Rubén Blades
Encyclopedia
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (ˈruβen ˈbleðz; born July 16, 1948) is a Panama
nian salsa singer, songwriter, lawyer
, actor, Latin jazz
musician, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban
and Latin jazz
genres. As songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of Central American nueva canción and Cuba
n nueva trova as well as experimental tempos and political inspired Nuyorican salsa to his music, creating thinking persons' (salsa) dance music.
Blades has composed dozens of musical hits, the most famous of which is "Pedro Navaja
," a song about a neighborhood thug who appears to die during a robbery (his song "Sorpresas" continues the story), inspired by "Mack the Knife
." He also composed and sings what many Panamanians consider their second national anthem. The song is titled "Patria" (Fatherland).
He is an icon in Panama and is much admired throughout Latin America
, and managed to attract 18% of the vote in his failed attempt to win the Panamanian presidency in 1994. In September 2004, he was appointed minister of tourism by Panamanian president Martín Torrijos
for a five-year term. He holds a law degree from the University of Panama
and a master's in international law from Harvard University
. He is married to singer Luba Mason.
, not her real name, which was Bellido de Luna), a Cuban pianist, singer, and actress, and Ruben Dario Blades, Sr., a gifted athlete, percussionist and later a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics
in Washington, D.C. His mother's great-uncle Juan Bellido de Luna was active in the Cuban revolutionary movement against Spain and was later a writer and publisher in New York. Blades's paternal grandfather, Reuben Blades, was an English-speaking native of St. Lucia who came to Panama as an accountant. His family is not quite sure how the Blades family ended up in St. Lucia, but when his grandfather relocated to Panama, he lived in the Panama
nian Bocas del Toro Province
. Ruben Blades thought until recently that his grandfather had come to Panama to work on the Panama Canal
, as he tells in the song "West Indian Man" on the album Amor y Control ("That's where the Blades comes from") (1992). He explains the source and the pronunciation (ˈbleɪdz) of his family surname, which is of English origin
, in his web show Show De Ruben Blades (SDRB) episode #18 on his website close to seven minutes into the recording.
In Blades' early days, he was a vocalist in Los Salvajes del Ritmo with fellow university students including Antonio Jose Guzman
, and also a songwriter
and guest singer with a professional Latin music conjunto
; Bush y sus Magníficos. His strongest influence of the day was the Joe Cuba sextet
and Cheo Feliciano
, whose singing style he copied to the point of imitating his voice tone and vocal range.
and performed legal work at the Bank of Panama as a law student. Upon his graduation in 1974, Blades moved to the United States, staying temporarily with his exiled parents in Miami, Florida before moving to New York City.
Perhaps his first profesional "gig" as singer and composer was with Pete Rodriguez La Magnifica Orchestra, under the musical direction of trumpetist Tony Pabon, including song hits such as "Descarga Caliente" and "De Panama a NewYork", recorded on Alegre records label around 1970 in New York City.
Blades began his formal musical career in New York writing songs while working in the mailroom at Fania Records
, perceived as a talented songwriter who still had to develop a singing style of his own. The mailroom job was a good opportunity to stay close to the company until the right opportunity came along. Soon Blades was working with salseros Ray Barretto
and Larry Harlow. Shortly thereafter, Blades started collaborating with trombonist and bandleader
Willie Colón
, and they recorded several albums together and participated in albums by plena
singer Mon Rivera
and the Fania All Stars.
Blades' first notable hit was a song on the 1977 album Metiendo Mano that he had composed in 1968: "Pablo Pueblo," a meditation about a working-class father who returns to his home after a long day at work. The song later became his unofficial campaign song when he ran for president of Panama. The Colón and Blades recording on the same album of Tite Curet Alonso
's composition, "Plantación Adentro," which dealt with the brutal treatment of Indian natives in Latin America's colonial times, was an enormous hit in various Caribbean countries. He wrote and performed several songs with the Fania All Stars and as a guest on other artists' releases, including the hits "Paula C," written about a girlfriend at the time; "Juan Pachanga," about a party animal who buries his pain for a lost love in dance and drink; and "Sin Tu Cariño," a love song, featuring a bomba
break. The latter two songs feature piano solos by Papo Lucca
.
In 1978 Blades wrote the song "El Cantante
"; Colón convinced him to give the song to Colón's former musical partner, Héctor Lavoe
, to record, since Lavoe's nickname was already "El Cantante de los Cantantes" ("the singer of singers"). Lavoe recorded it that same year, and it became both a big hit and Lavoe's signature song
; a biographical film, El Cantante
from Lavoe took the same title. (The film El Cantante told a fictionalized version of this story, in which Blades tells Lavoe he wrote the song for him.)
The Colón and Blades album Siembra
(1978) became the best-selling salsa record in history. It has sold over 25 million copies, and almost all of its songs were hits at one time or another in various Latin American countries.,
Blades became dissatisfied with Fania and tried to terminate his contract, but was legally obliged to record several more albums. Maestra Vida and its follow-up Canciones del Solar de los Aburridos are highlights. In 1984, Blades signed with Elektra
and assembled a top-notch band (known variously as Seis Del Solar or Son Del Solar) and recorded a number of albums with them including the Grammy Award
-winning albums Escenas and Antecedente. Fania continued to release recordings compiled from their archives for some years afterwards.
