Buscando América
{{Infobox album
| name = Buscando América
| type = studio
| artist = Rubén Blades & Seis Del Solar
| cover = Buscando América.jpg
| alt =
| released = April 3, 1984
| recorded = May, July & August 1983
| venue =
| studio = Eurosound Studios (Nueva York)
| genre = * Salsa
| length =
| label = Elektra
| prev_title = The Last Fight
| prev_year = 1982
| next_title = Escenas
| next_year = 1985
}}
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r102153/review|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic review]
|rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide
|rev2score = A−{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=B&bk=80|chapter=B|accessdate=August 17, 2020|title=Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s|publisher=Pantheon Books|year=1990|isbn=0-679-73015-X|via=robertchristgau.com}}
|rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
|rev3score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=MUZE |volume=1 |page=655}}
|rev4 = MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide
|rev4score = {{rating|4.5|5}}{{cite book |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |date=1999 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=118}}
|rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
|rev5score = {{rating|5|5}}{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |page=64}}
}}
Buscando América (Searching for America) is the first album by the Rubén Blades and Seis del Solar band released and distributed on April 3, 1984. The production, under the Elektra label, fuses different musical rhythms such as salsa, reggae, rock, and jazz Latin. The album was recorded at Eurosound Studios in New York between May and August 1983.
With songs having political and social content and given their content of political questioning, some tracks had problems being broadcast on the radio; such as "Desapariciones", later covered by other musicians.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rub%C3%A9n-blades-mn0000296024/biography|title=Rubén Blades | Biography & History|website=AllMusic}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVYAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT246|title=Contemporary World Musicians|first=Clifford|last=Thompson|date=October 7, 2020|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135939618|via=Google Books}} The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Tropical Latin Performance.{{Cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/rub%C3%A9n-blades/904|title=Rubén Blades|date=December 15, 2020|website=GRAMMY.com}}
Production
The album was recorded with the six musicians of Seis Del Solar. The lyrics were printed inside the album in both Spanish and English.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QzX8THIgRjUC&pg=PA492|title=World Music: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific|first1=Simon|last1=Broughton|first2=Mark|last2=Ellingham|first3=Richard|last3=Trillo|first4=Orla|last4=Duane|first5=James|last5=McConnachie|date=March 12, 1999|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=9781858286365|via=Google Books}}
Critical reception
The New York Times wrote that "the musicians, most of whom have labored for years on the salsa circuit, respond to Mr. Blades's creativity and risk-taking with some of the freshest, most impressive playing heard on a pop album this year."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/04/arts/the-pop-life-ruben-blades-s-salsa.html|title=THE POP LIFE; RUBEN BLADES'S SALSA (Published 1984)|first=Robert|last=Palmer|work=The New York Times |date=April 4, 1984|via=NYTimes.com}} Trouser Press wrote that Buscando América "stands as the finest of his major-label recordings to date."{{cite web |title=Rubén Blades |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/rubn-blades/ |website=Trouser Press |access-date=12 March 2021}}
The Pazz & Jop 1984 all critics poll ranked in the 18th position. Time named the album one of 1984's best. The album was named one of the 50 greatest salsa albums of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine in October 2024.{{citation |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-salsa-albums-1235139298/ |title=The 50 Greatest Salsa Albums of All Time |work=Rolling Stone |author=Ernesto Lechner |date=2024-10-30 |access-date=2024-10-31}} In the list Los 600 de Latinoamérica, an acclaimed ranking created by several Latin American music journalists, it was ranked the thirteenth best album on the list, which covers the years 1920 to 2022.{{Cite web |last=Zapata |first=José Juan |date=2024-07-12 |title="Buscando América" Rubén Blades y Seis del Solar |url=https://www.600discoslatam.com/discos/panama/buscando-america-ruben-blades-y-seis-del-solar/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=Los 600 de Latinoamérica |language=es}}
Track listing
{{tracklist
| all_writing = Rubén Blades, except where noted
| title1 = Decisiones
| writer1 = Rubén Blades
| length1 = 5:00
| title2 = GDBD
| writer2 = Rubén Blades
| length2 = 3:35
| title3 = Desapariciónes
| writer3 = Rubén Blades
| length3 = 6:20
| title4 = Todos Vuelven
| writer4 = César Miró
| length4 = 4:26
| title5 = Caminos Verdes
| writer5 = Rubén Blades
| length5 = 3:00
| title6 = El Padre Antonio y el Monaguillo Andrés
| writer6 = Rubén Blades
| length6 = 8:02
| title7 = Buscando América
| writer7 = Rubén Blades
| length7 = 8:38
}}
Personnel
Additional personnel
=Seis Del Solar=
- Mike Viñas: electric guitar, bass, backing vocals
- Oscar Hernandez: piano
- Eddie Montalvo: drums, percussion
- Louie Rivera: bongo, percussion, backing vocals
- Ralph Irizarry: timpani, percussion
- Ricardo Marrero: vibraphone
- Ray Adams: drums
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Rubén Blades}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buscando America}}