Best of The Beat on Afropop: Ruben Blades' Album, Mundo

<p> </p> <p>By way of providing some background for Afropop contributor Ron Deutsch’s discussion with film director Abner Benaim on his forthcoming documentary on Ruben Blades, "Best of The Beat" revisits&nbsp; a review from <em>Beat</em> writer Robert Leaver’s “Noches Calientes” column back in 2002, of Blades’ boundary-pushing album <em>Mundo</em>, which later went on to win the 2003 Grammy Award for world music.</p> <p>&nbsp;Blades is an extravagantly talented Panamanian salsa superstar/artist/bandleader/actor/attorney. The film, entitled <em>Ruben Blades Is Not My Name</em>, is in premieres now and should be distributed later this year.</p> <p>Blades really was all over the map on this recording: taking ideas, styles and inspiration from sources as varied as Scottish/Irish/flamenco/Andalusian, intertwined with Afro-Cuban traditions and his mainstay, salsa.</p> <p>Robert comments that on <em>Mundo</em>, Blades “goes one step further than he or anyone else has ever done, integrating Afro-Cuban, Arabic and Celtic music into a totally new musical expression&hellip; reconnecting the musical threads of Africa, Arabia, Europe and the Americas via the trek of the Moors and the Middle Passage.”</p> <p>With instrumentation ranging from bagpipes to didgeridoo to strings and horns, along with Blades’ expressive voice, this eclectic gem deserves a new listen to better comprehend Ruben Blades’ wide-ranging talents.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://afropop.test.ejaedesign.com/client-uploads/pdf/Beat214RubenBlades.pdf" target="_blank">READ OR DOWNLOAD PDF</a><br></strong></p> <p><a href="https://afropop.test.ejaedesign.com/articles/the-beat-goes-on-intro" target="_blank"><strong>ABOUT "BEST OF THE BEAT" ON AFROPOP<br></strong></a></p> <div class="video-container"><iframe loading="lazy" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/q8KGaXiVAJI" allowfullscreen="" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0"></iframe></div> <p><a href="https://afropop.test.ejaedesign.com/articles/the-beat-goes-on-intro" target="_blank"></a></p>