7. You Reap What You Siembra
7/7/202647 min
New kid on the block Ruben Blades moves from Panama to New York City. He gets a job in the mail room at Fania Records, where he tries to pitch his music. Eventually, he gets executives to listen to what he has to offer and lands a collaboration with the legend Willie Colon. But their idea for an album is met with skepticism from music executives, who are later – very dramatically – proven wrong.
Listen to the Music Behind Our Thing: The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York playlist here.
Archival courtesy of The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library, Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA, Craft Recordings, a Concord company, and Aurora Flores Hostos Interview. This episode also utilizes fair use clips from WBAI Radio, Third World Newsreel Film Collective - El Pueblo Se Levanta, FOX 5 New York, Tik Tok, and Vox Media.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsRosie Perez· Host0:00
Before we get started, I wanna let you know that you can listen to the entire season of Our Thing: The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York right now ad-free, plus exclusive episodes on Futuro Plus. Our Thing: The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York was made possible by the Mellon Foundation, which seeks to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Heads up, this episode contains some explicit language. [upbeat music] Early in 1978, Fania co-owner Jerry Masucci called Willie Colón with a new singer, Rubén Blades, to his office.
Rubén Blades· Soundbite0:54
In the office were people connected to the radio business in New York, DJs and people, you know, people who had ample experience in records.
Rosie Perez· Host1:06
Rubén Blades, a Panamanian singer with dark hair, a slim build, and a way with words, had only recently arrived in New York. We're going to get to his story in just a bit, but what you need to know for now was that Rubén had just replaced Héctor Lavoe, the Héctor Lavoe, who was beloved,