Article
Uruguay’s Undiscovered Giant
Throughout its musical history, South America has produced myriad charismatic personalities whose sounds echo around the world. Ask here in Germany, however, about famous musicians from the little nation of Uruguay, and the response will be a collective shrug of the shoulders. Yet Argentina’s smaller neighbor on the Rio de la Plata is home to an all-around musical talent whose life path has largely bypassed the European world-music boom, but who – more than almost any of his contemporaries – for decades has worked as a devoted cross-genre pioneer.
Rubén Rada is born in 1943 in Montevideo’s Palermo quarter. He grows up as a fan of the Beatles, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong and Carlos Gardel. Embarking on his musical career in 1965 with the band El Kinto Conjunto, Rada becomes the first to combine Western rock music with Latin elements and to incorporate elements of jazz, funk, soul, tango and pop in his songs. But even in these early years, his ambitions and his achievements run deeper. From the beginning, he integrates Uruguay’s national genre, candombe, in his musical creations. This traditional style, marked by complex rhythms laid down by three drums and costumed dancers, also has a history in Argentina as an expression of black identity, but, along with that nation’s black population, has largely disappeared there. Rada wants to prevent this from happening in Uruguay. His promotion of candombe is at once a spirited act of dedication to his country’s 180,000-strong black community. In his eclectic art – the combination of popular sounds from all over the world with his native musical culture and African heritage – he anticipates the similar approach of the Brazilian Tropicália movement around Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, who a few years later give form to a new Afro-Brazilian pop and rock idiom.
On the threshold of the 1970s Rada forms another band, imposingly named Tótem, which creates “candombe-beat” and quickly attains cult status in South American Latin rock. Rada’s reputation spreads beyond the shores of the continent. In 1977-78 he lives in the USA, where he performs alongside many prominent musicians, including Ray Barretto, Flora Purim and Hermeto Pascoal. On his return to the southern hemisphere, he works to increase his popularity in Argentina, founding the group La Banda in Buenos Aires and dividing his time between the two capitals on the Rio de la Plata. In the 1980s he appears at festivals in Cuba and tours Northern Europe. He moves to Mexico in 1991, immersing himself deeply in the regional scene as a producer and arranger. In Mexico City he shares the stage with Sting and UB40. He leads candombe in back-to-back triumphs in the late 1990s, first at a concert with Daniela Mercury in southern Brazil before an audience of 100,000, then in 1998 in Europe, where he collaborates with the nuevo flamenco band Ketama. In New York, between 1996 and 1999, he records the CDs “Montevideo” and “Montevideo 2,” for which he finally grabs the attention of the world-music scene.
Rada’s vocal faculties are even more startling than his cosmopolitan career. His singing encompasses an extraordinary range of expression. It can sound lovely and gently lyrical, fall into the timbre of a muted trombone, then shift into a dramatic droning. Equally striking is Rada’s compositional skill, which has caught the ear of major foreign artists: Milton Nascimento, Leny Hall and Herb Alpert have all recorded his songs. In the new millennium, Rubén Rada, better known simply as “El Negro Rada,” has again intensified his commitment to his lifeblood genre. On “Candombe Jazz Tour” he gathers together the great candombe highlights, furnishes them with new arrangements, and makes the old genre shine with contemporary radiance. Rubén Rada – an exceptional figure in South American music, and still waiting to be discovered by German listeners.
On the threshold of the 1970s Rada forms another band, imposingly named Tótem, which creates “candombe-beat” and quickly attains cult status in South American Latin rock. Rada’s reputation spreads beyond the shores of the continent. In 1977-78 he lives in the USA, where he performs alongside many prominent musicians, including Ray Barretto, Flora Purim and Hermeto Pascoal. On his return to the southern hemisphere, he works to increase his popularity in Argentina, founding the group La Banda in Buenos Aires and dividing his time between the two capitals on the Rio de la Plata. In the 1980s he appears at festivals in Cuba and tours Northern Europe. He moves to Mexico in 1991, immersing himself deeply in the regional scene as a producer and arranger. In Mexico City he shares the stage with Sting and UB40. He leads candombe in back-to-back triumphs in the late 1990s, first at a concert with Daniela Mercury in southern Brazil before an audience of 100,000, then in 1998 in Europe, where he collaborates with the nuevo flamenco band Ketama. In New York, between 1996 and 1999, he records the CDs “Montevideo” and “Montevideo 2,” for which he finally grabs the attention of the world-music scene.
