Rubén Blades (born July 16, 1948) is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter,… Read Full Bio ↴Rubén Blades (born July 16, 1948) is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, actor and politician. As songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of South American nueva canción and Cuban nueva trova to salsa, creating thinking persons' dance music. He remains wildly popular in that country and much admired throughout Latin America, and he managed to attract 20% 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. Blades is completely bilingual, working both in English and Spanish. His most famous song is "Pedro Navaja", a song about a panderer whose day to die has come.

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®

Símbolo
Rubén Blades Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Símbolo, que identifica la tierra
Lo que comenzó mi vida y que al partir me cubrirá

Mi respeto va por dentro sin alardes
Mi cariño agradeciendo la promesa que nos das
Por ti surge la esperanza, el sentimiento
La ilusión el argumento para hacerlos realidad

Enfrentando al demagogo y sinvergüenza
Que disfraza en tus colores la ambición de su maldad.

Símbolo de nuestra fe y de su historia
Conservando la memoria de lo que hubo y lo que habrá
De mi tierra lo mas bueno representas
Toda el alma de la gente, de un país su identidad

Símbolo de la fe que hay en mi tierra
Símbolo que de amor me cubrirá.

Overall Meaning

The first verse of Rubén Blades’s song Símbolo talks about a symbol that identifies land, referring to the flag of his country, Panama. The flag is a symbol of pride and identity for the people and the land, representing their history and their hopes for the future. The lyrics continue to express the singer’s deep respect and love for his country and its flag, acknowledging the promises it represents and the hope and inspiration it gives to its people.

In the second verse, the lyrics take a more political turn, referencing the demagogue and scoundrel who uses the colors of the flag to disguise their own ambitions and wickedness. Despite this, the flag remains a symbol of the people’s faith, their history, and their identity. The final lines of the song express the singer’s faith that the symbol of his country will cover him with love as he departs from this world.

Throughout the song, the singer emphasizes the importance of the national symbol in creating a sense of unity, hope, and identity for the people of Panama. The flag becomes a representation of the country’s values, a call to resist those who would use its symbols of unity to divide and conquer.

Line by Line Meaning

Símbolo, que identifica la tierra
The symbol that represents the land

Lo que comenzó mi vida y que al partir me cubrirá
What started my life and will cover me when I leave

Mi respeto va por dentro sin alardes
My respect comes from within, without boasting

Mi cariño agradeciendo la promesa que nos das
My love and gratitude for the promise you give us

Por ti surge la esperanza, el sentimiento
You bring hope and feeling

La ilusión el argumento para hacerlos realidad
The dream is the argument to make them a reality

Enfrentando al demagogo y sinvergüenza
Facing the demagogue and the scoundrel

Que disfraza en tus colores la ambición de su maldad.
Who disguises their ambition and evil in your colors

Símbolo de nuestra fe y de su historia
Symbol of our faith and history

Conservando la memoria de lo que hubo y lo que habrá
Preserving the memory of what was and what will be

De mi tierra lo mas bueno representas
You represent the best of my land