Description

Rubén Blades moved from his native Panama to New York City in 1974 to pursue music. Beginning in the mailroom of the legendary salsa label Fania Records, Blades quickly emerged as a composer and vocalist for star percussionist Ray Barretto and pianist Larry Harlow. In 1978 he released, with trombonist Willie Colón, the smash hit album Siembra, featuring Blades’s signature song “Pedro Navaja.” In 1984 Blades’s group Seis del Solar recorded Buscando América, which drew positive reviews for its skillful integration of rock and jazz into Latin sound and underscored his trademark poetic lyrics about everyday life and social issues. Blades collaborated with Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, and Sting in his English album Nothing but the Truth (1988). The eleven-time Grammy winner is also an actor and politician. He ran for president of Panama in 1994.Photographer Máximo Colón has avidly documented the Latin music scene in New York City’s streets and clubs since the 1970s.Rubén Blades se mudó de su Panamá natal a la ciudad de Nueva York en 1974 para dedicarse a la música. Empezó trabajando en la oficina de correspondencia de la legendaria disquera Fania Records, pero rápidamente se destacó como compositor y vocalista para el percusionista estrella Ray Barretto y el pianista Larry Harlow. En 1978 lanzó, con el trombonista Willie Colón, el superexitoso álbum Siembra, en el cual figura su emblemática canción “Pedro Navaja”. En 1984, el grupo de Blades, Seis del Solar, grabó Buscando América, que recibió críticas elogiosas por su hábil integración de rock...

Record Contributed By

National Portrait Gallery

Record Harvested From

Smithsonian Institution