Rubén Blades, the Panamanian singer, songwriter, actor, lawyer and politician who is one of the central figures in the development of salsa music, turns 75 years old on Sunday and fortunately for us he's still very much active today. Global A Go-Go marks the occasion with a set of Blades tunes and also celebrates the Jamaican hitmaker Desmond Dekker, who would have been 82 on Sunday.
Also this week (Sunday July 16, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site): cumbia from classic to post-modern, gently psychedelic Brazilian sounds, Global A Go-Go's occasional feature Get In The Garage returns with new music from The Guapos, and the Anatolian darkwave of Istanbul's Lalalar.
A podcast of this week's program will be available soon at radio4all.net/series/Global%20A%20Go-Go.