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A Brief Biography of Rubén Blades
Editor: Alison Weinstock, publisher of Ruben Blades Discography & Song Reference
Singer, actor and political
figure, Blades was born on 16
July 1948, in Panama City, Panama. His grandmother also had a great influence on him as a
child. "My abuela Emma who was with me at all times, instilled me with a sense of justice, that we can all serve as part of the solution. That is the perspective from which I developed and the foundation to help me move forward." During his adolescence, his family was relatively poor. At that time there was also political turmoil in the country, particularly with the issue of the Panama Canal and relations with the United States. He had grown up on U.S. culture and rock & roll. But in 1964, 21 civilians were killed and hundreds wounded in student riots, by U.S. soldiers and Canal Zone police, when students tried to fly the flag of Panama next to that of the U.S. at Balboa High School. This event was traumatic for the nation, and deeply influenced Blades. "They turned friends into enemies. Even today, that's the pity of U.S. policy in Latin America." These events opened his eyes and, like many in Panama who had previously been pro American, he started to ask political and social questions. After this "political awakening," he continued his studies and then entered the law school at the University of Panama. Meanwhile, his musical inclinations prompted him to sing with some musical groups such as El Conjunto Latino de Papi Arosemena. He performed with both Los Salvajes del Ritmo and Bush y sus Magnificos, and sang on recordings by both groups. But pressures from the university professors forced him to abandon singing for a while. In 1968, the university closed due to riots, so he traveled to New York City and contacted Pancho Cristal, Cheo Feliciano's producer. Cristal had heard Blades sing in Panama and offered to get him together with the Pete Rodríguez Orchestra to make a record. From Panama to New York was released in 1970 but didn't attract much attention at that time. Despite continuing political and economic problems in Panama, Blades returned to the country to finish his law degree when the university reopened. Immediately after graduating, he joined his family in Miami and then headed back to New York, to further explore his music. He took the only job available at Fania Records in New York, as a mailboy."They wouldn't record me. I had to push a cart full of mail from 57th and Broadway to 52nd Street every day." While the job was not glamorous, it gave him contact with important people in the New York Latin music scene. Other performers such as Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz, Nestor Sanchez, and Ismael Miranda recorded his compositions, but his opportunity to sing came when Ray Barretto was looking for someone to replace the vocalist in his band. Barretto set up an audition for him in the mailroom, resulting in Blades giving up his job at Fania to immediately join Barretto's group. He shared lead vocals with Tito Gomez on the album "Barretto" (1975.) He provided backup and guest vocals for other Fania recordings, and the Fania All-Stars. He also performed and recorded with Larry Harlow's Orquesta Harlow.
In 1976, Ruben Blades replaced Héctor Lavoe who had left Willie Colón's band. The Colón and Blades partnership would mark an important shift in salsa music. "Ray was more interested in Afro-Cuban music and jazz. Willie was more interested with things that had to do with Latin America, and he allowed me to record my songs. It was a wonderful group of people, which I had the privilege to meet and work with."
On his first album with Colón, Metiendo Mano (1977), the songs "Plantación Adentro" by Tite Curet Alonso, and "Pablo Pueblo" by Blades, had a tremendous impact on salsa fans and other musicians for their vision on social issues. The following record, Siembra (1978), expanded on that musical and social vision. The song "Pedro Navaja" broke records for salsa songs at the time, and is still a favorite. The record sold more than a million copies and topped the charts of most Spanish speaking countries as well as the United States. "Pedro Navaja" made people realize the enormous influence salsa could have as a vehicle for social commentary. "All of a sudden you had a record that was confronting issues and that was unheard of at the time." This ground-breaking album was followed by another, the two part Maestra Vida (1980), a musical drama using characters to explore social issues in a very personal way. In 1982, Blades discovered his talents as an actor. Fania owner Jerry Massucci offered him a role in a low budget movie he was producing entitled "The Last Fight," directed by Fred Williamson. "I played a boxer who also sang, so we could sell a few records." Although the film had no impact, it elicited Blades' interest in the film medium and sparked a successful career as an actor. However, experience as an actor did not derail Blades'
singing career nor his identification with Latin music. After six years
with Willie Colón, Blades decided it was time to form his own
band so he could develop his own musical ideas. His discontent with the
business practices of Fania Records prompted Blades to
sign with Elektra Records. He formed Seis del Solar, experimenting
with new salsa formats. He eliminated the brass section and utilized
certain keys closer to rock music. He recorded Buscando America
(1984) with the group, which included several memorable songs including
the title track, "I wanted to make an urban American album that can be appreciated by any American city dweller and may bring people who haven't identified with salsa a bit closer to us." After its success, he took some time off to attend Harvard University School of Law, with the long-term goal of returning Panama with the credentials to be taken seriously. He earned a Master's Degree in International Law in 1985. "I needed something to humble myself, and believe me, that school, which was no picnic, did it." The documentary "The Return of Ruben Blades" captures his graduation, and his return to performing. Escenas
(1985) brought him his first Grammy.