In 1982, Blades got his first acting role in The Last Fight (film), portraying a singer-turned-boxer vying for a championship against a fighter who was played by real-life world-champion boxer Salvador Sánchez
. In 1984, he released Buscando América
, and in 1985, Blades gained widespread recognition as co-writer and star of the independent film Crossover Dreams as a New York salsa singer willing to do anything to break into the mainstream. Blades also began his career in films scoring music for soundtracks. Also in 1985, he earned a master's degree in international law from Harvard Law School
. He was also the subject of Robert Mugge
's documentary The Return of Ruben Blades, which debuted at that year's Denver Film Festival
.
After winning his first Grammy Award
for Escenas in 1986, he recorded the album Agua de Luna based on the short stories of famed writer Gabriel García Márquez
in 1987. The next year he released the English-language collaboration Nothing But the Truth with rock artists Sting, Elvis Costello
, and Lou Reed
the same year as the more traditionally salsa Antecedente, another Grammy Award winner.
The English-language album received disappointing reviews, but he answered his critics, "I do not believe in the notion that one is condemned to do something because he looks in a certain way or speaks a certain language. To me, music is a universal thing, and I have always been interested in the directions offered me by music in English, directions I could not find, concretely in terms of construction, with the Afro-Cuban rhythms I'd always worked with. I also wanted to leave testimony of the meeting of urban tropical music with rock 'n roll".
Blades had also contributed guest vocals in English to "Bitter Fruit" a song on the 1984 album Freedom - No Compromise
by Little Steven.
In 1996, Blades along with Son Miserables performed "No Te Miento (I Don't Lie [to you])" for the AIDS
benefit album Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin
produced by the Red Hot Organization
.
In 1997, Blades headed the cast of singer/songwriter Paul Simon
's first Broadway
musical
, The Capeman
, based on a true story about a violent youth who becomes a poet in prison, which also starred Marc Anthony
and Ednita Nazario
.
His many film appearances include The Milagro Beanfield War
(1988), The Two Jakes (1990), Predator 2
(1990), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Color of Night
(1994), and Devil's Own (1997). In 1999, he played Mexican artist Diego Rivera
in Tim Robbins
' Cradle Will Rock
. In the 2003 film Once Upon a Time in Mexico
, starring Johnny Depp
, Antonio Banderas
, and Willem Dafoe
, he played the role of a retired FBI agent.
Blades' 1999 album Tiempos, which he recorded with musicians from the Costa Rica
n groups Editus and Sexteto de Jazz Latino, represented a break from his salsa past and a further rejection of commercial trends in Latin music. Ironically, the album won a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album
. Even more eclectic was the 2002 album Mundo with the 11-member Editus Ensemble and bagpiper Eric Rigler
, which incorporated instruments from around the world. The same year, he guested on world music
artist Derek Trucks
' album, Joyful Noise
.
In 2003 he followed the World Music Grammy and Latin Grammy winner Mundo with a web site free-download project. As he said in 2005 when receiving the ASCAP Founders Award about his non-commercial choices, "That's the way I think."
In 2004, he put his artistic careers 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.
During the summer 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.
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
nian salsa singer, songwriter, lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, actor, Latin jazz
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
musician, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
and Latin jazz
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
genres. As songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of Central American nueva canción and Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n nueva trova as well as experimental tempos and political inspired Nuyorican salsa to his music, creating thinking persons' (salsa) dance music.
Blades has composed dozens of musical hits, the most famous of which is "Pedro Navaja
Pedro Navaja
Pedro Navaja is a salsa song written and performed by Rubén Blades from the 1978 album Siembra, about a criminal of the same name. "Navaja" means knife or razor in Spanish. Inspired by the song Mack the Knife, it tells the story of a panderer's life and his presumed death...
," a song about a neighborhood thug who appears to die during a robbery (his song "Sorpresas" continues the story), inspired by "Mack the Knife
Mack the Knife
"Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife", originally "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama Die Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English, The Threepenny Opera. It premiered in Berlin in 1928 at the...
." He also composed and sings what many Panamanians consider their second national anthem. The song is titled "Patria" (Fatherland).
He is an icon in Panama and is much admired throughout Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, and managed to attract 18% of the vote in his failed attempt to win the Panamanian presidency in 1994. In September 2004, he was appointed minister of tourism by Panamanian president Martín Torrijos
Martín Torrijos
Martín Erasto Torrijos Espino is a Panamanian politician and the former President of the Republic of Panama.Torrijos was elected President on May 2, 2004...
for a five-year term. He holds a law degree from the University of Panama
University of Panama
The University of Panama was founded on October 7, 1935, with a student body of 175 in the fields of Education, Commerce, Natural Sciences, Pharmacy, Pre-Engineering and Law. , it maintains a student body of 74,059 distributed in 228 buildings around the country.The University of Panama was founded...
and a master's in international law from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He is married to singer Luba Mason.
