punta. If I want to eat entraña then we’re going to Bar San Francisco on the way to Las Salinas, and if I want to eat pizza, it’s at the special new place we’ve found that we’re not telling anybody about least it becomes too popular… again! Once I’ve found something that a particular place does something well, that’s all I’m ever eating there.
It’s unofficial name, ‘The Fish Shack’, hints strongly at this hidden gem’s menu leanings but Mark Broadbent declares it his go-to for Ibicencan lamb chops.
That’s a lot to eat for lunch, let’s sleep this off on a beach somewhere. There’s over 80 to choose from, which is your favourite?
Having just eaten at Bar San Fransisco, we’re pretty close to Playa Las Salinas, and but it’s kinda busy there and rather noisy so I’m going to opt for my favourite spot on the island. Es Cavallet, with its long golden stretch of sand, has plenty of room even at the height of summer. This wild beach with very few sun-beds to spoil to natural feeling is the perfect place to grab an afternoon nap, or frolic naked in the waves with gay abandon. The restaurants are filled with the fabulous and music is kept low enough so as not to disturb non-customers. Take a walk along the beach, find your own space and meditate on the Mediterranean.
Is that the time? We must have fallen asleep. Shall we go and watch sunset?
As you can probably see from how my questions are being laid out, living in Ibiza changes your perception of time somewhat and we – the fortunate – tend to compartmentalise the day into sections rather than work to the more lineal time frames of the rest of Europe.
For example, we instinctively know what time the sun sets, and more importantly, where to go and watch it. There are bars that specialise in creating a soundtrack to put the sun to bed and everyone has their favourite. Friends gather to listen to their preferred purveyor in the hope that they will catch the moment perfectly and match the dying rays of the setting sun with the closing bars of something wonderfully Balearic. Or, we could simply grab some tins or a bottle of wine and find a secluded rocky spot on the western coast of the island and while away a blissful hour admiring nature’s majesty.
But today, let’s hit the iconic Café Del Mar, a venue synonymous with Ibiza, that kickstarted a genre that has gone on to be enjoyed worldwide thanks to the lovingly compiled compilations albums created by the late José Padilla. The format never deviates too far from Jose’s template and DJs are asked to respect this. Timing the sunset perfectly sorts the men from the boys and knowing just when the sun will disappear behind the horizon on a specific day in a specific month (this changes slightly through the summer) is key to successfully putting the sun to bed.
We could head home to bed… but we’re in Ibiza! The night is still young, where we going?
Once the sunset has been soundtracked, I’m going to go grab something to eat and as I’m already in San Antonio and have had a few beers, I’m in need of some quality carbs. I know of no better place on or off the island to bulk up than Yenuina. It might not be the most obvious choice for our readers, but if it’s carefully crafted sauces over handmade pasta that you’re looking for, then this is the best place on the island to find it. Yenuina is a ‘laboratoria de pasta’, meaning that they also supply the more expensive Italian and beachside restaurants on the island. However, eating on the premises is zero KM eating at its finest.
And finally to bed… or?
I’ve spent far too many nights in darkened corners of dive bars and night clubs on this island to mention and have gotten into far too much mischief over the years to continue, so for now I’m heading home to bed. And anyway, I can do it all again tomorrow.
As music director for We Love… Space from 2001 to 2013, Mark Broadbent has had his share of late nights and early mornings.
WHITE IBIZA SOUNDSCAPES 01
MUSICAL MUSINGS: Mark Broadbent
Ibiza resident, club promoter, music programmer, DJ and all-round raconteur, Mark Broadbent, curates our new series of soundscapes, beginning with a trip down musical memory lane.