Next came Agua de
Luna (1987); an album of songs
inspired by a
series of short stories by noted Colombian author, Gabriel
García Márquez. Blades began exploring rock music in an effort to expand the realm of his music. Working with rock pioneers Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, and Sting, he recorded the English language record Nothing But the Truth (1988) where he contiued using different rhythms from distinct cultural sources and political themes. "I want people to acknowledge the possibilities of a Latin artist fully - meaning we can do English, too. Meanwhile, his devotion to his roots continued as Seis del Solar evolved to become Son del Solar, where Blades continued to explore Latin America's social issues through music, adding a brass section to give the songs more speed and movement, and to align the sound to a more typical salsa band. His efforts yielded Antecedente (1988) and another Grammy award.
His film career also continued in 1985, in his second movie "Crossover Dreams." He played a Latin musician trying to introduce himself into the American market, and he also co-wrote the screenplay. It was critically acclaimed and went into general release as a successful independent film. "I can't say enough for the people of East Harlem. They brought us soup and let us film in their homes in exchange for our painting them. Everybody in the community cooperated. It was a Latin effort done by ourselves to help ourselves." While it helped him hone his acting skills, his convincing interpretation confused many people about his career goals, and the role is sometimes mistakenly thought to be autobiographical. But offers of roles in important productions started coming, based on the strength of this performance. This prompted Blades to move to California where he gradually acquired a measure of prestige as an actor; appearing in movies with Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, Jack Nicholson and other Hollywood heavyweights. His first important film role was in "The Milagro Beanfield War", directed by Robert Redford. It was followed by a leading role in "Dead Man Out", where his portrait of a killer on death row earned him the Cable ACE Best Actor Award for movies produced for cable television. Other acting credits include: The Two Jakes (1990), Mo'
Better Blues (1990), The Super (1991), Crazy From The Heart and "The
Josephine Baker Story" (both 1991), both earning him Emmy nominations;
"One Man's War" (1991), "A Million to Juan" (1994), "Color of Night"
(1994), "Scorpion Spring" (1996), "Chinese Box" (1997), "The Devil's
Own" (1997), the Broadway musical "The Capeman" by Paul Simon (1998),
"Cradle Will Rock" (1999), "All the Pretty Horses" (2000), the tv
series "Gideon's Crossing" (2000), "Assassination Tango" (2002),
"Maldonado Miracle" (2003), and "Once Upon A Time in Mexico". "I started acting by choice, however, when I get involved in something, I try to learn everything there is, and what I learned in Hollywood and television in this country is that you can't sit around and wait for the opportunities to come by. 1991 saw the release of Caminando with Son del Solar, followed by Amor y Control (1992.) This album was dedicated to his mother, who had died the previous year, and also marked the end of his association with Son del Solar. His work continued to prove that salsa music could be a mechanism for social comment and an instrument for change. But he was finally ready to return to Panama, wanting to have a direct effect on the people he had been singing about. True to his social activism, Ruben Blades ran for president of Panama in 1994, as the founder and head of the Papa Egoró Movement. He ran on a platform of social equity grounded in a sense of ethics and equality between cultural and social groups across all economic classes. "In order to sustain the integrity of the work, I felt I had to go out there on the streets and try to make political change possible through the political process, not just singing. We proved it could work. We came in third out of 24 parties, with 18% of the vote. I'm a better, less selfish person for it." In 2000 he was named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations, and appeared at colleges, meeting with students and speaking against racism. After his run for president, Blades returned his attention to
his music, producing a trilogy of Grammy winning recordings: La Rosa de los Vientos
(1996), with Panamanian
musicians and composers, which unifies various
rhythms and styles in Latin music, as evidenced in the song "Racism is absurd and my new record reflects that." These three very different albums display his genius, originality and depth, musical as well as social - three exceptional albums befitting of his enormous talents. In 2003 he experimented with distributing music over the
internet through his web site, bypassing record companies, contracts,
and marketing. At his
website he offered a group of songs by
various artists for free download, with payment optional. As guest artist on the Spanish Harlem Orchestra's
second album Across
110th St.
he received a seventh Grammy award. He was honored by
the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and
Sciences with its Heroes Award in 2004, and ASCAP honored him with its
Founders Award in 2005. Berklee
College of Music conferred on him an honorary doctorate in music in
2005. Blades put his musical and film careers aside, however, and
returned to Panama in 2004 to serve as Minister of Tourism, serving his
country as he had long hoped to do. "When I go back to Panama, I'm going to be very happy to be there because I really believe in my country and I know we're going to do good things there. It's not just a romantic dream; we can make things happen there."
Copyright © 2001 - 2004, Jaime Serrat, 2005 Jaime Serrat
and Alison Weinstock. All rights reserved. |
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