Family history and early life
Blades was born in Panama City, Panama, the son of Anoland Diaz (Diaz was his mother's artistic surnameSurname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
, not her real name, which was Bellido de Luna), a Cuban pianist, singer, and actress, and Ruben Dario Blades, Sr., a gifted athlete, percussionist and later a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics
Federal Bureau of Narcotics
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury. Established in the Department of the Treasury by an act of June 14, 1930 consolidating the functions of the Federal Narcotics Control Board and the Narcotic Division...
in Washington, D.C. His mother's great-uncle Juan Bellido de Luna was active in the Cuban revolutionary movement against Spain and was later a writer and publisher in New York. Blades's paternal grandfather, Reuben Blades, was an English-speaking native of St. Lucia who came to Panama as an accountant. His family is not quite sure how the Blades family ended up in St. Lucia, but when his grandfather relocated to Panama, he lived in the Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
nian Bocas del Toro Province
Bocas del Toro Province
Bocas del Toro is a province of Panama. Its extension is 4,643.9 square kilometers comprising the mainland and nine main islands. The province consists of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Bahía Almirante , Laguna de Chiriquí , and adjacent mainland. The capital is the city of Bocas del Toro on Isla...
. Ruben Blades thought until recently that his grandfather had come to Panama to work on the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
, as he tells in the song "West Indian Man" on the album Amor y Control ("That's where the Blades comes from") (1992). He explains the source and the pronunciation (ˈbleɪdz) of his family surname, which is of English origin
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, in his web show Show De Ruben Blades (SDRB) episode #18 on his website close to seven minutes into the recording.
In Blades' early days, he was a vocalist in Los Salvajes del Ritmo with fellow university students including Antonio Jose Guzman
Antonio Jose Guzman
' aka , is a Dutch-Panamanian artist.He lives and works in Amsterdam, Panama City and Dakar. Guzman’s work includes films, documentaries, photography, installations and publications. Besides his individual art practice, is the founder and director of the Pan African art collective , a collective...
, and also a songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and guest singer with a professional Latin music conjunto
Conjunto
Conjunto literally translates as "group," and is regionally accepted in Texas as defining a genre of music that was born out of south Texas at the end of the 19th Century, after German settlers introduced the button accordion. The bajo sexto has come to accompany the button accordion and is...
; Bush y sus Magníficos. His strongest influence of the day was the Joe Cuba sextet
Joe Cuba
Joe "Sonny" Cuba was a Puerto Rican musician who was considered to be the "Father of Latin Boogaloo".-Early years:...
and Cheo Feliciano
Cheo Feliciano
José Feliciano, better known as Cheo Feliciano , is a composer and singer of salsa and bolero music.-Early years:...
, whose singing style he copied to the point of imitating his voice tone and vocal range.
1970s - 1980s
Blades earned degrees in political science and law at the Universidad Nacional de PanamaUniversity of Panama
The University of Panama was founded on October 7, 1935, with a student body of 175 in the fields of Education, Commerce, Natural Sciences, Pharmacy, Pre-Engineering and Law. , it maintains a student body of 74,059 distributed in 228 buildings around the country.The University of Panama was founded...
and performed legal work at the Bank of Panama as a law student. Upon his graduation in 1974, Blades moved to the United States, staying temporarily with his exiled parents in Miami, Florida before moving to New York City.
Perhaps his first profesional "gig" as singer and composer was with Pete Rodriguez La Magnifica Orchestra, under the musical direction of trumpetist Tony Pabon, including song hits such as "Descarga Caliente" and "De Panama a NewYork", recorded on Alegre records label around 1970 in New York City.
Blades began his formal musical career in New York writing songs while working in the mailroom at Fania Records
Fania Records
Fania Records was a New York based record label founded by Dominican-born composer and bandleader Johnny Pacheco and Italian-American lawyer Jerry Masucci in 1964. The label took its name from an old Cuban song by the singer Reinaldo Bolaño. Fania is known for its promotion of what has become...
, perceived as a talented songwriter who still had to develop a singing style of his own. The mailroom job was a good opportunity to stay close to the company until the right opportunity came along. Soon Blades was working with salseros Ray Barretto
Ray Barretto
Ray Barretto was a Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican jazz musician.-Early years:Barretto was born in New York City of Puerto Rican descent...
and Larry Harlow. Shortly thereafter, Blades started collaborating with trombonist and bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
Willie Colón
Willie Colón
William Anthony Colón is a Nuyorican salsa musician. Primarily a trombonist, Colón also sings, writes, produces and acts. He is also involved in municipal politics in New York City.-Early years:...
, and they recorded several albums together and participated in albums by plena
Plena
Plena is a folkloric genre native to Puerto Rico. Its creation was influenced by African and Spanish music.-History:The music is generally folkloric. The music's beat and rhythm are usually played using hand drums called panderetas, but also known as panderos or pleneras. The music is accompanied...
singer Mon Rivera
Mon Rivera
Mon Rivera is the common name given to two distinct Puerto Rican musicians , namely Monserrate Rivera Alers and his oldest son, Efraín Rivera Castillo Mon Rivera is the common name given to two distinct Puerto Rican musicians (both born in Mayagüez), namely Monserrate Rivera Alers (originally...
and the Fania All Stars.
Blades' first notable hit was a song on the 1977 album Metiendo Mano that he had composed in 1968: "Pablo Pueblo," a meditation about a working-class father who returns to his home after a long day at work. The song later became his unofficial campaign song when he ran for president of Panama. The Colón and Blades recording on the same album of Tite Curet Alonso
Tite Curet Alonso
Tite Curet Alonso was a renowned composer of over 2,000 salsa songs.- Early years :Born Catalino Curet Alonso in the southern town of Guayama in Puerto Rico. Alonso's mother was a seamtress and his father a Spanish teacher and musician in the band of Simon Madera...
