{"id":9244,"date":"2019-06-19T14:53:47","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T18:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/?p=9244"},"modified":"2022-06-24T09:06:49","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T13:06:49","slug":"ruben-blades-rocks-with-paraiso-road-gang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/2019\/06\/19\/ruben-blades-rocks-with-paraiso-road-gang\/","title":{"rendered":"Rub\u00e9n Blades Rocks with “Paraiso Road Gang”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rub\u00e9n Blades<\/a> returns to his origins in rock in the “Paraiso Road Gang”.<\/em> Although Rub\u00e9n uses different genres in this album, his messages remains the same.<\/p>\n

Note: for the version “en Espa\u00f1ol” of this blog, click HERE<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In “Rub\u00e9n Blades Presents Paraiso Road Gang”,<\/em> the 70-year Salsa legend brings a fresh musical perspective to his politically and socially-charged songs. Salsa fans may be disappointed with the lack of the tropical rhythm. But Ruben fans still get great story-telling songs with messages that stimulate reflection, along with music that simultaneously entertains.<\/p>\n

Where did “Paraiso Road Gang”<\/em> Come From?<\/h3>\n
\"Ruben
Ruben Blades takes a break from Salsa with “Paraiso Road Gang” but keeps delivering the same type of messages.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Rub\u00e9n Blades<\/a><\/em> writes in his website<\/a>, the album title reflects an era when the Panama Canal project was sold from France to the United States. Back then, the newly created “Canal Zone” brought with it a new set of injustices by wrongly applying foreign rules in Panamanian land.<\/p>\n

These injustices led to the creation of the jail in the “Paraiso” region of the “Canal Zone”, where prisoners did forced labor.<\/p>\n

More Songs for Reflection<\/h3>\n

Songs like “No Te Calles”,<\/em> “Panam\u00e1 Gris”, “El Pa\u00eds”,<\/em> and “Naci\u00f3n Rica, Naci\u00f3n Pobre”<\/em> continue to raise awareness to the political conditions that we as people need to get engaged in making them change for the better.<\/p>\n

In “La China Medina”<\/em> and “Love Me or Hate Me”,<\/em> the poet of Salsa brings the social elements his sharp eye brought us musically in his early works like “El Cazanguero”, “Pedro Navaja”,<\/em> and “Ligia Elena”.<\/em><\/p>\n