Blades, Rubén

It was at Fania that Blades made his first recordings, originally with Barreto, then several in collaboration with Willie Colón, with whom he played a major role in shaping La Nueva Caution. Colón was looking for something new after the departure of his singer Hector Lavoe, and he found it in the young, fiery, literate, and politically charged Blades. Ruben replaced the typical salsa “party” songs with visceral stories of love, life, and desperation in El Barrio (the term...