Ruben Blades

Ruben Blades, born in Panama City, Panama on 16 July 1948 and brought up by a middle class family to be a lawyer, would end up as one of the most important figures in Latin music in the twentieth century. His keen political awareness and incredible song-writing talent led him naturally to create a new style - that of social Salsa, music that spoke of global issues and social problems. When asked to describe his own work, he would reply 'music journalism' or 'urban chronicle'.
His home was a musical one as his mother Anoland, who emigrated from Cuba, played piano and sang in Spanish while Ruben Sr, a police detective, was a bongo player. Another major influence in his childhood was his grandmother, Emma, who would take him out regularly to the cinema.
Ruben began to sing from an early age, inspired by the doo-wop bands of the sixties. In 1963, when just a teenager, he sang lead in 'The Saints', the group formed by his older brother Luis. He continued singing while studying law at the University of Panama, first with the 'Conjunto Latino' and later 'Los Salvajes Del Ritmo'.
New York City would be central to Ruben Blades' artistic life but in 1968, when an album he had recorded with 'Bush and the Magnificos' came to the attention of Joe Cuba's producer in the Big Apple who then invited him to join the band, he declined, preferring to finish his university studies. It was only after the Panamanian government shut the university in 1970 that he made the trip to the States, recording the album 'From Panama to Nueva York' with Pete 'El Conde' Rodriguez. With the university reopened, Blades returned to Panama, graduating and then working for the Bank of Panama as a lawyer. It would not be long, however, before he set foot once again in the United States. In 1974 he headed this time for Miami where his family had since settled.
But the call of the capital was such that he soon went back to New York, getting a job in the mailroom of the renowned Latin music record label, Fania. When Ray Barretto's vocalist Tito Allen left the congas player's group, Blades was recommended to replace him, and following an audition in Fania's mailroom, the Panamanian was hired.
From that moment on, Ruben Blades' musical career went from strength to strength. When Barretto left to form his Latin fusion band, the singer became the group's bandleader, renaming it 'Guarare'. His composition "Canto Abacua", that he sang on Barretto's eponymous album in 1975, won him the 'composer of the year' title in the Latin NY magazine poll.
A tribute repeated the following year for his track "El Cazanguero", written and sung for Willie Colon's album 'The Good, The Bad, The Ugly'. Willie Colon was moreover Blades' longest-standing partner, the Blades-Colon duo lasting for six years during which they recorded the three million copy-selling album 'Siempra' featuring the single "Pedro Navaja", the biggest selling single in the history of Salsa.
Blades' prolific song-writing talent was a mine of gold for a great many NY artists during the 70s, including Ricardo Ray and Bobby Cruz, Ismael Miranda, Bobby Rodríguez Y La Compañia, Cheo Feliciano, Conjunto Candela, Tito Rodríguez II, Tito Puente, Roberto Roena, Tito Gómez, Héctor Lavoe and Pete "El Conde' Rodríguez. In 1976 he joined the legendary Fania All Stars, taking part in their recording of a Tribute to Tito Rodriguez. He left in 1980 forming his own band, 'Seis del Solar' (soon changed to 'Son del Solar') two years later, with whom he performed an innovative fusion of Latin, rock, reggae and Caribbean music, notably replacing the traditional horn section with synthesisers. In 1984 the group recorded its debut album 'Buscando America' on the Elektra record label.
The nineties were marked above all by Ruben Blades' increasing interest in the younger generation, in particular the Costa Rican group 'Editus' that has since accompanied him extensively on tour.
Ruben Blades is undoubtedly a household name in Latin, Central and North America and for all amateurs of Latin music. But he is also a lawyer (he received a Masters degree in international law from Harvard University) and keen political activist. The turmoil in Panama during the mid-sixties profoundly affected the young Blades, who used his lyrics, often criticised by the mainstream, to express his revolt. In 1980, his song, "Tiburon," which spoke out against superpower intervention in the Caribbean, was even banned from radio airplay in Miami. Not satisfied with the power of words, he founded a new political party in Panama and ran for President in 1984, coming second in the elections.
Since as early as the 1980s, Ruben Blades doubled his musical career with one in the cinema, acting and writing for soundtracks. Just some of the films in which he is featured include Critical Condition, The Last Fight, The Milagro Beanfield War, The Lemon Sisters, The Josephine Baker Story and The Two Jakes. He also won an ACE (American Cable Excellence) award for his portrayal of a death-row prisoner in 1989's Dead Man Out.

Marushka