Last night, I heard a cut from the new release by Reuben Blades, La Perla, on the BBC World Service. It was great, Reuben performs with a Group called Calle 13 and the lyrics are pretty explicit. It's something like salsa/rap...the rythmn and sound of the Sapnish language and the beats of the music demand an entirely different approach to "rapping"> I was so excited that I wanted to post it if possible and share it. I found the cut on YouTube, but iit cannot be embedded yet.
Reuben Blades is one of the great voices and muusicians of modern latin music. He trascends genres, but is known for his work within the context of Salsa. Blades is Panamanian and actually ran for president of Panama a few years ago. He is a great humanitarian and multi talented performer. I met him back in the mid 90's when he starred in Paul Simons under appreciated Broadway Musical, " The Capeman" which I got to do maquillage for all the gang members. Blades (pronounced Blah-des) played the lead and sang and danced as the adult version of the character.
So, I didn't get La Perla, but this is a great example of how a familiar piece of music in the hands of a great artist can become something else altogether. This is Mack The Knife, but set to a salsa beat and a Latino sensibility, it becomes something totally different. A great performance. Here is Blades reworked version of Mack The Knife, it becomes Pedro Navaja, translated into English for you:
Oh the shark bites with his teeth, dear
And he shows them pearly white
Just a jack knife has MacHeath, dear
And he keeps it out of sight
Round the corner of the old neighborhood I saw him go,
with the familiar gait that bullies have
his hands always deep inside the pockets of his coat
so that nobody knows which one holds the dagger
He uses a wide brim hat, tilted to one side
sporting sneakers, to fly when in danger
dark shades so nobody knows what he's staring at
and a golden tooth that shines when he laughs
Three blocks away from that corner, a woman
strides the whole curb for the fifth time
and inside a store she goes to have a drink and forget
that the day moves slow, and she has no customers to attend
A car moves slowly through the avenue
it has no marks but everyone knows it's the police
Pedro Navaja, his hands always inside his coat
looks and smiles, and his golden tooth shines again
He looks to one side and looks to the other, not a soul is seen
and running, silently, he crosses the street
and at the same time, on the other side is the woman
mumbling 'cause she made no money for food
As she walks, she draws a gun from her old coat
to save it inside her purse, so it won't bother
a .38 special "Smith & Wesson"
that she keeps always, to rid her from all evil
And Pedro Navaja, the dagger in his hand, jumped on her
the golden tooth, shining the whole avenue
and as he laughed, the dagger plunged relentlessly
when suddenly a gunshot bursted out like a cannon...
And Pedro Navaja, fell on the curb as he saw the woman
with the gun in her hand, and mortally wounded telling him:
"I thought: today is not my day, I'm on a bad streak.
But Pedro Navaja, you're worse: you're worthless"
And believe me, people, even though noise was made, nobody came out
nobody was curious, no questions were made, nobody cried
just a drunkard stumbled upon the two bodies
took the gun, the dagger, the money and went off
and stumbling along the way, he went along singing out of tune
the chorus I've brought you, that tells you the message of my song
"Life brings you surprises, surprises are brought by life, O God!"
And he shows them pearly white
Just a jack knife has MacHeath, dear
And he keeps it out of sight
Round the corner of the old neighborhood I saw him go,
with the familiar gait that bullies have
his hands always deep inside the pockets of his coat
so that nobody knows which one holds the dagger
He uses a wide brim hat, tilted to one side
sporting sneakers, to fly when in danger
dark shades so nobody knows what he's staring at
and a golden tooth that shines when he laughs
Three blocks away from that corner, a woman
strides the whole curb for the fifth time
and inside a store she goes to have a drink and forget
that the day moves slow, and she has no customers to attend
A car moves slowly through the avenue
it has no marks but everyone knows it's the police
Pedro Navaja, his hands always inside his coat
looks and smiles, and his golden tooth shines again
He looks to one side and looks to the other, not a soul is seen
and running, silently, he crosses the street
and at the same time, on the other side is the woman
mumbling 'cause she made no money for food
As she walks, she draws a gun from her old coat
to save it inside her purse, so it won't bother
a .38 special "Smith & Wesson"
that she keeps always, to rid her from all evil
And Pedro Navaja, the dagger in his hand, jumped on her
the golden tooth, shining the whole avenue
and as he laughed, the dagger plunged relentlessly
when suddenly a gunshot bursted out like a cannon...
And Pedro Navaja, fell on the curb as he saw the woman
with the gun in her hand, and mortally wounded telling him:
"I thought: today is not my day, I'm on a bad streak.
But Pedro Navaja, you're worse: you're worthless"
And believe me, people, even though noise was made, nobody came out
nobody was curious, no questions were made, nobody cried
just a drunkard stumbled upon the two bodies
took the gun, the dagger, the money and went off
and stumbling along the way, he went along singing out of tune
the chorus I've brought you, that tells you the message of my song
"Life brings you surprises, surprises are brought by life, O God!"
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