's composition, "Plantación Adentro," which dealt with the brutal treatment of Indian natives in Latin America's colonial times, was an enormous hit in various Caribbean countries. He wrote and performed several songs with the Fania All Stars and as a guest on other artists' releases, including the hits "Paula C," written about a girlfriend at the time; "Juan Pachanga," about a party animal who buries his pain for a lost love in dance and drink; and "Sin Tu Cariño," a love song, featuring a bomba
Bomba
Bomba is one of the traditional musical styles of Puerto Rico. it is a largely African-derived music. The rhythm and beat are played by a set of floor drums, cuá and a maraca. Dance is an integral part of the music: the dancers move their bodies to every beat of the drum, making bomba a very...
break. The latter two songs feature piano solos by Papo Lucca
Papo Lucca
Enrique Arsenio Lucca Quiñonez, better known as Papo Lucca, born on April 10, 1946, Ponce, Puerto Rico.Papo Lucca is a famous Puerto Rican multi-instrumentalist , but is best known as a pianist. Main musical genre focus are Salsa and Latin Jazz...
.
In 1978 Blades wrote the song "El Cantante
El Cantante
El Cantante is a 2006 American film released in the United States on August 3, 2007. The biopic stars singer Marc Anthony and actress-singer Jennifer Lopez . The film is based on the life story of salsa legend Héctor Lavoe...
"; Colón convinced him to give the song to Colón's former musical partner, Héctor Lavoe
Héctor Lavoe
Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez , better known as Héctor Lavoe, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer. Lavoe was born and raised in the Machuelito sector of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Early in his life, he attended a local music school and developed an interest inspired by Jesús Sánchez Erazo. He moved to New York...
, to record, since Lavoe's nickname was already "El Cantante de los Cantantes" ("the singer of singers"). Lavoe recorded it that same year, and it became both a big hit and Lavoe's signature song
Signature song
A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...
; a biographical film, El Cantante
El Cantante (soundtrack)
El Cantante is the soundtrack to the motion picture of the same name by American pop musician Marc Anthony. The album was released on July 24, 2007 by Sony Norte. The entire album, with the exception of the last track "Toma de Mí", is a cover album of songs originally recorded by the famous Puerto...
from Lavoe took the same title. (The film El Cantante told a fictionalized version of this story, in which Blades tells Lavoe he wrote the song for him.)
The Colón and Blades album Siembra
Siembra
Siembra is an album by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón released by Fania Records in 1978.-Background:At that time, it became the best-selling salsa record in history. This record was broken with the release of Cuenta Conmigo by Jerry Rivera in the 1990s...
(1978) became the best-selling salsa record in history. It has sold over 25 million copies, and almost all of its songs were hits at one time or another in various Latin American countries.,
Blades became dissatisfied with Fania and tried to terminate his contract, but was legally obliged to record several more albums. Maestra Vida and its follow-up Canciones del Solar de los Aburridos are highlights. In 1984, Blades signed with Elektra
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
and assembled a top-notch band (known variously as Seis Del Solar or Son Del Solar) and recorded a number of albums with them including the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning albums Escenas and Antecedente. Fania continued to release recordings compiled from their archives for some years afterwards.
In 1982, Blades got his first acting role in The Last Fight (film), portraying a singer-turned-boxer vying for a championship against a fighter who was played by real-life world-champion boxer Salvador Sánchez
Salvador Sánchez
Salvador Sánchez Narváez was a Mexican boxer born in the town of Santiago Tianguistenco, Estado de México. Many of his contemporaries as well as boxing writers believe that, had it not been for his premature death, Sanchez could have gone on to become the greatest Featherweight boxer of all time...
. In 1984, he released Buscando América
Buscando América
Buscando América is the fourth album by Latin musician Rubén Blades. The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Tropical Latin Performance.-Track listing:# "Decisiones" – 5:00# "GDBD" – 3:35# "Desapariciones" – 6:20# "Todos Vuelven" – 4:26...
, and in 1985, Blades gained widespread recognition as co-writer and star of the independent film Crossover Dreams as a New York salsa singer willing to do anything to break into the mainstream. Blades also began his career in films scoring music for soundtracks. Also in 1985, he earned a master's degree in international law from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
. He was also the subject of Robert Mugge
Robert Mugge
Robert Mugge is an American documentary film maker. He specializes in films about music and musicians.Mugge was born in Chicago and grew up primarily in the Washington, D.C. area. He received a B.A...
's documentary The Return of Ruben Blades, which debuted at that year's Denver Film Festival
Denver Film Festival
The Denver Film Festival is held in November, primarily in the Tivoli Union on the Auraria Campus and the new Denver Film Center/Colfax, in Denver Colorado...
.
After winning his first Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Escenas in 1986, he recorded the album Agua de Luna based on the short stories of famed writer Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
in 1987. The next year he released the English-language collaboration Nothing But the Truth with rock artists Sting, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, and Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
the same year as the more traditionally salsa Antecedente, another Grammy Award winner.
