Otrabanda Records & Music

“Music from the other side of here and now, now and then”

Otrabanda Records releases contemporary and historical recordings of (acoustic) creole musics from around the globe with a special interest in the (Dutch) Caribbean, Africa and island musics of the world.

Otrabanda means ‘the other side’ in Papiamento, the Caribbean’s oldest and largest creole language, spoken by the natives of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao and Dutch Antillean communities in the Netherlands. It is also the name of the famous district in Curaçao’s capital, Willemstad that is home to one of the Caribbean’s liveliest creole music communities.

Left, in the foreground, the 'barrio' Otrabanda, in the middle the so-called "Pontjesbrug", the floating bridge. On the right side Punda, in the foreground the "Waterfort", the fortress. In the background the "mountains" Seroe Pretoe, Veeris Berg and Jack Evertszberg. In the middle, behind the "Pontjesbrug" the old Dutch fortress Nassau. To the far right, the "Tafelberg".