History | Stichting Asambeho School Roderich Lopez

The Earliest Registered Conventional brassband

Banda San Miguel Brass Band Aruba 1918/1920

The earliest registered conventional brassband on Aruba was formed by Mgr. P.I. Verriet was in 1918. This brassband was offcially founded later in 1920 and named after Mgr. Michael Vuylesteke as Banda San Miguel or Harmonie Sint Michael Aruba.

The Friars and Brassband

Friars Brassband History

brassband over and has led it for ten years until 1933. Friar Johannes was then replaced by friar Vicentianus. In 1933 some changes were made and a new batch of friars arrived on Aruba. The friars charged with the brassbands were friar Henricus followed by friar Andreas two years later. The group got bigger and since they couldn’t find other adequate space and location, they decided to build a very own Harmonie Sint Michael Clubhouse in 1941. In 1945 the Harmonie Sint Michael celebrated twenty-five years of existence.

Another friar by the name of Friar Alexius founded the school of music De Trupialen in 1953 were he taught a boys choir. These boys used to hold performances together with the symphony orchestra in the Sociedad Bolivariana. De Trupialen was a very popular music school on Aruba which also had their clubhouse by De Salle College on their premises.

Another very popular brass was The Excelsior Community Brassband.

In 1938 Samuel Muller immigrated with his son Alfred from the Dominican Republic to Aruba. Samuel started giving music lessons at his home in Prins Bernhardstraat, San Nicolas. Soon after Samuel founded the Excelsior Community Brassband. Life in San Nicolas always had high potential in sports and artistic talents, especially in music. A community of immigrants to Aruba from other islands in the Caribbean that pesented a mix of different cultural traditions as fertile ground to grow all types of athletes and artists. Alfred Muller was himself a member of the Excelsior Community Brassband and assisted his father Samuel in giving music lessons at their school known as the ‘Pappa Muller’s School of Music’. The Excelsior Community Brassband played at various activities like parades, concerts, funerals, official ceremonies and even during the royal visits to Aruba. Alfred went to the United States in 1961 and returned one year after to form his own orchestra; the ‘Fred Muller Orchestra’. During 1961 The Excelsior Community Brassband was directed Samuel’s brother Antonio Muller.

The Name Asambeho "History

Asambeho Brass Bands

Since 1967 various of such other bands for Carnival rised and kept experimenting with this adopted this special Carnival rhythm announcing a revolutionary new era in music for Aruba’s Carnival. Therefore all these bands are in fact Asambeho Bands even though the name was invented later in 1985.

Asambeho 1985

History has it that until in 1985 a contest was organized and held by the Institute of Culture of Aruba at the Y.M.C.A. in San Nicolas to find a name for this Carnival brassband rhythm. It was Edwin R. Gomez that won the contest by combining the first names and last names of Arnold Beyde and Samuel Hodge, Arnold and SAMuel - BEyde and HOdge, into the name of ‘Asambeho’. Arnold and Samuel were two famous professional conductors of two separated organizations. One conducted a brass orchestra in a church and the other a drumband. The rhythm of Asambeho is born on Aruba and is so strong and unique that some even consider the rhythm to be a musical style, a new born genre.

Asambeho Alias "ASAMBEGHO" 2020

Stichting Asambeho School Roderich Lopez, after conducting his Asambeho research for the school, discovered that the families of Sam Hodge, Arnold Beyde, and the Gibbs family were unhappy because an important person had been left out of the name ASAMBEHO. This dissatisfaction was the reason why they all did not support the name ASAMBEHO. Roderich has documentation from the families, so as a defender of the name Asambeho, he proposed to the family: What if we complete the history by adding an ALIAS for Asambeho? He suggested adding a "G" to the name as an alias while continuing to use the official name that has been created, which we now know as ASAMBEHO.

The alias would be ASAMBEGHO, thus giving Alfons "Bulto Gibbs" his place in the name. The family was pleased and said that if this could be achieved, they would be satisfied.

Roderich founded "Asambeho School Roderich Lopez" for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is to protect and honor those who created this rhythm and music: ASAMBEHO - Alias ASAMBEGHO.

Asambeho School Roderich Lopez Honored in 2022

The "ASAMBEGHO" Royal Family BEYDE, HODGE, AND GIBBS.