NYU students in my alma mater are about to experience cutting age lectures from Professor Rubén Blades. This 17-time Grammy Award-winning musician, Emmy-nominated Panamanian actor, activist, and a political figure will serve as the NYU Steinhardt Dean’s Inaugural Scholar-in-Residence.
The Harvard University-educated distinguished scholar is also a successful singer-composer of Afro-Cuban music. As a former member of bands with Ray Barretto and Willie Colón, Blades has influenced salsa with highly literate, politically tinged lyrics and reality minded musical arrangements. https://youtu.be/XIoUz-nEu0g
Referred to a Latino Bruce Springsteen, Blades has consistently provided a voice for the middle class in The Americas.
His lyrics helped me keep my sanity while globetrotting as a Latin American news producer covering civil war during the 1980's.
Here's one I consider the unplugged national anthem for Latin America followed by the original recording https://youtu.be/kpSEV4--aKs https://youtu.be/VSJU0BBzC0U
Blades inherited his musical talents from his mother, Anoland, who emigrated from Cuba, played piano and sang, while his dad Ruben was a cop with persuasion and percussion.
Blades now lives in California with his actress wife Lisa Lebenzon but has remained active within media and political discourse. While much of Blades' recordings are in Spanish, here's a 1988 English-language recording Nothing But the Truth, featuring songs by Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, and Sting. https://youtu.be/0nJZXJMbqwk