The English-language album received disappointing reviews, but he answered his critics, "I do not believe in the notion that one is condemned to do something because he looks in a certain way or speaks a certain language. To me, music is a universal thing, and I have always been interested in the directions offered me by music in English, directions I could not find, concretely in terms of construction, with the Afro-Cuban rhythms I'd always worked with. I also wanted to leave testimony of the meeting of urban tropical music with rock 'n roll".
Blades had also contributed guest vocals in English to "Bitter Fruit" a song on the 1984 album Freedom - No Compromise
Freedom - No Compromise
Freedom – No Compromise is a 1987 album by Little Steven.Following on the moderate success of Artists United Against Apartheid's "Sun City", Steven Van Zandt's next record was a full-on dance-rock record, verging in places on world music. Bruce Springsteen and Rubén Blades join Van Zandt on lead...
by Little Steven.
1990s - 2000s
During the 1990s, he acted in films and continued to make records with Seis/Son del Solar. In 1994 he mounted his unsuccessful presidential bid, founding the party Movimiento Papa Egoró. The album that followed this experience was La Rosa de los Vientos with songs by other Panamanian songwriters, using all Panamanian musicians.In 1996, Blades along with Son Miserables performed "No Te Miento (I Don't Lie [to you])" for the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
benefit album Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin
Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin
Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin, the tenth entry in the Red Hot Benefit Series of compilation albums, takes a post-modern look at the contemporary rock en Español scene...
produced by the Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
.
In 1997, Blades headed the cast of singer/songwriter Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
's first Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, The Capeman
The Capeman
The Capeman is a musical play written by Paul Simon and Derek Walcott based on the life of Salvador Agrón. The play opened at the Marquis Theatre in 1998 to poor reviews and had an initial run of only 68 performances....
, based on a true story about a violent youth who becomes a poet in prison, which also starred Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony is an American singer-songwriter, actor and producer. Anthony is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy and three-time Latin Grammy–winner has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads...
and Ednita Nazario
Ednita Nazario
Ednita Nazario is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter who has achieved stardom both at home and abroad. She has been in the music business from a young age, and has released over twenty albums throughout her career....
.
His many film appearances include The Milagro Beanfield War
The Milagro Beanfield War
The Milagro Beanfield War is a 1988 American drama film based on the John Nichols novel of the same name, the first book in a trilogy. It was directed by Robert Redford and the screenplay was written by Nichols and David S. Ward...
(1988), The Two Jakes (1990), Predator 2
Predator 2
Predator 2 is a 1990 science fiction action film starring Danny Glover, Gary Busey, María Conchita Alonso, Rubén Blades, and Bill Paxton. Written by Jim and John Thomas and directed by Stephen Hopkins, the film is a sequel to 1987's Predator, with Kevin Peter Hall again playing the role of the...
(1990), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Color of Night
Color of Night
Color of Night is a 1994 American erotic mystery thriller film produced by Cinergi Pictures and released in the United States by Hollywood Pictures. Directed by Richard Rush, the film stars Bruce Willis, Jane March, Ruben Blades, Lesley Ann Warren, and Scott Bakula...
(1994), and Devil's Own (1997). In 1999, he played Mexican artist Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...
in Tim Robbins
Tim Robbins
Timothy Francis "Tim" Robbins is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. He is the former longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon...
' Cradle Will Rock
Cradle Will Rock
Cradle Will Rock is a 1999 drama film which chronicles the process and events that surrounded the production of the original 1937 musical The Cradle Will Rock by Marc Blitzstein...
. In the 2003 film Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a 2003 action film written, edited and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It is the final film in the "Mariachi Trilogy", which also includes El Mariachi and Desperado. Antonio Banderas reprises his role as El Mariachi...
, starring Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
, and Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...
, he played the role of a retired FBI agent.
Blades' 1999 album Tiempos, which he recorded with musicians from the Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
n groups Editus and Sexteto de Jazz Latino, represented a break from his salsa past and a further rejection of commercial trends in Latin music. Ironically, the album won a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album
Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album
The Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album was awarded from 1984 to 2011. The award has had several minor name changes:*From 1984 to 1991 the award was known as Best Latin Pop Performance*From 1992 to 1994 it was awarded as Best Latin Pop Album...
. Even more eclectic was the 2002 album Mundo with the 11-member Editus Ensemble and bagpiper Eric Rigler
Eric Rigler
Eric Rigler is an American player of the Uilleann pipes, Great Highland Bagpipes, and tin whistle. He plays on his own and with the band Bad Haggis, and has been featured on a number of movie soundtracks. He has been described as "the most recorded bagpiper of all time"...
, which incorporated instruments from around the world. The same year, he guested on world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
artist Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks is a Grammy Award-winning, American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. He founded The Derek Trucks Band and worked as a session musician when he was still in his early teens. Throughout those teenage years, he toured with The Allman Brothers Band primarily as a slide...
' album, Joyful Noise
Joyful Noise (album)
-Personnel:The Derek Trucks Band*Derek Trucks - guitar*Yonrico Scott - drums, vocals, percussion*Kofi Burbridge, flute, vocals, keyboards*Todd Smallie - bass, vocalsAdditional personnel*Susan Tedeschi - vocals...
.
In 2003 he followed the World Music Grammy and Latin Grammy winner Mundo with a web site free-download project. As he said in 2005 when receiving the ASCAP Founders Award about his non-commercial choices, "That's the way I think."
