The Panamanian idol welcomed the new year with a free concert attended by about 120,000 people.
Rubén Blades sings during Starlite Occident 2023 at Cantera de Nagüeles, Marbella, on July 17, 2023 in Malaga, Spain. STARLITE/Redferns
Rubén Blades welcomed 2024 with a memorable and massive free concert in Mexico City, near the emblematic Angel of Independence, where he brought together some 120,000 people, according to authorities in the Mexican capital.
The presentation of the 75-year-old Panamanian idol with the also iconic Roberto Delgado Big Band orchestra began at 10:30 pm (local time) and ended around 1:00 in the morning on Monday, January 1, after a brief pause to welcome the New Year with a show of fireworks, mariachi music and the excitement of the thousands of attendees who turned Paseo de la Reforma avenue into a huge dance floor that was flooded with the music of these two mythical figures of the sauce.
Prior to his performance, organized by the Ministry of Culture of Mexico City, Blades surprised hundreds of people who, like every Sunday, participated in a bicycle ride on Paseo de la Reforma, with a sound check that became a mini-concert for the delight of the lucky ones who passed by.
In previous years, groups such as Los Tigres del Norte, Los Ángeles Azules and Margarita La Diosa de la Cumbia enlivened the New Year’s Party in the Mexican capital, gathering thousands of people on the tourist avenue.
Below, five memorable moments starring Blades – musician, actor, lawyer, activist, politician and former Panamanian Minister of Tourism – during his show, which undoubtedly became a musical and geopolitical lecture.
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In honor of his friend Gabo
Blades remembered the late 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature, Gabriel García Márquez, with the song “Ojos de perro azul”, recorded in 1987 and which takes its title from a story by the famous Colombian writer and journalist published in 1950.
The Panamanian told the audience gathered at Paseo de la Reforma that he always wanted to record an album with lyrics by Gabo, who lived for five decades in Mexico City, where he died on April 17, 2014 at the age of 87. That idea later became Moon Wateran orchestral album with seven songs inspired by seven stories by García Márquez, and one more that captures Blades’ personal vision of the writer’s literary universe.
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“Emiliano Zapata lives!”
In his role as chronicler and spectator of the political and social reality in Latin America, the Panamanian singer-songwriter wrote “Portable Country”, included in his 2009 album Songs of Underdevelopmentand which was also part of the repertoire performed during his show between the emblematic Ángel de la Independencia and the Glorieta del Ahuehuete.
Blades commented that he wrote it 15 years ago, but that he could have done it a few hours ago. The theme refers to the defense of roots against colonialism. The artist thus remembered the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, the Caudillo of the South, whom he named with the cry of “Zapata lives!”
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Dedication to President López Obrador
The interpreter of classics like “Pedro Navaja” and “Decisiones” thanked Mexico and especially President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for returning to his 1992 song “Amor y control” during his morning conference on July 11, and including it in his playlist of musical recommendations for young people as it is a topic that talks about deep family ties.
“I don’t usually thank politicians or rulers, but on this occasion I thank Mexico and the president for making more people who didn’t know the song listen to it,” Blades told the audience.
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Mexican influence
From the audio test, and later in his concert, Rubén Blades explained to the audience the great influence that Mexican music has had for him and all of Latin America in the voice of figures such as Juan Gabriel, Vicente Fernández, Miguel Aceves Mejía, Antonio Aguilar and Chavela Vargas. And also characters like Germán Valdés “Tin-Tan”, Cantinflas, Resortes and El Santo, and television series like El Chavo del 8 y The Police Show.
“It is an honor for me to have been invited to this New Year’s concert in Mexico, with you having so much talent here,” the Panamanian expressed gratefully. He repeatedly referred to the great Divo of Juárez, Juan Gabriel, whom he called a “world-class artist.”
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The most anticipated songs
Within his repertoire of 22 songs, the most applauded by attendees were “Decisiones” and “Pedro Navaja”, two classics in Blades’ discography. The latter was recorded in 1978 with the legendary Willie Colón, and included in the film of the same name directed by Alfonso Rosas Priego, and which catapulted the late Mexican actor Andrés García.
Other pieces included in his recital were: “Looking for guava”, “Father Antonio and the altar boy Andrés”, “Everyone returns”, “Juan Pachanga”, “Looking for America” and “Homeland”.
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2024-01-01 21:25:32
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