Pedro Navaja is a salsa

Salsa music

Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...

 song written and performed by Rubén Blades

Rubén Blades

Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, lawyer, actor, Latin jazz musician, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz genres...

 from the 1978 album Siembra

Siembra

Siembra is an album by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón released by Fania Records in 1978.-Background:At that time, it became the best-selling salsa record in history. This record was broken with the release of Cuenta Conmigo by Jerry Rivera in the 1990s...

, about a criminal of the same name. "Navaja" means knife or razor (hence an analogy

Analogy

Analogy is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...

 to Blades' surname) in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

. Inspired by the song Mack the Knife

Mack the Knife

"Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife", originally "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama Die Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English, The Threepenny Opera. It premiered in Berlin in 1928 at the...

, it tells the story of a pander

Pander

Pander may refer to:* Derek Pander, a fictional comedy character* Pander , the facilitation or provision of a prostitute in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer...

er's life and his presumed death. 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

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. The song deals with life, death and the unexpected with dark humor. There is a movie titled Pedro Navaja, filmed in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 in 1984, starring Andres Garcia

Andrés García

Andrés García is a Dominican-born Mexican actor. He is known throughout Latin America and among Hispanics in the United States....

 as Pedro Navaja, a young Maribel Guardia

Maribel Guardia

Maribel del Rocío Fernández García is a Costa Rican actress, who works in Mexico, and currently lives and resides in Miami, Florida.-Miss Universe and Miss World:...

 as his girlfriend, and Resortes

Resortes

Adalberto Martínez Chávez , better known in the entertainment world as Resortes was a renowned Mexican actor. Known primarily for his talent as a comedian, Resortes was also an accomplished dancer....

 as his best friend, which is based on this song; it was made without Blades's input, which caused him to record "Sorpresas" (Surprises), a song that continues the story, turning the movie's plot around by revealing Navaja was still alive and had killed another panderer while he was being registered, provided that the other panderer believed he was truly dead. There was also a musical, La verdadera historia de Pedro Navaja, based on the Kurt Weill

Kurt Weill

Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...

 and Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...

's play The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...

, staged in Lima

Lima

Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

, Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, starring, among other, Camila Mac Lennan, and in San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...

, where Luis Vigoreaux

Luis Vigoreaux

Luis Vigoreaux Rivera was a Puerto Rican radio and television show host, announcer, comedian and producer. The son of a sugar worker, Vigoreaux became one of the most popular television entertainers in Puerto Rico's history....

 played the title character.

The 1984 Mexican film had a 1986 sequel, El Hijo de Pedro Navaja (Pedro Navaja's Son), which starred Guillermo Capetillo

Guillermo Capetillo

Guillermo Capetillo is a Mexican actor, singer and matador and bullfighter. He is a member of the Capetillo family. His father and his brother, actor Manuel Capetillo, Jr. are also matadors, his half-brother Eduardo Capetillo is a singer and actor...

.

Reception

On the review of the album Siembra, John Bush of Allmusic referred the message as "a devastating life-in-el-Barrio exposé". He also praised the arrangements of
Willie Colón

Willie Colón

William Anthony Colón is a Nuyorican salsa musician. Primarily a trombonist, Colón also sings, writes, produces and acts. He is also involved in municipal politics in New York City.-Early years:...

 and Luis Ortiz, noting the use of street noise and police sirens as well as the statement "I like to live in America". David Wilson of Wilson & Alroy's called "Pedro Navaja" a "masterpiece".

Covers

The song has been covered by Los Joao, El Lupe, Pepe Arevalo, Los Flamers, Roman Palomar, A Palo Seko, and Markoz. Pedro Navaja was one of the songs that Puerto Rican singer Chayanne

Chayanne

Elmer Figueroa Arce , best known under the stage name Chayanne, is a Puerto Rican Latin pop singer and actor. As a solo artist, Chayanne has released 21 solo-albums and sold over 20 million albums worldwide.-Early life:...

 covered his 1994 album, Influencias

Influencias

Influencias is an album by Puerto Rican singer Chayanne released in 1994. The album is a tribute to several artists which have influenced Chayanne through his life.-Tracklisting:...

. Mexican pop singer, Emmanuel

Emmanuel (singer)

Emmanuel is a Mexican singer who debuted in the 1970s.He is the son of the late Mexican-born bullfighter Raúl Acha"Rovira" and his first wife, Spanish singer Conchita Martinez....

covered the song on his live album, Emmanuel Presenta...