In 2004, he put his artistic careers 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.
During the summer 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.
Discography
- A Las Seis - con Los Salvajes Del Ritmo - Panamanian conjunto banda
- From Panama to New York (1970) - Rubén Blades & la Orquesta de Pete Rodriguez
- Barretto - with Ray BarrettoRay BarrettoRay Barretto was a Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican jazz musician.-Early years:Barretto was born in New York City of Puerto Rican descent...
orchestra (1975) - La Raza Latina - Salsa Suite with Larry Harlow and his orchestra Harlow (1977)
- Fania All Stars Tribute To Tito RodríguezTito RodriguezTito Rodríguez was a popular 1950s and 1960s Puerto Rican singer and bandleader. He is known by many fans as "El Inolvidable" , a moniker based on his most popular interpretation, a song written by composer Julio Gutierrez.-Early years:Rodríguez , born in Santurce, Puerto Rico,...
(1976) - Jorge DaltoJorge DaltoJorge Dalto was a pop, jazz and Afro-Latin pianist and the former musical director for George Benson. He also performed with Tito Puente, Grover Washington, Fuse One, Gato Barbieri, Willie Colon and others...
- Chevere (1976) - Metiendo ManoMetiendo ManoMetiendo Mano! is an album by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón released by Fania Records in 1977.-Background:Metiendo Mano! is the first of four collaborative duo albums produced by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón.-Track listing:-Personnel:Producers:...
(1977) - Rubén Blades & Willie Colón - Fania All Stars Spanish Fever (1978)
- SiembraSiembraSiembra is an album by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón released by Fania Records in 1978.-Background:At that time, it became the best-selling salsa record in history. This record was broken with the release of Cuenta Conmigo by Jerry Rivera in the 1990s...
(1978) - Rubén Blades & Willie Colón - Fania All Stars Crossover (1979)
- Bohemio y Poeta (1979) - Rubén Blades (Fania compilation)
- Maestra Vida: Primera Parte (1980) - Rubén Blades (produced by Willie Colón)
- Maestra Vida: Segunda Parte (1980) - Rubén Blades (produced by Willie Colón)
- Fania All Stars Commitment (1980)
- Canciones Del Solar De Los AburridosCanciones Del Solar De Los AburridosCanciones Del Solar De Los Aburridos is an album by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón released by Fania Records in 1981.-Background:Canciones Del Solar De Los Aburridos was the penultimate collaborative duo album produced by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón. The songs were mainly composed by Blades...
(1981) - Rubén Blades & Willie Colón - The Last Fight (Album)The Last Fight (album)The Last Fight is an album by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón released by Fania Records in 1982. It is the soundtrack to the film The Last Fight starring Rubén Blades in his film debut.-Background:...
(1982) - Rubén Blades & Willie Colón - El Que La Hace La Paga (1983) - Rubén Blades
- Buscando AméricaBuscando AméricaBuscando América is the fourth album by Latin musician Rubén Blades. The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Tropical Latin Performance.-Track listing:# "Decisiones" – 5:00# "GDBD" – 3:35# "Desapariciones" – 6:20# "Todos Vuelven" – 4:26...
(1984) - Rubén Blades & Seis del Solar - Mucho Mejor (1984) - Rubén Blades
- Crossover DreamsCrossover DreamsCrossover Dreams is a 1985 film. The film follows singer Rudy Veloz on his rise to fame.The film has moments of pathos but it is anything but melancholy. "Its heart has the ebullient salsa beat. Like Rudy Veloz, it appreciates the irony of the sometimes humiliating situations he lands in, but it...
(1985) soundtrack - Escenas (1985) - Rubén Blades y Seis de Solar
- Doble FiloDoble FiloDoble Filo is a Cuban hip-hop band formed in 1995 and composed of Yrak Saenz, Edgaro aka Edgar Gonzale], and more recent member DJ Dark aka Alain Medina. The band, which is often compared to Dilated Peoples and The Amorphous, won the Alamar rap Festival’s Grand Prize in 1996.-History:Doble Filo can...
(1986) - Rubén Blades - Agua de Luna (1987) - Rubén Blades y Seis del Solar
- Antecedente (1988) - Rubén Blades
- Nothing But the Truth (1988) - Rubén Blades
- Oliver and Company (soundtrack) (1988) - Buscando Guayaba
- With Strings (1988) Rubén Blades
- Live! (1990) Rubén Blades y Son del Solar
- CaminandoCaminando"Caminando" is a song written and produced by Amaia Montero for her 2011 album 2. It was release the first single to be released from her 2011 album. It was premiered on Septemer 17 2011 on the Spanish radio station Los 40 Principales and was released on September 20 2011 on iTunes....
