[JPL] About Rubén's surname pronounciation...

[Arturo]

The correct pronounciation is Blades, straight up English, however as
Rubencito told me and as I have read and heard him say in many interviews,
he has no problem with the Spanish speaker's pronounciation of blah dez as
he understands why it would be said that way, so if he is called that he
won't attempt any correction. The Blades family history is an interesting
one, Rubén father's was a Panamanian national sports heroe as a baseketball
player, then turned police officer in Panama City. His father was also a
part time musician and met his wife-Rubén's mother-the Cuban Anoland Díaz
Blades on a cruise ship where she was the pianist-vocalist in the ship's
lounge. In the late 1950s andearly 1960s young Rubén was a huge fan of
Frankie Lymon & the teenagers as well as rock n roll and began writing rock
n roll songs on his guitar but then after the US invasion of Panamá circa
1964 he decided to folow his nation's folklore and music and began singing
in "salsa" bands while in college. After graduating he moved to NY in 1970,
recorded an album for Alegre Records that was a big failure and returned to
Panamá, he then went back to NYC in 1974 and as they say-the rest is
history. Check out his bio documentary the Return of Rubén Blades where he
is shown graduating from Harvard with his mom in attendance, then returns to
Panama City with his dad touring the places he used to hang out at as a
teenager

In 1979 Blades was part of the Fania All-Stars contingent that traveled to
Cuba to peform, while there he met his mother's side of the family members.
This event as well as his concert in Miami with Willie Colón where he sang
an "anti-US intervention in El Salvador" song called "Tiburón"-(shark) which
is Latin American slang for the US, caused Blades to be banned on Miami
radio, in fact the music distributors and retail shops created a huge pile
of Blades LPs and cassettes(pre-Cd era) and in front of the news camera had
a steam roller trample over them. Until the late 1990s the only way to hear
Rubén Blades on Miami radio was on non-com outlets.

Arturo