Ruben Rada

Rubén Rada is a Uruguayan singer, percussionist, and composer recognised as one of the foremost interpreters of candombe, the Afro-Uruguayan drum tradition rooted in Montevideo's Barrio Sur and Palermo neighbourhoods. He has recorded more than thirty solo albums since the late 1960s.

Born on July 16, 1943, in Montevideo, Uruguay, Rubén Rada grew up in a working-class Afro-Uruguayan household in the Palermo district where the candombe drumming tradition is preserved through the comparsa neighbourhood ensembles. He absorbed the tamboril rhythms during the annual Llamadas carnival parades from early childhood.

Rada began performing professionally in his teens, joining the band Hot Blowers and then forming El Kinto in 1967 with Eduardo Mateo, a group now credited as a foundational act of candombe beat fusion. He moved between Uruguay, Argentina, and the United States during the 1970s military dictatorship.

His 1969 single Biafra and the 1977 album Botija de mi país became staples of the Río de la Plata songbook. He fronted Totem in the early 1970s and Opa with the Fattoruso brothers in New York later that decade. Rada continued recording into his eighties, releasing the Latin Grammy-nominated album Rada in 2018 and touring extensively across Latin America, Europe, and Japan.

His name Rubén derives from the Hebrew name Reuven, meaning behold, a son. Rubén is a common masculine name in Spanish-speaking countries.