Rada’s vocal faculties are even more startling than his cosmopolitan career. His singing encompasses an extraordinary range of expression. It can sound lovely and gently lyrical, fall into the timbre of a muted trombone, then shift into a dramatic droning. Equally striking is Rada’s compositional skill, which has caught the ear of major foreign artists: Milton Nascimento, Leny Hall and Herb Alpert have all recorded his songs. In the new millennium, Rubén Rada, better known simply as “El Negro Rada,” has again intensified his commitment to his lifeblood genre. On “Candombe Jazz Tour” he gathers together the great candombe highlights, furnishes them with new arrangements, and makes the old genre shine with contemporary radiance. Rubén Rada – an exceptional figure in South American music, and still waiting to be discovered by German listeners.
Author: Stefan Franzen
Works
Montevideo Dos
Published Audio,
2010
Platinum Album. Big World
Tengo un candombe para Gardel
Published Audio,
2010
Compilation. Remix
Miscelánea Negra
Published Audio,
2010
Platinum Album. Ayui
Fan
Published Audio,
2009
Gold album. MMG
Bailongo
Published Audio,
2008
Platinum Album. S-Music
Varsovia
Published Audio,
2007
With Javier Malosetti. Zapatito/Oday
Richie Silver
Published Audio,
2006
EMI
Rakatá
Published Audio,
2006
Compilation. Zapatito
Candombe Jazz Tour
Published Audio,
2005
EMI
Rubenrá
Published Audio,
2004
Gold album. Zapatito
Alegre Caballero
Published Audio,
2003
Gardel Award (EMI)
Sueños de Niño
Published Audio,
2001
Gold Album. Zapatito
Quien Va a Cantar
Published Audio,
2000
Gold album. Universal
La Cosa se Pone Negra
Published Audio,
2000
Compilation. Universal
¿Quién va a Cantar?
Published Audio,
2000
Triple Platinum. Universal
La Cosa se Pone Negra
Published Audio,
2000
Universal
Rada Para Niños
Published Audio,
1999
Gold Album. Zapatito
Black
Published Audio,
1998
Platinum Album. Universal
Rada en Colores
Published Audio,
1998
EMI
Miscelánea Negra
Published Audio,
1997
Aqua
Lo mejor de Rada
Published Audio,
1997
Vol. II. Sondor
Montevideo
Published Audio,
1996
Platinum Album. Big World
Botijas Band con Rubén Rada
Published Audio,
1996
Orfeu
Lo mejor de Rada
Published Audio,
1993
Vol. I. Sondor
Concierto por la vida
Published Audio,
1992
Orfeu
Terapia de Murga
Published Audio,
1991
Melopea
Físico de Rock
Published Audio,
1991
Sondor
Las aventuras de R.Rada y Litto Nebbia
Published Audio,
1990
Melopeia
Pa’ los Uruguayos
Published Audio,
1989
Melopea
Siete Vidas
Published Audio,
1987
N.A.
Botija de mi país
Published Audio,
1987
Sondor
La Yapla Mata
Published Audio,
1986
N.A.
Adar Nebur
Published Audio,
1984
N.A.
La Cosa Se Pone Negra
Published Audio,
1983
N.A.
En Familia
Published Audio,
1982
N.A.
Las aventuras de R.Rada y H.Fattoruso
Published Audio,
1981
Melopeia
La Rada
Published Audio,
1981
N.A.
La Banda
Published Audio,
1980
N.A.
Radeces
Published Audio,
1975
Ayui
S.O.S.
Published Audio,
1974
N.A.
Camerata Punta del Este
Published Audio,
1974
Sondor
Rada
Published Audio,
1972
Sondor
Descarga
Published Audio,
1972
Sondor
Tótem
Published Audio,
1971
Sondor
Musicasión 4 ½
Published Audio,
1970
Sondor
Las Manzanas
Published Audio,
1969
Sondor
Circa 1968
Published Audio,
1968
Sondor
Projects
This artist took part in the following project(s) organized/funded by the culturebase.net partner institutions.
LifeLines No 3: Rubén Rada
(08 April 10 - 10 April 10)
