Aug 14, 2018

RhoDeo 1832 Roots

Hello, after almost 2,5 years dwelling in the South-America's music scene we  cross the Panama canal and step into middle-America.



Today's artist is a Panamanian singer, songwriter, actor, musician, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban, salsa, and Latin jazz genres. As a songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of Central American nueva canción and Cuban nueva trova as well as experimental tempos and politically inspired Nuyorican salsa to his music, creating "thinking persons' (salsa) dance music".   .... N'Joy

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Rubén Blades is one of the most successful vocalists in the history of Panamanian music. A former member of bands led by Ray Barretto and Willie Colón, Blades has continued to influence salsa music with his highly literate, politically tinged lyrics and his modern-minded arrangements, which substitute the usual horn and Latin percussion sections with synthesizers and drum sets. Often referred to as "the Latin Bruce Springsteen," Blades provided a musical voice for the middle class of Central America. Raised in a middle-class neighborhood in Panama City, Blades inherited his musical talents from his parents. His mother, Anoland, who emigrated from Cuba, played piano and sang in Spanish. His father, Ruben Sr., a police detective, played bongos.

Inspired by the doo wop singing of Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, Blades began singing North American pop and rock songs in his early teens. In 1963, he became the lead singer of a band, the Saints, formed by his older brother, Luis. The political upheaval in Panama during the mid-'60s had a profound effect as Blades became increasingly committed to his own roots, refusing to sing in any language but his native Spanish.

While studying law at the University of Panama, Blades continued to be involved with his music, singing with Conjunto Latino and Los Salvajes del Ritmo. In 1968, an album he recorded with Bush and the Magnificos reached Joe Cuba's producer in New York. Invited to join Cuba's band, he declined in order to complete college. When the Panamanian government closed the university, he made his first trip to the United States. While in the U.S., Blades recorded an album, From Panama to New York, with Pete Rodriguez. Shortly after the album's release, the University of Panama was reopened and Blades returned to complete his undergraduate studies. Although he accepted a position as a lawyer for the Bank of Panama, following his graduation, he returned to the U.S., to visit his parents, who had emigrated to Miami, in 1974.

While in the United States, Blades traveled to New York and took a job in the mailroom of the Latin-oriented Fania record label. A year later, he replaced Tito Allen as featured vocalist in Ray Barretto's band, auditioning in Fania's mailroom. When Barretto left to form a Latin fusion group, Blades took over as bandleader and renamed the group Guarare. In 1975, Blades composed and sang lead on Barretto's recording "Canto Abacua," featured on the album Barretto. As a result, Blades was named Composer of the Year by Latin New York magazine. Blades had also been playing with Willie Colón's band, and he remained with Colón for six years. Their collaboration reached its apex with the three-million-copy-selling album Siembra, which included the single "Pedro Navaja," the biggest selling single in salsa history. Blades' politically oriented lyrics were not universally accepted. In 1980, his song "Tiburon," which spoke out against superpower intervention in the Caribbean, was banned from radio airplay in Miami.

Forming his own band, Los Seis del Solar, in 1982, Blades began to perform an exciting fusion of Latin, rock, reggae, and Caribbean music. Their debut album, Buscando América, was released in 1983. A year later, Blades enrolled in the graduate school at Harvard University, eventually receiving a master's degree in international law. Since the early '80s, Blades has balanced his musical career with acting and writing songs for such films as The Last Fight, Crossover Dreams, Critical Condition, Fatal Beauty, The Milagro Beanfield War, Dead Man Out, Disorganized Crime, The Lemon Sisters, The Two Jakes, Predator 2, One Man's War, The Josephine Baker Story, Crazy From the Heart, Color of Night, A Million to Juan, Scorpion Spring, and The Devil's Own. Blades shared the title role, with Marc Anthony, in Paul Simon's Broadway musical The Capeman.

Blades, who lives in California with his actress wife Lisa Lebenzon, has remained active with politics. The founder of a new political party in Panama, he ran for president of Panama in 1994, coming in second in the election. While much of Blades' repertoire is in the Spanish language, he recorded an English-language album, Nothing But the Truth, featuring songs by Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, and Sting, in 1988. The 1990s were relatively busy ones for Blades musically, and he released several albums, including Ruben Blades y Son del Solar...Live! (1990), Caminando (1991), Amor y Control (1994), La Rosa de los Vientos (1996), and Tiempos (1999) before stepping back a bit in the first decade of the 21st century, releasing Mundo in 2002, the Live! In Concert DVD in 2006, and De Panama a Nueva York in 2008.

In 2004, he put his artistic career on hold when he began serving a five-year appointment as Panama's minister of tourism. Beginning in June 2007, however, Blades turned some of his attention back to his artistic career, presenting an online TV show titled Show de Ruben Blades (SDRB) on his website.

In the middle of 2008 he took a leave of absence for a mini-tour in Europe, backed by the Costa Rican band Son de Tikizia. When his government service was completed in June 2009, he reunited the members of Seis del Solar for the 25th anniversary of Buscando America in an ambitious tour of the Americas.  In June 2011, Blades was given the Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award by ASCAP and WhyHunger. In 2015, Blades' album Tangos won a Grammy award for Best Latin Pop Album. In 2015, Blades was cast in the regular role of Daniel Salazar in the AMC post-apocalyptic drama Fear the Walking Dead, a companion series to The Walking Dead. Premiering in August 2015, with six episodes in its first season, the new series has been picked up by AMC for at least two seasons. Blades first appears in the second episode.

