DJ Alfredo at Amnesia Ibiza proved a diverse mixed-format playlist could unite a diverse crowd under one dancefloor

In 1987, DJ Alfredo at Amnesia in Ibiza was playing ‘right across the board from Rock to pop disco to everything every kind of music’ to an audience of English, German, French, Spanish people of all ages. His philosophy was to mix quality dance music of any genre, including the newest Chicago house. This contrasted with segregated club formats in the UK where different nights served different audiences. When four British DJs (Danny Rampling, Paul Oakenfold, Nicky Holloway, Johnny Walker) experienced Amnesia in September 1987, they imported Alfredo’s mixed-format approach to London — creating the Balearic Beat style and eventually Shoom, the first UK acid house venue.

Examples

‘There was kind of division between disco music and pop music and we broke with that’ — Alfredo describes his own approach as deliberately genre-crossing.

Assessment

Describe what made Alfredo’s DJ approach at Amnesia distinctive and explain why the British DJs who experienced it in 1987 found it transformative enough to import to London.