MUSIC-URUGUAY: Ruben Rada’s Homecoming

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Marcelo Jelen

MONTEVIDEO, Nov 14 1995 (IPS) - Some locals here, themselves dreaming of emigration as a way out of their difficult economic and professional situations, wonder why Ruben Rada decided to come home.

The singer/musician left Uruguay 23 years ago. Subsequently he rose to fame in Argentina, Mexico, the United States and Europe.

Now, Rada, the only Uruguayan musician equally acclaimed by followers of alternative musical styles and the “man on the street”, has returned. And he is here to stay, he says.

“I fulfilled my quota,” he told IPS. “I was abroad for 23 years, making myself and Uruguayan music known.”

Rada is widely regarded as the most outstanding interpreter of ‘candombe’, Montevideo’s characteristic music style. He is both a drummer/percussionist and a singer, his resonant baritone voice is said to have a range of four octaves.

He can also reproduce the sound of any musical instrument with his voice, despite the fact that he says he never took any lessons. Neither does Rada know how to read music, he composes by humming into a tape recorder.

The 50-year-old Rada says he will continue dedicating his life to music. In addition, he will guide young talents on their way to the top.

Though he is glad to be back in his home town, he does not regret the years spent abroad. “If you want to earn a living from music in this country, you have to previously establish yourself abroad,” he says, because Uruguayans will only pay attention to a local musician who has been recognised in foreign markets.

Furthermore, the market is small. In this country with a population of around 3 million, only musicians who play in state orchestra can make a decent living out of their art.

Rada knows that all too well. In the early 1970’s his band, ‘Totem’, broke up at the height of its fame as band members became tired of earning so little. “I couldn’t make a living out of music in Uruguay,” Rada recalls. In 1973 he left.

His first stop was Buenos Aires. Rada wasted no time in gaining billboard space alongside Argentine musicians, whose respect he quickly gained. He introduced candombe, with its African roots, to that country’s newly emerging rock scene.

In the late 1970’s, Rada made a small stopover in the United States. With three other Uruguayan musicians – Hugo Fattoruso, Osvaldo Fattoruso and Ringo Thielman – he former ‘Opa’, a band that won the respect of modern jazz fans throughout the world with its album ‘Golden Wings’. (MORE)

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