As Amnesia celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026, Jaime Fiorito, son of legendary DJ Alfredo Fiorito, has reflected on his father's influence on Ibiza and the changing character of the island's club culture.

In a new interview with Mixmag, Jaime discusses growing up around Amnesia, his own path into DJing and his thoughts on the relationship between Ibiza's past, its increasingly commercial present and the smaller communities continuing to shape the island's music scene.

The conversation comes during a significant year for the Fiorito family and Amnesia. 2026 marks 50 years since Alfredo moved from Argentina to Ibiza and five decades since Amnesia opened its doors.

Alfredo and the Birth of a Balearic Sound

Alfredo Fiorito arrived in Ibiza from Argentina in 1976.

He initially became involved with the island's alternative and hippie communities, working in different trades before developing his career as a DJ.

According to Amnesia's own history, Alfredo first played at the club at a private event in 1983 and became a resident the following year. His eclectic approach to music became closely associated with Amnesia's terrace and the sound that would come to be known as Balearic Beat.

Rather than restricting himself to one genre, Alfredo brought together different musical styles according to the atmosphere and the audience. His sets incorporated sounds from across the musical spectrum, helping establish a distinctive approach to DJing that became closely associated with Ibiza.

Amnesia describes his influence as central to the development of the Balearic sound and its later impact on electronic music culture in the United Kingdom.

Jaime Fiorito Grew Up Behind the Dancefloor

For Jaime, Amnesia was part of his childhood long before he became a DJ himself.

He tells Mixmag that he would sometimes sleep in the club's office while his father performed, with Alfredo collecting him in the morning after finishing his set.

One of his more unusual childhood memories involved Ricardo da Force, the KLF vocalist and one of Alfredo's friends, acting as his babysitter.

Jaime recalls being taken to an Amnesia foam party when he was around 12 or 13. He became separated in the crowd, swallowed foam and dirty water and was left sufficiently traumatised that he did not want to return for around a year.

The experience was very different from his later relationship with the club.

Jaime eventually began attending Amnesia as a clubber, particularly during the early 2000s when Cocoon was established there.

He describes the contrast between Cocoon at Amnesia and MANUMISSION at Privilege as representative of two very different sides of Ibiza's club culture at the time.

Following His Father's Path

Jaime began DJing at a young age.

He started playing at Privilege's MANUMISSION in 2000 and moved to Space the following year, where he eventually played alongside his father.

His career has since developed independently, while his work has continued to be closely connected to the Balearic approach to music.

In recent years, Jaime has been involved with projects including Baleárica Romántica and music curation at El Silencio, maintaining a connection to the more eclectic and intimate side of Ibiza's music culture.

How Ibiza Has Changed

One of the central themes of Jaime's interview is the transformation of Ibiza.

He acknowledges that the island has become significantly more commercial over the past two decades, pointing to advertising and social media as major influences on the way people experience the destination.

But he does not describe the change simply as a decline.

Instead, Jaime argues that Ibiza is constantly evolving and that the idea that everything was necessarily better in the past can be misleading.

For him, the important difference is not simply the music being played or the size of the clubs. It is the sense of freedom that originally attracted people to the island and shaped his father's approach to DJing.

The Influence of Social Media

Jaime believes social media has changed the way visitors experience Ibiza.

He points to the pressure to present an idealised holiday online, particularly when people are spending significant amounts of money on a short trip.

In his view, this can create a situation in which visitors become conscious of how their experience looks to other people rather than simply experiencing it themselves.

He also believes that there is another side to the story.

Jaime says he is seeing increasing numbers of younger people arriving in Ibiza looking for something different, including greater connection with people, music and the island itself.

Small Venues and Local Culture

Despite the growth of large-scale commercial entertainment, Jaime points to smaller venues, independent promoters and local businesses as evidence that another side of Ibiza remains active.

He highlights the island's restaurant and bar culture, particularly smaller establishments whose owners are also deeply involved in music.

According to Jaime, many of these people have extensive record collections and connections to the DJ community.

He also describes seeing groups of people from countries including Italy and France discovering older bars and smaller spaces and attempting to create new projects around them.

This reflects a broader point he makes throughout the interview: Ibiza's different musical and cultural movements can exist alongside one another.

Ibiza Has Always Been About Change

Jaime recalls his father telling him that cultural trends move in cycles.

When Jaime was beginning to DJ during the rise of electro house, Alfredo told him that musical fashions eventually come back around.

Jaime applies the same idea to Ibiza.

He sees the current era of mega-clubs, high-intensity experiences, social media and short holidays as one phase of the island's development rather than necessarily its final direction.

At the same time, he believes older approaches remain underneath the surface and can re-emerge as tastes change.

What Would Alfredo Tell Today's Clubbers?

Perhaps the most personal part of the interview comes when Jaime is asked what advice his father might give today's Ibiza clubbers.

His answer is simple: disconnect from the phone, speak to strangers, enjoy the music and allow yourself to get lost on the dancefloor.

The emphasis is not on a particular genre or club.

It is on the experience itself.

That idea is consistent with the way Amnesia describes Alfredo's contribution to Ibiza: his sets were built around musical freedom and an eclectic approach rather than rigid genre boundaries.

Fifty Years of Amnesia

Amnesia's 50th anniversary has provided an opportunity to look back at the club's history while continuing to develop its present-day programme.

The club has marked the anniversary throughout 2026 with events and projects celebrating different periods of its history, including the return of People from Ibiza, a party built around several of the club's longstanding residents.

The anniversary is also bringing renewed attention to the people who helped establish Ibiza's international reputation for dance music.

Among them, Alfredo Fiorito remains one of the most influential.

He died in December 2024 at the age of 71, but his influence continues through the music, DJs and club culture that developed from the sound he helped establish at Amnesia.

The Balearic Spirit Continues

Jaime Fiorito's reflections offer a personal view of an Ibiza that has changed considerably since his father first arrived in 1976.

The island now has larger clubs, bigger productions, international superstars and a tourism industry that operates on a vastly different scale.

But Jaime's argument is that change does not necessarily erase everything that came before.

Smaller venues, local restaurants, independent promoters, DJs and new generations of visitors continue to create their own versions of Ibiza.

For him, the essence of the island is less about recreating a particular decade than preserving the freedom, openness and musical curiosity that helped make Ibiza special in the first place.