Ruben Blades, the poet of salsa, turns 75 – DW (English)

“Pedro Navaja” by Panamanian singer Ruben Blades’ is a cult song. Recorded in 1978, it was inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s “Mack the Knife.”

But it almost wasn’t released to start out with. The managers at Fania Records, his New York salsa label, didn’t think a song about the life and death of a gangster shot by a prostitute on a New York City street would sell. 

“They told me I was crazy; that the song was a disaster and that nobody would buy the record,” Blades revealed years later. 

Radio stations were not keen either. Broadcasting a lengthy seven-minute song that felt more like a short story rather than something you want to sway your hips too seemed all too risky.

But despite the grim prophecies, the song became a huge hit, not only in Latin America, and it established Ruben Blades’ career in the world of salsa.

Influenced by an encouraging grandmother

Ruben Blades Bellido de Luna was born in Panama City on July 16, 1948, and grew up in the San Felipe barrio. His father was a Colombian basketball player and percussionist, and his mother was a Cuban pianist who performed in radio shows. Music was omnipresent in the Blades home, so it was just natural for the young Blades to start playing guitar.

Ruben Blades claims he owes his rebellious streak and social awareness to his grandmother.

The family did not have much money, but when once asked in an interview in Rolling Stone magazine if they were poor, he shared his grandmother’s wisdom and explained that not having money does not necessarily make a man poor: “An idiot can win the lottery and then be rich, but he’s still poor because he only has money. Those who have no consciousness are the ones who are really poor,” he said.

Blades was just 17 when he wrote the song “Pablo Pueblo,” about a worker who returns exhausted at the end of the day to his poor home and will never make it financially. He built his experiences of daily life in the barrio into his songs.

The fact that the story of “Pablo Pueblo” story is still relevant today saddens Blades, he recently told the Spanish newspaper La Semana, as dire working conditions have not changed in many countries.

From mail clerk to salsa star

Ruben Blades decided to become a lawyer because he wanted to create a more just society. He studied law and political science at the university of Panama.

At the time, Panama was ruled by a military junta. Blades’ parents fled to the US, and he followed them in the early 1970s after completing his studies.

“Contrary to what people who don’t know what they are talking about say, I did not leave Panama with the purpose of being a musician, I left Panama because I was not going to be a lawyer in a dictatorship,” Blades told news agency AP in 2021.

Hoping to help his family financially, he contacted Fania, a major salsa record company, to perhaps get a job as a songwriter or musician. He ended up working in the mail room.

His big break came when Ray Barretto, a well-known Latin jazz percussionist took him on to replace a sick musician.

Overwhelmed, he forgot entire lines of song lyrics at his first concert in Madison Square Garden. But the incident did not hinder his career.

Salsa with an edge

In 1977, Blades teamed up with salsa musician and social activist Willie Colon singer. Blades was interested in more than just feel-good lyrics and started spicing up salsa with socially critical messages.

Their first joint record, “Metiendo Mano,” sold like hot cakes. A year later, they released “Siembra” which became one of the most successful salsa records of all time with the hit: “Pedro Navaja, and “Plastico,” which was a call to Latin Americans not to be dazzled by superficial materialism in the US.

Blades got into trouble when “Tiburon” (Shark) came out in 1981, a song that criticized US imperialism in the Caribbean. He was pigeonholed as a leftist and communist, a no-go in the US. His record company feared censorship and sanctioned him, as he later recounted.

No salsa purist

Blades started forming his own bands and experimenting with rock and jazz in 1983, something he couldn’t have done with music partner Colon.

“Back then, if the salsa purists would have found out where I lived, they would have come for me and would have hung me,” Blades told Rolling Stone magazine in 2022. In those days, he said, people didn’t mix styles as simply.

But Blades had long since made a name for himself, and so when he told his surprised record executive that he wanted to make an album in English with Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Sting and Elvis Costello, and asked her to reach out to the artists, her jaw dropped. But she agreed, he says, and “Nothing but the Truth” came out in 1988.

A film and TV star

And as if a successful music career with 22 Grammys and Latin Grammys wasn’t enough, Blades has also established himself as an actor.

He has appeared in countless films and series alongside stars such as Robert De Niro, Penelope Cruz, Brad Pitt, Whoopi Goldberg and Bruce Willis.

His most recent appearance is in the zombie series “The Walking Dead,” in the role of a former killer turned hairdresser called Daniel Salazar.

Blades sees acting as an opportunity to reach a worldwide audience, he told Rolling Stone: “If I make a salsa record, it’s going to be heard by people who like salsa. If I make a movie with Harrison Ford, 400 million people from Bangladesh to Nigeria to Macedonia see it — in places where I have no idea if people even know what salsa is.”

Film was a way for him to move forward in his career when he was boycotted for the song “Tiburon.” “In the cinema, the ban didn’t work,” he pointed out.

Political career

In Panama, the country’s famous son is revered by everyone.

In 1992, he founded his own party there, “Papa Egoro.” Two years later, he ran for president and came in third.

From 2004 to 2009, he was minister of tourism. In between, he was also a special UN ambassador against racism.

Since 2010, he has been devoting more time to music, touring the world with Roberto Delgado & Orquesta from Panama. He resides with his second wife, Luba Mason, in New York.

No plans to retire

He thought it was time to retire years ago, but then he realized at his concerts that “there were many young people there who sang along songs from times before they were even born,” he told Colombian newspaper El Pais.

He doesn’t want to stop as long as he feels relevant. Looking fit on stage at 75, Ruben Blades’ career seems far from over. Fans can look forward to a special edition for the 45th anniversary of “Siembra.” Of course, “Pedro Navaja” will have its revival. 

This article was originally written in German.