(1991) - Rubén Blades y Son del Solar - Best of Ruben Blades (1992) - Rubén Blades (Fania compilation)
- Amor Y Control (1992) - Rubén Blades y Son Del Solar
- Poetry: The Greatest Hits (1993) -
- Poeta Latina (1993) - Rubén Blades (UK Fania compilation)
- Mucho Mejor [Westwind] (1995) - Rubén Blades
- Tras La Tormenta (1995) Rubén Blades & Willie Colón
- La Rosa de Los Vientos (1996) - Rubén Blades
- Greatest Hits (Rubén Blades album) (1996) - Rubén Blades y Seis del Solar (Elektra compilation)
- Sus Más Grandes Exitos (1998) - Rubén Blades ( Fania compilation)
- Tiempos (1999) - Rubén Blades y Editus
- Sembra Y Otros Favoritos Salsa Para Siempre (2001) - Rubén Blades & Willie Colón (Fania compilation)
- Best (2001) - Rubén Blades (Fania compilation)
- Salsa Caliente De Nu York (2002) - Rubén Blades (Fania compilation)
- MundoMundo (album)Mundo is an album by Rubén Blades, released in 2002 under the record label Sony Music Distribution. In 2003, the album earned Blades a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album and also received a Latin Grammy Award nomination for Album of the Year....
(2002) - Rubén Blades y Editus Ensemble - Joyful NoiseJoyful Noise (album)-Personnel:The Derek Trucks Band*Derek Trucks - guitar*Yonrico Scott - drums, vocals, percussion*Kofi Burbridge, flute, vocals, keyboards*Todd Smallie - bass, vocalsAdditional personnel*Susan Tedeschi - vocals...
(2002) - The Derek Trucks Band (Ka-Ma-Lay) - rubenblades.com/cd (2003) Rubén Blades etc. (download project)
- Una Decada (2003) - Rubén Blades (Sony compilation)
- Experencia Ruben Blades (2004) - Rubén Blades (Fania compilation)
- Lo Mejor, Vol. 1 (2004) - Rubén Blades (Fania compilation, import as O Melhor Vol. 1)
- Lo Mejor, Vol. 2 (2004) - Rubén Blades (Fania compilation, import as O Melhor Vol. 2)
- Across 110th St. (2004) - Spanish Harlem Orchestra featuring Rubén Blades
- GanasGanasGanas is an intentional community founded in 1979 in Tompkinsville, Staten Island.Ganas has non-egalitarian, tiered membership groups, and is thus a partial member at the Federation of Egalitarian Communities. The community uses a group problem-solving process called "Feedback Learning", which was...
(2005) - Maestro de la Fania (2005) - Rubén Blades (Fania compilation)
- Cantares del Subdesarrollo (2009) - Rubén Blades
- Todos Vuelven Live, Volume I & II (2010) - Rubén Blades & Seis del Solar
Filmography
- The Last Fight (1983) - Andy 'Kid Clave'
- The Return of Ruben Blades (1985) - himself
- Crossover DreamsCrossover DreamsCrossover Dreams is a 1985 film. The film follows singer Rudy Veloz on his rise to fame.The film has moments of pathos but it is anything but melancholy. "Its heart has the ebullient salsa beat. Like Rudy Veloz, it appreciates the irony of the sometimes humiliating situations he lands in, but it...
(1985) - Rudy Veloz - Critical ConditionCritical Condition (film)Critical Condition is a 1987 comedy film starring Richard Pryor.-Synopsis:Pryor plays Kevin Lennihan, a con man who is framed in a jewel robbery. In order to escape custody, he fakes insanity, then poses as surgeon Dr. Eddie Slattery at a local hospital when he switches places with the...
(1987) - Louis - Fatal BeautyFatal BeautyFatal Beauty is a 1987 American action film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Sam Elliott, directed by Tom Holland. The screenplay was written by Hilary Henkin and Dean Riesner. The original music score was composed by Harold Faltermeyer, of Top Gun fame. The film was marketed with the tagline "An...
(1987) - Carl Jimenez - The Milagro Beanfield WarThe Milagro Beanfield WarThe Milagro Beanfield War is a 1988 American drama film based on the John Nichols novel of the same name, the first book in a trilogy. It was directed by Robert Redford and the screenplay was written by Nichols and David S. Ward...
(1988) - Sheriff Bernabe Montoya - Homeboy (1988) - Doctor
- Dead Man Out (1989) (TV) - Ben
- Disorganized CrimeDisorganized CrimeDisorganized Crime is a 1989 heist/comedy film set in Montana. It was written and directed by Jim Kouf and released through Touchstone Pictures...
(1989) - Carlos Barrios - Heart of the Deal (1990)
- Mo' Better BluesMo' Better BluesMo' Better Blues is a 1990 drama film starring Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, and Spike Lee, who also directed. It follows a period in the life of a fictional jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam as a series of bad decisions result in his jeopardizing both his relationships and his playing career...
(1990) - Petey - The Two JakesThe Two JakesThe Two Jakes is a 1990 American mystery film, and a sequel to the 1974 film Chinatown.Directed by and starring Jack Nicholson, it also features Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Richard Farnsworth, Frederic Forrest, Pia Gronning, David Keith, Rubén Blades, Tracey Walter and Eli Wallach...
(1990) - Mickey Nice aka Michael Weisskopf - The Lemon SistersThe Lemon SistersThe Lemon Sisters is a 1990 American film from Miramax Films directed by Joyce Chopra and written by Jeremy Pikser. The film was both a commercial and critical failure after being shelved for more than a year with extensive revisions.-Plot:...
(1990) - C.W - Predator 2Predator 2Predator 2 is a 1990 science fiction action film starring Danny Glover, Gary Busey, María Conchita Alonso, Rubén Blades, and Bill Paxton. Written by Jim and John Thomas and directed by Stephen Hopkins, the film is a sequel to 1987's Predator, with Kevin Peter Hall again playing the role of the...
