MUNDO, el disco…hacia Un Pueblo Nuevo

Magnum Opus: a great work of art or literature, especially the finest work produced by one individual. How else could I describe Panamanian singer/songwriter Rubén Blades latest musical recording, Mundo (World)?

I admit that I am biased when it comes to Rubén Blades. I have known him for nearly three decades and have played his music on my radio program “¡Con Salsa!” for the past 27 years. Because of his songs my Puerto Rican perspective has grown to embrace a Latino world beyond my native island. Thanks to Rubén I have traveled to Panamá, Venezuela, and Colombia, amongst other places. I have grown as a man, a Puerto Rican, a Latino, and a human being, in many ways because of his music, socially conscious lyrics and political stands. I have the utmost respect and admiration for him, but I also accept him as a human being with all of the complications, contradictions, and issues that come with being who we are.

For a number of reasons I offer a personal, subjective perspective with the highest respect to the reader. This is not a record review. In a world where the commercialization of our Latino culture is becoming more of the norm than the exception, Mundo is a recording that you will not hear on commercial radio. This is a masterpiece dedicated to all the lovers of great music. If it sells, it will not sell as a result of commercialism, but because the inspiration it evokes within us will run by word of mouth.

I know that there are die-hard salseros who would quickly differ with me and offer Siembra, his 1978 recording with Puerto Rican trombonist Willie Colón (the first million-selling salsa album) that included the ground breaking “Pedro Navaja”, or maybe the 1980 music drama Maestra Vida, perhaps even his 1984 recording Buscando América (Searching for America) with his group Seis del Solar. But, with all due respect to his great recordings with Willie Colón, Ray Barretto, the Fania All-Stars, Larry Harlow, Luis “Perico” Ortiz, Seis del Solar, Son del Solar, and even his previous recording, the Grammy award winning Tiempos (Time) with the Costa Rican ensemble Editus, Mundo is in a league of its own.

At a time when the United States Government is on the brink of war against Iraq, and anti immigrant sentiment prevails, Rubén offers us a simple yet powerful consideration: a world with borderless borders. Mundo is a seamless journey that weaves diverse rhythms, melodies and styles with inspiring lyrics that “speak truth to the power”. Truths being that all of us, regardless of our place of birth, culture, language, color of our hair or skin, come from the same place, Africa, and share a “universal profile”.

This is what makes Mundo a magnum opus. It is more than the fusion of great music and inspiring lyrics. It is a rendition that speaks to us honestly about subjects that need our attention at a time when nationalism is confused with jingoism. As Latinos living in the United States we are offered a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge to change the status quo of our parochial attitudes and the opportunity to forge a shared vision of unity following the road traveled by Simón Bolivar, Dr. Ramón Emiterio Betances, and José Martí.

Providing a context for his song “La Ruta” (The Road), Rubén writes about our need to look for what brings us together, a common memory of our ancestors that goes beyond our prejudices based on cultural and geographic differences. As a legacy from our ancestors, and in benefit of those to come, we have the mandate to continue a road of understanding of our basic human condition against violence resulting from racism and intolerance.

There are many of us in our community who have accepted the challenge and have embraced the opportunity. I have been working with William Rodríguez, Executive Director of La Alianza Hispana and Elena Martín Quiroz, Director of the Latino Student Cultural Center at Northeastern University, to produce a different kind of leadership, leaders for our global community who are rooted in Latino culture and values and who work with all ethnic groups towards the development of a new nation, “Un Pueblo Nuevo”.

There is no need for a passport to enter this world, just the will to fill historical gaps that exist as a human nation and the commitment to develop a future vision, Un Pueblo Nuevo.

José Massó - 2003