Pacha Group is a Spanish

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

specializing in the leisure, entertainment and

hospitality Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt describes ...

businesses. It was founded in 1966 by Ricardo Urgell.

Brand

Pacha is a lifestyle and entertainment brand which specializes in nightlife and has club franchises in a number of countries including Brazil, United States, Russia, Germany, England, Egypt, Portugal, Austria and several Spanish cities including Madrid, Valencia, Bilbao and Barcelona. The first Pacha club opened in the beach town of

Sitges Sitges (, , ) is a town about 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona, in Spain, renowned worldwide for its Film Festival, Carnival, and LGBT Culture. Located between the Garraf Massif and the Mediterranean Sea, it is known for its beaches, nights ...

in 1967 and first expanded to Barcelona and the Catalan coast. In

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its la ...

, Pacha opened a club in 1973, and then expanded into the hotel business with El Hotel Pacha. The first Pacha club outside Spain opened in 1993 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Then in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

in 2000. Pacha London opened in 2001 and closed in 2014. Additionally, Pacha publishes annual music compilations with the Pacha branding on various Music Platforms (incl.

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active use ...

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sy ...

Music, etc.), starting in 2008. They also release tracks under their

Record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the pr ...

'Pacha Recordings', and 'Pacha Multimedia S.L.'.

Logo

Pacha's first logo was inspired by

Carmen Sevilla María del Carmen García Galisteo (born 16 October 1930), in Seville, Spain, known professionally as Carmen Sevilla, is a retired Spanish actress, singer and dancer. She began her career in the 1940s and became one of the most popular and hi ...

’s eye make-up. Later, in the seventies, various anagrams (of fruits) were created to distinguish various bureaucratic activities in the company internally. Finally, the image of the cherries was printed on a large number of posters to announce events and parties.

Founder

Ricardo Urgell, born in Barcelona in 1937, is the founder of Grupo Pacha. He is the grandson of Modesto Urgell. When Urgell was twenty years old, he started a water-ski school in

. He then opened his first bar ‘Tito’s’ in the same town. The name "Pachá" came from a remark made by Marisa Cobos, Urgell's first wife, who told him that with the money he was going to earn, he would be living like a Pachá (an Arabian Prince). The first Pacha club was Pacha Sitges, which Urgell founded together with his brother Piti Urgell. In 2002, the Spanish Government decided to award the Gold Medal of Merit for Tourism to Ricardo Urgell.

Pacha Ibiza

Pacha Ibiza opened in 1973 and is the earliest

superclub A superclub is a very large or superior nightclub, often with several rooms with different themes. The term was first coined in Mixmag, the British electronic dance and clubbing magazine, in 1995, referring to the new wave of clubs such as ...

in Ibiza. Built in Ses Feixes and facing Ibiza Town, Pacha was designed to resemble a farmhouse. The club was featured in the 2004 film ''

It's All Gone Pete Tong ''It's All Gone Pete Tong'' is a 2004 British-Canadian mockumentary-drama film about a DJ (Paul Kaye) who goes completely deaf. The title uses a rhyming slang phrase used in Britain from the 1980s (Pete Tong = "wrong"), referring to the BBC Rad ...

'' and has capacity of 3,000. From 1998 to 2017, Pacha Ibiza was the venue for the

DJ Awards DJ Awards is a celebration of electronic music, and aims to recognise and honour DJs and individuals who have influenced electronic dance music worldwide. Held annually in Ibiza at the end of the summer season, DJ Awards has retained the same et ...

Awards and nominations

DJ Magazine's top 100 Clubs

International Dance Music Awards The International Dance Music Awards or IDMAs is an annual awards ceremony held in Miami Beach, Florida, United States as a major part of the Winter Music Conference. The awards have been held every year since the conference's creation in 1985 e ...

International Nightlife Association's Top 100 Clubs

Pacha New York / Miami

Awards and nominations

DJ Magazine's top 100 Clubs

Pacha Sharm

Awards and nominations

DJ Magazine's top 100 Clubs

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Franchises Drinking establishment chains Electronic dance music venues Spanish companies established in 1967 Holding companies established in 1967 Entertainment companies established in 1967