Blades has expressed his interest in making another run for president of Panama in 2019, and has noted that he might limit his future performing activities in order to do so.


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From the first note of Buscando América, Rubén Blades, with his suitcase and guitar in hand, bids farewell to the world of meat-and-potatoes New York salsa and sets in search of something else. Though many of the tracks eventually find their way back to that driving coro that has become a hallmark of Blades' writing, there are elements present in this project that signify Blades' departure from the mainstream, to which he will never completely return. From doo wop intros ("Decisiones") to a cappella rhumbas ("Gdbd") to epic rock sounds ("Caminos Verdes"), there's more than a little experimentation going on in this project. Piano/keyboard player and arranger Oscar Hernandez of Seis del Solar, Ruben's backup band for most of the '80s, brings a sophistication and style to the arrangements that contributes much to the album's fresh voice. No matter how diverse his musical influences, Blades' subject material is consistent throughout. Though themes of empowerment for the poor and the sociopolitical challenges faced by the Latin American community have always been present in his work, Buscando América seems to mark the beginning of Blades' longterm commitment to the subject. Blades' first album away from the Fania label is a bold statement in many ways, but none more bold than the standard that it sets for the future. The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Tropical Latin Performance.



Ruben Blades y Seis del Solar - Buscando America     (flac  214mb)

01 Decisiones 5:00
02 Gdbd 3:35
03 Desapariciones 6:20
04 Todos Vuelven 4:26
05 Caminos Verdes 3:00
06 El Padre Antonio Y El Monaguillo Andres 8:02
07 Buscando America 8:38

Ruben Blades y Seis del Solar - Buscando America   (ogg   95mb )

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All Rubén Blades fans know his wizardry in the studio to be beyond comparison in the salsa world. Though some artists have difficulty making the transition from studio to stage, Blades takes on the challenge like a champ. His prowess as a live performer is in equal proportion to his inventive studio presence. The only disappointing aspect of his 1990 release, Rubén Blades y Son del Solar...Live!, is that it's Blades' only live in concert performance in his large discography. Backed up by the 11-piece band Son de Solar, Blades concentrates on repertoire that pleasingly mixes material from recent collaborations with the band, Agua de Luna and Buscando América, and his days with Fania. The play list is one crowd-pleaser after another, including recent hits like "Ojos de Perro Azul" and classics like "Pedro Navaja." Though favoring a now dated synth-heavy sound, the musical performances are so powerful that they must have shaken the club to its foundation. Son de Solar are themselves an amazing conflagration of Latin star power, including pianist Oscar Hernandez, timbalero Ralph Irizarry, Marc Quiñones, and drummer Robby Ameen. The pedigree of musicianship shows through in the flawless, achingly funky grooves and virtuosic solos. Blades proves himself not only to be a master musician, but also a wonderful communicator and entertainer, as is evident in his often humorous interactions with the crowd. The unacquainted will be won over, and dedicated fans will hear their beloved cantante as never before.



Ruben Blades Y Son Del Solar - Live!   (flac  479mb)

01 Decisiones 6:01
02 Cuentas Del Alma 6:53
03 El Padre Antonio 8:46
04 Pedro Navaja 9:27
05 Todos Vuelven 5:54
06 La Canción Del Final Del Mundo 6:37
07 Ojos De Perro Azul 7:24
08 Buscando América 11:07
09 Muévete 12:18

Ruben Blades Y Son Del Solar - Live!   (ogg  188mb)

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Most of the songs from this compilation of Ruben Blades music are from his "Salsa Brava" period, when he used to play alongside Willie Colon and other greats from the Fania All Stars lineup. There isn't a single weak song in here. The only thing that could deter you from picking up a copy would be if you already own the originals. Otherwise, it's a fantastic tribute to a great time in Latin music!



   Ruben Blades - Ganas ( flac  473mb)

01 Tiburon 7:02
02 Ganas 4:35
03 Plastico 6:41
04 Solo 2:45
05 Paula C 6:21
06 Buscando Guayaba 5:48
07 Joan Gonzalez 4:00
08 Dime 7:00
09 Siembra 5:22
10 Manuela 5:46
11 Pablo Pueblo 6:14
12 Sin Tu Carino 6:25

   Ruben Blades - Ganas (ogg  168mb)

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Joey Montana is a Panamanian reggaeton vocalist with a romantic style who made his full-length album debut with Sin Cadenas in 2007. Born Edgardo Miranda on May 3, 1982 in Chiriquí, Panama, Montana got his start as a member of La Factoría, a pioneering reggaeton group also comprised of vocalists Demphra and Joycee. He was featured on the albums La Factoría (2001), Más Allá (2004), and Nuevas Metas (2006) prior to going solo. Montana made his full-length solo debut with Sin Cadenas (2007) on the independent label MMV Entertainment. A few years later, he made his major-label debut with his second album, Flow con Clase (2010), on EMI. Único followed in 2014. In 2016, Montana delivered his fourth studio album, Picky Back to the Roots, featuring the singles "Picky" and "Hola."



 Joey Montana - Picky Back 2 the Roots   (flac  310mb)

01 The Hit 5:51
02 I Can't Say 3:46
03 Hopes On Hold 5:20
04 The Miranda Syndrome 4:52
05 Letters To The Vatican 5:01
06 The Calm Before The Storm 4:38
07 In Salvador 4:42
08 The Letter 3:26
09 Chameleons 5:51
10 Ollie's Doo Wop 2:35
11 Shamed Into Love 4:03

Joey Montana - Picky Back 2 the Roots (ogg  108mb)

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