(1990) (as Ruben Blades) - Danny "Danny Boy" Archuleta - The Josephine Baker StoryThe Josephine Baker StoryThe Josephine Baker Story is a 1991 television movie that debuted on the TV Broadcasting System, HBO. The movie told the life of that of Josephine Baker, an African-American, who rose to popularity in France, in the late-1920s, with her "banana dance"; meaning she wore only bananas on her bottom,...
(1991) (TV) - Count Giuseppe Pepito Abatino - One Man's War (1991) (TV) - Perrone
- Crazy from the Heart (1991) (TV) - Ernesto Ontiveros
- The SuperThe SuperThe Super is a 1991 American comedy film starring Joe Pesci as a New York slum landlord sentenced to live in one of his own buildings until it is brought up to code...
(1991) - Marlon - Miracle on Interstate 880 (1993) (TV) - Pastor Beruman
- Life with MikeyLife with MikeyLife with Mikey is a 1993 comedy film starring Michael J. Fox, Christina Vidal, Nathan Lane, Cyndi Lauper and David Krumholtz....
(1993) (uncredited) - Angie's Dad - A Million to JuanA Million to JuanA Million to Juan is a romantic comedy film starring comedian Paul Rodriguez. This was also his directorial debut. The story is a modern spin on Mark Twain's story "The Million-Pound Bank Note".-Plot:...
(1994) - Bartender - Color of NightColor of NightColor of Night is a 1994 American erotic mystery thriller film produced by Cinergi Pictures and released in the United States by Hollywood Pictures. Directed by Richard Rush, the film stars Bruce Willis, Jane March, Ruben Blades, Lesley Ann Warren, and Scott Bakula...
(1994) - Lt. Hector Martinez - Joseph and His BrothersJoseph and His BrothersJoseph and His Brothers is a four-part novel by Thomas Mann, written over the course of 16 years. Mann retells the familiar stories of Genesis, from Jacob to Joseph , setting it in the historical context of the Amarna Period...
(1993) - Rubén Blades & Strunz & Farah (narrator of animation video) - Scorpion Spring (1996) - Border Patrolman Sam Zaragosa
- The Devil's OwnThe Devil's OwnThe Devil's Own is a 1997 action thriller movie starring Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Rubén Blades, Natascha McElhone, Julia Stiles and Treat Williams. It was the final film directed by Alan J...
(1997) - Edwin Diaz - Chinese BoxChinese BoxChinese Box is a 1997 movie directed by Wayne Wang and starring Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, Maggie Cheung and Michael Hui.The movie is set and was made at the time of Hong Kong's handover to the People's Republic of China on June 30, 1997...
(1997) - Jim - Cradle Will RockCradle Will RockCradle Will Rock is a 1999 drama film which chronicles the process and events that surrounded the production of the original 1937 musical The Cradle Will Rock by Marc Blitzstein...
(1999) - Diego Rivera - Gideon's CrossingGideon's CrossingGideon's Crossing is a US medical drama starring Andre Braugher. The series was loosely based on the experience of real-life physician Jerome Groopman and his book The Measure of Our Days. It premiered on October 10, 2000, and ran for one season, with its last episode airing on April 9, 2001, with...
(2000) TV Series - Dr. Max Cabranes - All the Pretty HorsesAll the Pretty Horses (film)All the Pretty Horses is a 2000 American romance western film, directed by Billy Bob Thornton and based on the novel of the same title by author Cormac McCarthy. It stars Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz...
(2000) - Hector de la Rocha - Assassination TangoAssassination TangoAssassination Tango is a 2002 crime film written, produced, directed by, and starring Robert Duvall. It is a thriller about an assassin's discovery of Argentine tango. Other actors include Rubén Blades, Kathy Baker and Duvall's wife, Luciana Pedraza. Francis Ford Coppola was one of the executive...
(2002) - Miguel - The Maldonado Miracle (2003) (TV) - Cruz
- Once Upon a Time in MexicoOnce Upon a Time in MexicoOnce Upon a Time in Mexico is a 2003 action film written, edited and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It is the final film in the "Mariachi Trilogy", which also includes El Mariachi and Desperado. Antonio Banderas reprises his role as El Mariachi...
(2003) - Jorge FBI - Imagining ArgentinaImagining Argentina (film)Imagining Argentina is a 2003 film directed and written by Christopher Hampton. The movie was nominated for the "Golden Lion" award at the 2003 Venice Film Festival...
(2003) - Silvio Ayala - SpinSpin (2004 film)Spin is a 2003 American drama-genre film starring Ryan Merriman, Stanley Tucci, Dana Delany, Paula Garcés and Rubén Blades. It was released at the Cannes Film Market 17 May 2004 and was limited released in the United States 15 October 2004...
(2003) - Ernesto Bejarano - Secuestro expressSecuestro expressSecuestro Express is a 2005 Venezuelan crime film directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz and starring Mía Maestro, Jean Paul Leroux and Rubén Blades...
(2004) - Carla's Father - Spoken Word (2009)
- CristiadaCristiada (film)Cristiada is a drama film and historic epic, currently in post-production, directed by Dean Wright and written by , based on the true story of the Cristero War . Although filmed in Mexico, it is in English...
(2011) - President Plutarco Calles