Blades's father is a percussionist-turned-detective and his mother was a singer and radio performer. His grandfather, Reuben Blades, was an English-speaking native of St. Lucia who came to work on the canal, as he tells in the song West Indian Man on the album Amor y Control ("That's where the Blades comes from.") (1992)
After obtaining degrees in political science and law at Panama's Universidad Nacional, Blades worked at the Bank of Panama as a lawyer. In 1974, Blades moved to the United States, staying temporarily with his exiled parents in Miami before moving to New York City. Blades began his musical career in New York writing songs while working in the mailroom at Fania Records, and soon was working with salseros Ray Barretto and Larry Harlow. Shortly thereafter Blades started collaborating with trombonist and band leader Willie Colón, and they recorded several albums together. Their album Siembra (1978) became the best-selling salsa record in history.
After 1980, Blades tried to terminate his contract with Fania, but he was contractually obliged to record several more albums. These are generally considered toss-offs and Blades himself told his fans to avoid them. When he was free of his contractual obligations, Blades signed with another label, 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.
In the early 1980s, Blades began his career in films as a composer of soundtracks.
In 1982, Blades got his first acting role in The Last Fight writing the title song as well as portraying a singer-turned-boxer vying for a championship against a fighter who was played by real life world champion boxer Salvador Sánchez.
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. This same year he earned a master's degree in international law from Harvard University. He was also the subject of Robert Mugge's documentary The Return of Ruben Blades, which debuted at that year's Denver Film Festival. During the 1990s, he acted in films, mounted his unsuccessful presidential bid, founding the party Movimiento Papa Egoró, and continued to make salsa records.
His many film appearances include The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), The Two Jakes (1990), Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Devil's Own (1997). In 1999, he played Mexican artist Diego Rivera in Tim Robbins' Cradle Will Rock.
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. 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 made with the 12-piece Costa Rican band Editus, represented a break from his salsa past and a rejection of commercial trends in Latin music.
Some might say that "his biggest mistake was releasing an English-language album in 1988 in the wake of his 1987 Grammy for Escenas" [sic] but in fact, he tends to avoid commercial choices. After winning his first Grammy for Escenas in 1986 he recorded the album Agua de Luna based on the short stories of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1987. The next year he released the English language collaboration with rock artists Sting, Elvis Costello, and Lou Reed the same year as Antecedente, another Grammy winner. In 2003 he followed the World Music 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 as Minister of Tourism of Panama.
Source: Wikipedia®
El Cilindro
Rubén Blades Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Como a una bendición
Era Pascuas, y el objeto su regalo
Y los niños se encantaron con su aparición
Abrieron el cilindro y se maravillaron cuando vieron dentro
Un mágico color, como una estrella, polvo de cielo, que
Alegraba su miseria con su luz
Sobre sus cuerpos lo restregaron
Los vecinos se enteraron
Y curiosos visitaron "a la casa en que de noche sale el sol"
El cilindro y la familia fueron la mejor noticia de la Prensa, Radio
Y la Televisión: "Un milagro de Dios?"; "Otro Mago de Oz"
"Regalo de un Platillo Volador?" Aquel cilindro, con el polvo
De cielo que alegraba su miseria con su luz. Sobre sus cuerpos
Lo restregaron, y lo adoraron, como si fuera Jesús
La luz del cilindro fue menguando y al irse se fué apagando
El amor que lo celebró
Uno por uno fuimos pagando el precio
Cruel de los que basan su felicidad en error
El gobierno explicó a través de expertos que, "los muertos fueron
Víctimas de radiactividad"
Le dieron una multa a un hospital local
"por botar substancias tóxicas en un área popular"
No hubo milagro, ni hubo justicia, y esa tragedia no es noticia ya
Ni aquel cilindro, con el polvo de cielo, que alegraba a la miseria
Con su luz
Ya no es noticia, esa tragedia de la Navidad sin el
Niño Jesús
Nadie se acuerda de la familia que, brillando, murió
En la oscuridad
El hospital pagó su multa, barata le salió la culpa
Pues la vida de un pobre no vale na'
The song "El Cilindro" by Rubén Blades tells the story of a family in a poor neighborhood that finds a mysterious cylinder. The children are delighted by the object's appearance and open it to discover a magical powder inside that brings light to their lives. The neighbors learn about the cylinder and come to see it, calling the family's home "the house where the sun rises at night." The media coverage turns the event into a miracle and a sensation. However, as time passes, the light from the cylinder fades, and the family members and other people in the neighborhood start to get sick and die.
