Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna, known professionally as Rubén Blades, is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in the 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 Son Cubano salsa to his music, creating "thinking persons' (salsa) dance music". Blades has written dozens of hit songs, including "Pedro Navaja" and "El Cantante". He has won twelve Grammy Awards out of 20 nominations and eleven Latin Grammy Awards.
Fania Records is a New York–based record label founded by Dominican-born composer and bandleader Johnny Pacheco and his American lawyer Jerry Masucci in 1964. The label took its name from a popular luncheonette frequented by musicians in Havana, Cuba that Masucci frequented when he worked for a public relations firm there during the pre-Castro era. Fania is known for its promotion of salsa music.
Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez, better known as Héctor Lavoe, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer. Lavoe is considered to be possibly the best and most important singer and interpreter in the history of salsa music because he helped to establish the popularity of this musical genre in the decades of 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. His personality, style and the qualities of his voice led him to a successful artistic career in the whole field of Latin music and salsa during the 1970s and 1980s. The cleanness and brightness of his voice, coupled with impeccable diction and the ability to sing long and fast phrases with total naturalness, made him one of the favorite singers of the Latin public.
The Fania All-Stars is a musical group formed in 1968 as a showcase for the musicians on Fania Records, the leading salsa music record label of the time.
William Anthony Colón Román is an American Salsa musician and social activist. He began his career as a trombonist but also sings, writes, produces and acts. Colón was a pioneer of Salsa music and a best-selling artist in the genre, having been a key figure in the nascent New York City scene associated with Fania Records. He is also noteworthy for having assumed the gangster image in his album covers before it was culturally popular. Since the 1980s he has at times been deeply involved in the politics of New York City.
Mon Rivera is the common name given to two distinct Puerto Rican musicians, namely Monserrate Rivera Alers and his oldest son, Efraín Rivera Castillo, . This article refers mainly to Efraín Rivera Castillo, a popular band leader known in salsa, plena and Latin jazz circles.
Víctor Guillermo "Yomo" Toro was a Puerto Rican left-handed guitarist and cuatro player. Known internationally as "The King of the Cuatro," Toro recorded over 150 albums throughout a 60-year career and worked extensively with Cuban legends Arsenio Rodríguez and Alfonso "El Panameño" Joseph; salsa artists Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe and Rubén Blades; and artists from other music genres including Frankie Cutlass, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt and David Byrne.
Siembra (transl. "Sowing") is the second studio album by Panamanian singer and songwriter Rubén Blades and Puerto Rican-American singer and trombonist Willie Colón. It was released through Fania Records on 7 September 1978. It is considered the best selling salsa album in the history of salsa music. Was recorded by Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco at the La Tierra Sound Studios between 1977 and 1978.
Fantasmas (Ghosts) is the second studio album by Willie Colón, released in 1981 by Fania Records. The album was very experimental, experimenting with sounds and rhythms like Zamba, La Plena, Bomba and Disco Music. The album was released in 1981 during the Romantic Salsa period and gave him a musical vehicle to explore his new interests. The album was named one of the 50 greatest salsa albums of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine in October 2024.
The Last Fight is the fourth studio album by Willie Colón and Rubén Blades, released by Fania Records in 1982. It is the soundtrack to the film The Last Fight, starring Rubén Blades in his film acting debut.
Metiendo Mano! is the debut studio album by Puerto Rican-American trombonist and singer Willie Colón and Panamanian singer-songwriter Rubén Blades, released on October 7, 1977, through Fania Records. The album was produced by Colón and Jerry Masucci and is the second of four collaborative duo albums by Colón and Blades. The record includes the song "Pablo Pueblo", which is considered to be one of the initial forays into "conscious" or "intellectual" salsa and was the theme song to Blades' unsuccessful Panamanian presidential bid in 1994. Craig Harris wrote in MusicHound World that the album "not only represents a historic meeting of musical minds but remains a dance-inspiring masterpiece."
Caminando (Walking) It is the name of the 10° studio album by Rubén Blades with Son Del Solar, his first album after moving from Elektra to Sony International published on May 28, 1991. The album was a critical and commercial success with Latin and salsa audiences, marking a temporary return to Blades earlier coro-heavy style which marked the collaborations with Willie Colón of a decade earlier on Fania. The album also reinstated the political content of his music, though some listeners still found the social criticism lacking. Blades new band for Sony, Son del Solar, includes four of the Seis del Solar members from his Elektra albums: percussionists Ralph Irizarry, Eddie Montalvo and Robby Ameen with pianist Oscar Hernández. The album reached number three on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart and received a Grammy nomination for Best Tropical Latin Album in 1992.
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly is the ninth studio album by American singer and trombonist Willie Colón with backing from Yomo Toro on cuatro and vocal contributions from his regular singer Héctor Lavoe and Lavoe's replacement Rubén Blades. The album featured three cover art portraits by Ron Levine of Yomo Toro, Colón and Lavoe but not Blades, punning the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Lavoe recorded his tracks on return from Kinshasa in Zaire. It was to be Lavoe's last collaboration for a period after a successful series with Colón as he issued his first solo album La Voz. For Blades it was his second album after 1970's De Panama a New York, also for Fania, and marked the start of a collaboration with Colón which would continue for several albums.
This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in Latin music in the 1980s, namely in Ibero-America. This includes recordings, festivals, award ceremonies, births and deaths of Latin music artists, and the rise and fall of various subgenres in Latin music from 1980 to 1989.
"Tiburón" is a salsa song by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón which appeared on their 1981 album Canciones del Solar de los Aburridos. The song is a metaphor for American intervention in Latin America, with the titular shark representing the influence of American imperialism in the region.
Tras la Tormenta It is the fifth and last studio album made between the American singer Willie Colón and the Panamian Songwriter Rubén Blades. It was released on January 31, 1995, through Sony Tropical, Epic Records and Columbia Records. Recorded at Acme Recordings Studios, being the last great collaboration that the two artists did. It had four singles, "Talento De Televisión", "Homenaje A Héctor Lavoe", "Tras La Tormenta" and "Como Un Huracán", being the first mentioned the most awarded of the album.
A Man And His Music: Poeta del Pueblo also known as Poeta del Pueblo is the fourth compilation album by Rubén Blades released on March 11, 2008. Being together with his album Anthology released on March 27, 2012 similar compilations only that this compilation has more successes in his career in Fania, the album contains songs by Blades in his stay at Fania from 1974 until 1988 with the album With Strings featuring songs like El Cantante, Tiburón, Ligia Elena and Pedro Navaja.
Rubén Blades y Son del Solar... Live! or also known as Live! is the third live album by Panamanian singer Rubén Blades and the first with the band Son Del Solar released on March 20, 1990. For WEA International Inc. and Elektra Records. The album contains all the featured songs from Blades albums from 1984 to 1988, with songs like Decisiones (Live), El Padre Antonio (Live) and also including his hit Pedro Navaja (Live). A song that was not in his stay in Elektra but was in Fania Records on his 1978 album Siembra.
Edwin "Eddie" Montalvo is an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Born and raised in the Bronx, he best known for playing the Congas for Hector Lavoe, Rubén Blades as well as with the Fania All-Stars.
Jon Evan Fausty was an American multiple Grammy Award-winning sound and recording engineer best known for his work on some of the most successful Latin albums ever recorded.