Art Of Noise
Moments In Love
“Quite possibly the most played track on the sunset strip over the years and still played to this day, although most of today’s DJs down there opt to take out the mad middle part of the track and fade out as the sun disappears behind the horizon. José Padilla played it through as it’s supposed to be played and it made a huge impression on me back in the day, so much of an impression in fact, that I chose this piece of music to announce the arrival of my wife on our wedding day.“
Sueño Latino
Sueño Latino / Paradise Version
“Is there another track that screams IBIZA more than this? I don’t think so. Basically a massive stolen chunk of Krautrock legend Manuel Goettsching’s E2-E4 with a beefed-up bottom end, some husky dusky maiden whispering ‘sueño latino’ amongst other things over and over seemingly forever. Stick this on the car stereo, wind the windows down and drive around the island. A huge underground Ibiza anthem that crossed over so well commercially, it was even the go-to tune on Wish You Were Here (Judith Chalmers’ holiday program in the mid-to-late 80s) whenever they spoke of the Balearic Islands.“
The Grid
Floatation (Subsonic Grid mix)
“A moment of pure genius from both the band and Andrew Weatherall on remix duty for this release. Like my previous two selections a massive track on the sunset strip where I spent many an evening during my first few forays to the island back in the 1990s. For fellow obsessives out there a version of this song exists on the flip side of A Beat Called Love (their other hit from the same time period) that samples Aled Jones – I’m Walking In The Air from The Snowman… but that’s maybe a bridge too far for even the biggest Balearic Silverbacks out there…“
Electribe 101
Talking with Myself
“I remember hearing this outside Café Mambo one night as I was walking past on my way to the car and having to go back to ask what it was. If memory serves it was Pete Gooding playing, although it could quite easily have been Jason Bye, or any of the other residents there that year as this was (and still is) fucking HUGE. But in a very restrained way, it’s super simple but incredibly elegant and Billie Ray Martin’s vocal has never been better than on this track. “
Donna Summer
Love To Love You Baby 12 Inches of Love Mix
“The list wouldn’t be complete without a nod to my time at Space Ibiza where I was music director for We Love… Space from 2001 to 2013. I have chosen this track from Donna Summer rather than her more regularly played track at the venue (I Feel Love) because we’ve all heard that more than is necessary. Darren Hughes, our business partner at the time, would stand behind the terrace DJs and bully them into playing it (in a friendly way… kind of). “Come on Ralph, it’s time for I Feel Love… look at ‘em, they want it.” Anyway…
Laurent Garnier played for us on numerous occasions but one night stands out in terms of it being a Balearic moment when towards the end of his set closing the terrace he asked for all the house lights to be turned off, once the venue was in darkness he dropped this. A big risk in those days playing something this long and this slow but it being Laurent, the timing was perfect and the moment is remembered fondly by anybody lucky enough to be there on that night.“
The Aztek Mystic
Knights Of The Jaguar
“Another one of Darren’s favourites (and another one he’d ‘urge’ DJs to play) that reminds me of my time at Space is this monster track from Detroit’s DJ Rolando. Quite possibly the most played track on the Space Terrace during the years we were there, I would literally hear this four times a day, seven days a week, during the summer season. Overplayed, but still sounding great all these years later and capable of taking anybody that heard it played at Space Ibiza straight back there.“
Bovel
Check For You
“Righty oh, we’re heading into recent years on the island now with this sweet slice of Street Soul from one of South Manchester’s finest. Simon (Ruf Dug) first played this for us one night at Pikes Ibiza in the early days of our residency there. I think there were around five of us left and we were just dropping tunes for each other. If memory serves, this track got rewound something like 10 times that night… I’ll have to ask Arthur (Artwork) for clarification.“
Slam feat: Billie Ray Martin
Bright Lights
“Love Slam and love Billie Ray Martin so this is obviously gonna make the cut. I have played this track in my sets more than any other. It was the last track at Pikes On Sundays for most of the nine years we were there. A true secret weapon and get-out-of-jail-free card…“
Payfone
I Feel You (Mudd Remix)
“The nature of this list being a look back across the years for Balearic moments means that it’s a more nostalgic selection than I would normally put together, so I’d like to include this relatively recent release that I think could possibly soundtrack future ‘moments’. In the rights hands at the right moment in the right place, this track is an absolute weapon.“
Carly Simon
Why (12-inch mix)
“Is it Balearic? You bet your beanies it is. Screams dancing on the sand, screams loved up, screams one more tune. It’s obvious and a little bit cheesy, but yeah, that’s Ibiza ey…“
