Person

Rubén Blades

b. 1948 · 20th century

Rubén Blades is a Panamanian singer, songwriter, actor and politician, one of the leading figures of salsa music. His recordings of the 1970s with Willie Colón, notably the album Siembra of 1978, brought socially conscious lyrics to the genre. He ran for the presidency of Panama in 1994 and served as minister of tourism from 2004 to 2009.

Rubén Blades
Image: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 profile

Republic of PanamaImpact

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Rubén Blades. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ruben-blades
MLA
“Rubén Blades.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ruben-blades. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Rubén Blades.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ruben-blades.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Rubén Blades’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ruben-blades (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