WILLEMSTAD - Composer, singer, and musician Anselmus ‘Boy’ Dab passed away yesterday at the age of 88.
Dab was part of various music groups from the 1970s. He achieved many successes at the Tumba festival. He has won the festival more than ten times. Tumba is traditional music that is played on Curaçao during Carnival. The musician is considered the 'Tata di Tumba', the father of the Tumba. According to music association AMAK, Dab was one of the first board members of the association in 1968.
Boy Dab came from a musical family and started his career playing jazz music early on. He played saxophone and his brothers drum and piano. They also sang in the choir in the Pietermaai church. At the age of nineteen, Dab started to focus on becoming a professional singer, songwriter and musician.