Must have classics from a past era

By DJ Jose Luis

In the early seventies, Latinos in New York went crazy for a new sound that a few years later would be known as Salsa. By the end of the decade, the movement had gone from the underground to the mainstream, but became formulaic and lacked the social edge that some pioneers (Eddie Palmieri and others) had injected at the beginning of the movement. Nearly all the songs came to be about romance

Then came Rubén Blades. Not only did this young Panamanian have a monster musical talent, he was a thinker; sensitive to the plight of the common man and indignant at the US interventions that were suppressing democratic movements and backing dictatorships who were killing hundreds of thousands of people all over his home continent. Blades began to incorporate this unspoken reality into his lyrics. In less than five years he became a superstar.

Buscando America (Looking for America) was and still is a national anthem for Latin America, reflecting its struggle to lift the yoke of exploitation. Desaparecidos (the Disappeared ones), was the first ever salsa song about the disappeared, decades before Sting got the gist. El Padre Antonio y El Monaguillo Andrés (The Father Antonio and thealtar boy Andres) talked about the killing of the radical Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador, a crime that went unpunished until recently. Todos Vuelven (Everyone goes back) sings of the call of birthplace to all the refugees and those who have had to leave their countries. And then finally the album ends with Looking for America:

“Living under dictatorships I search but I can’t find you/Noone knows where your tortured body is/You have been kidnapped, America/You have been gagged, and it is up to us to free you/I’m calling for you, America. Our future awaits"

You have to listen to this album to hear what can be achieved by combining musical creativity and social commitment and still sound popular and reachable… and if you want to dance, the album is good for that too. Everybody should have it.