Ruben Blades is an extraordinary Panamanian salsa singer and songwriter (with a Harvard degree), a movie star, political activist, and politician.

Born on July 16, 1948 to Ruben Blades, Sr., a percussion player, and Anoland Bellido de Luna, a radio soap opera actress and piano player, he grew up in a working class neighborhood in Panama City. As a young boy growing up in a musical family, Ruben developed a taste for both salsa and rock and roll.

Throughout his life, he was always interested in politics, being first exposed to it in his native Panama. When he was 16, students attempted to raise a high school’s Panamanian flag to be of equal height to that of the American flag. Police were called and 21 Panamanians were killed in the ensuing riots, before their nation’s flag was lowered. As a result of being a witness to this, Blades became involved in subsequent protests and remains politically active to this day. “They turned friends into enemies,” he says. “Even today, that’s the pity of U.S. policy in Latin America.”

Ruben was considered a salsa prodigy and recorded his first album at the age of 18 years old in 1966. After obtaining degrees in political science and law from Panama’s Universidad Nacional, he worked at the Bank of Panama as an attorney. In 1974, he moved to the United States where he found work in the mailroom of the famous record label, Fania Records. He played with salseros Ray Barretto and Larry Harlow and later began collaborating with Willie Colón. Colón and Blades recorded several albums on the Fania label, their most famous, Siembra, released in 1978, became the best-selling salsa album in history.

Although he eventually left Fania, he recorded a few more albums on that label before his contract terminated. He then signed with Electra Records and recorded with his new band, Seis Del Solar. He also began composing movie soundtracks during this time.

It was at about this juncture that he began to try his hand at acting. In 1982, he landed his first role in The Last Fight, writing the title song in addition to starring as a singer-turned-boxer.

In 1985, he co-wrote and starred in an independent film, Crossover Dreams as a New York salsa singer trying to make it big. Also in 1985, he earned his master’s degree in international law from Harvard University.

A gifted and multi-talented performer, Blades returned to his native Panama to run for president in 1994 on the Papa Egoro political party ticket, which he co-founded. He finished in third place, with 20% of the vote. In 2004, he was appointed as Panama’s Minister of Tourism, and in his spare time he continues as a social activist for worldwide human rights. He announced recently that he will be leaving that post and return to recording music.

On January 20, 2009, he agreed to give his personal papers and rare recordings of rehearsals and concerts to Harvard University’s Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library. The collection includes Blades’ LPs, CDs and liner notes and will eventually include material devoted to his political career.

Personal history, politics and movies aside, I think Ruben Blades’ greatest talents lie in his music. His songwriting and singing are pure magic. From the first note, he has the audience rapt in his spell. There is something about salsa music that defies sitting in a concert hall. Young and old alike, you just gotta move, dip your feet, swing your hips up, shake your shoulders, and move your hands in rhythm with the music. It’s pure intoxication without the next-day hangover. The second time I saw his band, it was at Grady Gammage auditorium on the campus of Arizona State University. There was a large contingent of Latin American students in the audience. A small crowd ran down the aisle waving enthusiastically the Panamanian flag. What an evening! It was hard to get the audience to leave that normally staid auditorium after a show like that! Viva la salsa!!

“I think we risk becoming the best informed society that has ever died of ignorance.” Ruben Blades