Pedro Navaja

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Pedro Navaja is a salsa song written and performed by Rubén Blades, about a criminal of the same name.^[1] "Navaja" means knife or razor (hence an analogy to Blades' surname) in Spanish. Inspired by the song Mack the Knife^[2], it tells the story of a panderer's life and his presumed death ("Sorpresas (Surprises)" is a song that continues the story, revealing Navaja was still alive and even killed another panderer while he was being registered, provided that the other panderer believed he was truly dead, this song was written and performed by Blades himself). The song is recognized throughout Hispanic America as it picture scenes and stories common to all these countries, even though the story takes place in New York City. The song deals with life, death and the unexpected with dark humor. There is a movie titled Pedro Navaja,^[3] which is based on this song, and a musical, La verdadera historia de Pedro Navaja, based in the Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht's play The Threepenny Opera, staged in Lima, Peru, starring, among other, Camila Mac Lennan.

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