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®
Tierra Dura
Rubén Blades Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
No ve lluvia, no da flor. Horizonte que se pierde
Entre el calor del desierto, de amargura es su color
Tierra dura, ella y yo, no perdona, ni ella o yo
Caminé entre un silencio sepulcral, sobre tierra sin
Frontera, sin final. Desnudo, con mi piel mojada de
Sudor mi sombra iba tan cansada como yo
Tierra dura, no perdona
"Tierra Dura" is a song by Ruben Blades that paints a picture of a barren, dry, and dusty landscape in which life struggles to exist. The lyrics describe the harsh reality of a land that is scorched by the sun, where the clay is dry and barren, and where there is no sign of rainfall or flowers. The horizon stretches out endlessly, lost in the heat of the desert, and everything is shrouded in a bitter color of despair.
The song depicts a journey of survival in this arid land, where the persona and the land are equal in their unforgiving nature. The singer is walking through a desolate land with no end or beginning, naked, drenched in sweat, and fighting exhaustion. He continues to walk, never giving up, while the land is equally unrelenting.
Overall, the song can be interpreted as a metaphor for life's struggles and the resilience we must have to overcome them. The harshness of the land represents the difficulties and obstacles we all face, sometimes feeling like there is no hope of relief or change. However, the determination and unyielding strength of the persona, fighting relentlessly, embody the human will to survive and endure through the toughest times.
Line by Line Meaning
Tierra dura, calcinada por el sol; barro seco
The land is hardened and parched due to the intense heat, with no rain to soften the dry mud.
No ve lluvia, no da flor. Horizonte que se pierde
Not a drop of rain in sight, and no flowers bloom. The horizon seems to fade away.
Entre el calor del desierto, de amargura es su color
The scorching desert heat has turned the land a bitter color.
Tierra dura, ella y yo, no perdona, ni ella o yo
The unforgiving land and I do not forgive each other.
Caminé entre un silencio sepulcral, sobre tierra sin Frontera, sin final.
I walked in a deathly silence on a land without borders or end.
Desnudo, con mi piel mojada de Sudor mi sombra iba tan cansada como yo
Naked, my sweat-soaked skin was accompanied by my weary shadow.
Tierra dura, ella y yo, no se rinde ella o yo
The unrelenting land and I do not give in.
Tierra dura, no perdona
The land is tough and unforgiving.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: BLADES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Fernando López
tremendo