The government, after initially claiming that the victims were exposed to radiation, later blames a local hospital for illegally dumping toxic substances in the area. The hospital is fined, but the tragedy is largely forgotten, and the family's story becomes just another example of the worthlessness of poor people's lives in the eyes of those in power. The song's title, "El Cilindro," becomes a symbol of false hope and broken promises.
The song is a critique of the media's sensationalism and the government's corruption, as well as a commentary on the cycle of poverty and despair that can trap people in disadvantaged neighborhoods. It highlights the sad reality that while some may see the story of the magical cylinder as a symbol of hope, in the end, it only leads to more suffering and death.
Line by Line Meaning
Encontraron el cilindro y a su casa lo llevaron con cuidado
The cylinder was found and carefully taken to their house
Como a una bendición
As if it were a blessing
Era Pascuas, y el objeto su regalo
It was Christmas, and the object was their gift
Y los niños se encantaron con su aparición
And the children were enchanted by its appearance
Abrieron el cilindro y se maravillaron cuando vieron dentro
They opened the cylinder and marveled at what was inside
Un mágico color, como una estrella, polvo de cielo, que
A magical color, like a star, dust from the sky, that
Alegraba su miseria con su luz
Brightened their misery with its light
Sobre sus cuerpos lo restregaron
They rubbed it on their bodies
Y lo adoraron como si fuera Jesús
And worshiped it as if it were Jesus
Los vecinos se enteraron
The neighbors found out
Y curiosos visitaron "a la casa en que de noche sale el sol"
And curiously visited "the house where the sun rises at night"
El cilindro y la familia fueron la mejor noticia de la Prensa, Radio
The cylinder and the family were the best news for the press, radio
Y la Televisión: "Un milagro de Dios?"; "Otro Mago de Oz"
And television: "A miracle from God?"; "Another Wizard of Oz"
"Regalo de un Platillo Volador?" Aquel cilindro, con el polvo
"Gift from a flying saucer?" That cylinder, with the dust
De cielo que alegraba su miseria con su luz. Sobre sus cuerpos
From the sky that brightened their misery with its light. They rubbed it on their bodies
Lo restregaron, y lo adoraron, como si fuera Jesús
They rubbed it on their bodies and worshiped it as if it were Jesus
La luz del cilindro fue menguando y al irse se fué apagando
The light of the cylinder dimmed and went out as it left
El amor que lo celebró
The love that celebrated it
Uno por uno fuimos pagando el precio
One by one, we paid the price
Cruel de los que basan su felicidad en error
Cruel to those who base their happiness on error
El gobierno explicó a través de expertos que, "los muertos fueron
The government explained through experts that "the dead were
Víctimas de radiactividad"
Victims of radiation"
Le dieron una multa a un hospital local
They gave a fine to a local hospital
"por botar substancias tóxicas en un área popular"
"for dumping toxic substances in a popular area"
No hubo milagro, ni hubo justicia, y esa tragedia no es noticia ya
There was no miracle, no justice, and that tragedy is no longer news
Ni aquel cilindro, con el polvo de cielo, que alegraba a la miseria
Nor that cylinder, with the dust from the sky, which brightened the misery
Con su luz
With its light
Ya no es noticia, esa tragedia de la Navidad sin el
That tragedy of Christmas without the
Niño Jesús
Baby Jesus
Nadie se acuerda de la familia que, brillando, murió
Nobody remembers the shining family that died
En la oscuridad
In the darkness
El hospital pagó su multa, barata le salió la culpa
The hospital paid its fine, cheaply absolving its guilt
Pues la vida de un pobre no vale na'
Since the life of a poor person is worth nothing
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: RUBEN BLADES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind