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®
Tu Hastio
Rubén Blades Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
cuando me dejaste!
Y ¡Qué difícil fue llorar
en silencio!
Sentir un inmenso dolor
dentro del alma,
y ahogarlo buscando razón
en la soledad.
¡Qué difícil fue encontrar otra vez
para la vida un motivo!
Tropezando y maldiciendo éste revés,
culpando al destino.
Pero todo se acaba,
también el dolor,
y hoy siento la dicha
de amar como ayer.
En cambio, en ti observo
la fría altivez
que disfraza un hastío.
Sonrio observando
la absurda altivez
que disfraza un hastío,
tu hastío, hastío.
The lyrics to Ruben Blades’s song "Tu Hastio" can be interpreted as a depiction of the aftermath of a painful break-up. The opening lines “Que difícil fue callar cuando me dejaste” translate to “How difficult it was to be quiet when you left me”, and sets the tone of the painful experience the singer is describing. The following lines describe the silent tears that were shed, concealing the immense pain felt within the soul. The singer then speaks of trying to find meaning in the midst of the heartbreak and cursing their misfortune, blaming fate.
The mood changes towards the end of the song as the singer communicates a sense of overcoming the pain and finding happiness again, contrasting that with the person he was previously involved with, who, despite their façade of coolness or indifference, is consumed by their own boredom, demonstrated by the line “la fria altivez que disfraza un hastio” which translates to “the cold aloofness that disguises the boredom”. The song concludes with the singer observing them with a smile on his face, implying that he has moved on and is content while his ex-partner is still living in a state of listlessness.
Line by Line Meaning
¡Qué difícil fue callar cuando me dejaste!
It was tough to stay silent when you left me alone.
Y ¡Qué difícil fue llorar en silencio!
Crying alone in silence was the hardest thing to do.
Sentir un inmenso dolor dentro del alma, y ahogarlo buscando razón en la soledad.
Feeling an immense pain within my soul and trying to find a reason for it in solitude was unbearable.
¡Qué difícil fue encontrar otra vez para la vida un motivo!
It was tough to find a new reason to live once again!
Tropezando y maldiciendo éste revés, culpando al destino.
Stumbling and cursing this setback, blaming it on fate.
Pero todo se acaba, también el dolor, y hoy siento la dicha de amar como ayer.
But everything ends, even pain, and today, I feel the joy of loving as I did before.
En cambio, en ti observo la fría altivez que disfraza un hastío.
However, in you, I see the cold arrogance that conceals weariness.
Sonrio observando la absurda altivez que disfraza un hastío, tu hastío, hastío.
I smile while noting the foolish pride that masks your weariness, your listlessness, your apathy.
Contributed by Alexandra K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.