Rubén Blades – Tangos: Paula C, Ligia Elena, Ella, Pablo Pueblo, Pedro Navaja, Vida, Juana Mayo, Sebastian, Parao, Adan García, Tiempos
Rubén Blades – Tangos features the vocals and compositions by Rubén Blades, arrangements and musical direction by Carlos Franzetti, and was released on the Sunnyside Records label.
As an introduction for those not familiar with Rubén Blades, he is a multi-faceted major talent who grew up in Panama surrounded by music. He earned a law degree, is a stage and screen actor, singer, songwriter, musician, and politician, and was appointed as Minister of Tourism in 2004 for a 5-year period by Panamanian President Martin Torrijos. His music crosses genres of Salsa, Latin Jazz, Latin Pop, and World Music.
He won his first Grammy® award in 1986 for his album, Escenas, and has since gone on to win successive Grammy® awards (1988 – Antecedente, 1996 – La Rosa De Las Vientos, 1999 – Tiempos, 2002 – Mundo, 2004 – Across 110th Street), and for his latest release, Rubén Blades – Tangos – 2015 winner of Best Latin Pop Album.
Rubén Blades – Tangos is a rich release featuring 11 compositions written by Rubén Blades, songs which have interesting characters with stories to tell. The lyrics are poetic and evocative and you feel as if you know each of the characters and stories by the end of the songs. Sung in Spanish, non-Spanish speakers may enjoy reading the lyrics in English by visiting the Rubén Blades website: www.RubenBlades.com where you can find many of the lyrics (in English under the Lyrics section and in Spanish under the Letras section).
The release opens with the song Paula C, and then gracefully segues into Ligia Elena, a song about a naïve society girl who eloped with a trumpet player from the neighborhood and whose father is looking for her and who cannot understand why she left the “good life” for a poor musician. The Spanish lyrics implore, “Ligia Elena la cándida niña de la sociedad, Se ha fugado con un trompetista de la vecindad, El padre la busca afanosamente, Y lo está comentando toda la gente Y la madre pregunta angustiada: "¿en dónde estará?…” The track Ella is off his 2002 Mundo release.
The song Pablo Pueblo is the moving story about the life of a sad man whose lyrics explain him as “…Pablo Pueblo, son of screams and streets, of misery and hunger, of alleys and sadness, Pablo Pueblo, hope is his nourishment, his steps are slow, his shadow never reaches him…”
Pedro Navaja tells the tale about a crook who dies during a robbery whose lyrics invite the imagination to look into his life, “…Life will give your surprises, Surprises will life give you, I saw him turn the corner of the old neighborhood, walking the walk of the cool and slick dudes, with his hands inside his jacket pockets as always, so nobody can tell where he carries the blade …”
The lyrics of the song Adan García give insight into the character’s life, “The last day in Adan Garcia’s life found him like others of his past, dreaming about winning the “Big One “on the lottery with his wife and kids sleeping on his side…”
Other great tracks on the release include Vida, Juana Mayo, Sebastian, and Parao. The last song on the release, Tiempos, the title track off his 1999 Tiempos release, is the story of life’s triumphs and failures, about love and about pain. Beautifully sung, composed and arranged, with stellar music accompaniment, Rubén Blades – Tangos is pure listening pleasure from start to finish.
For information on Rubén Blades please visit: www.RubenBlades.com
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Websites where you can procure Rubén Blades – Tangos are Amazon and iTunes.
Listen to clips of Rubén Blades – Tangos: www.Amazon.com/Ruben-Blades-Tangos
© February 2015. Luxury Experience. www.LuxuryExperience.com All rights reserved.
