Rubén Blades in Concert
Jackie Gleason Theater
October 12, 2002

by Barbara Fernández

On Saturday, October 12, 2002, Fantasma Productions presented Salsa legend Rubén Blades at the Jackie Gleason Theater. Fantasma advertised Blades as "Mr. Pedro Navaja", a nickname gleamed from a gold salsa tune he cut with Willie Colón several decades ago. In 1978 they released the biggest selling Salsa recording of all time, "Siembra." Rubén Blades holds a Masters in International Law from Harvard University, in addition to his law degree from his native country and in 1994 he ran for president of Panama, garnering 20% of the vote. He has appeared in over 30 films. He is a multi-faceted, talented artist. It is too bad his promoters touted misinformation in their advertising. There was nothing "Salsa" about this performance.

Ten minutes before showtime, Panamanian-born Mr. Blades appeared on stage. In his native Spanish, translating into English as he spoke, he explained that this performance was strictly to promote his new album "Mundo," (World), a mixture of Afro-Cuban, Celtic, and Middle Eastern music.

Editus, a Costa Rican classical/experimental trio opened with a "cinquillo," a tango style melody with a violin lead. Unfortunately this was their only number, followed by Boca Livre, a discordant scatting Brazilian jazz ensemble, and an Afro-Cuban bagpipe medley, (the piper, Eric Rigler, had recorded for the films Perdition and Braveheart), that was neither Afro-Cuban nor Celtic.

Accompanied by twelve of the above musicians, (with music so loud that bass vibrations were pervading my third row seat), playing bongo, güiro, timbales, trap drums, triple conga, electric piano, guitar, and a variety of reeds, Rubén finally took command of his stage, launching into a series of politically based songs espousing his views. The tempos selected were an assortment of unusual claves, not the usual forward 3/2 son clave salseros are accustomed to.

Artistic license ruling, any performer is entitled to use broad discretion in his or her choice of selections and rhythms, however, this group apparently did not always stay within the clave selected. Sadly, this performance was not as expected. Rubén Blades made his fame and fortune from Salsa. It is unfortunate that he does not cleave to the orginal source of his popularity. Anything resembling Salsa was a travesty.

 

 

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Esta página fue actualizada el día 07-Mar-2005