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" It's almost as if people think that in Latin America we're not hip to what's happening here. "
Ruben Blades
People
America
Latin America
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" The grandmother, the mother, the worker, the student, the intellectual, the professional, the unemployed, everybody identified with the songs because they were descriptions of life in the city. "
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" Tortured characters are, I think, an actor's dream. "
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" Basically, I would like to be considered for roles that are well-written. I think that part of the problem that we've had as actors is that they insist on looking at us as Latino actors and not as actors, period. "
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Looking
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" I was a kid, and I remember my mother singing. She was also a radio soap opera actress, but my mother sang. "
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Singing
She
" I collected the 'Walking Dead' comics. "
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Comics
Walking Dead
Walking
" I think in New York we had respect and we would pretty much fill up the places where we went, but I never got the sense that we really were Number 1 here in New York among the Latin crowds. "
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Respect
New
New York
" Tango was very popular in Panama at the time when I was growing up. In the Fifties in Panama, the radio stations played all types of music. "
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Music
Growing Up
Radio
" I don't accept ideologies that are not a product of consensus. I don't have an ideology, but I do have a sense of what's right and what's wrong. "
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Wrong
Product
Accept
" I think being born in Panama was a blessing because Panama is a port city. It's a really - the mentality is that - I remember that of admitting things in. You know, ports, ideas come in and out all the time. "
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Think
Ideas
City
" So that when I came from Panama... my family was exiled in 1973 and they went to Miami. "
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Panama
Miami
I Came
" In general, both in Spanish and English, the quality of the entertainment media is horrible. "
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Media
Quality
Horrible
" To fix Panama, you need more than charisma and records: you need a program of action. "
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Action
Need
More
" A lot of times you're just conditioned by what's around you. "
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Just
Conditioned
Around
" They're making a ton of money, and no one is getting a nickel. "
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Nickel
Getting
Ton
" I was born in Panama, the Republic of Panama, on July 16, 1948 in Panama City, in an area called San Felipe. "
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Born
I Was Born
July
" Everyone has a black guy inside them. Mine is a Cuban sonero who is 80-something years old and sings better than I do. His name is Medoro Madera. Medoro has been recording since 1997. "
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Everyone
Mine
Name
" People are a lot smarter than anyone gives them credit for being. "
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Credit
People
Smarter
" The first time I played was in Buenos Aires - was in 1983. The dictatorship was in position. "
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Time
Position
Dictatorship
" I didn't do drugs, I never did do drugs. Never. I don't have any story of drugs, you know, to speak of. Never did drugs, never was interested in drugs and then I wasn't interested in the people around the drugs. "
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People
Know
Never
" Every band had their own distinctive sound, but it was pretty much dancing music and rhythmic music with a tremendous emphasis on copying the Cuban models. "
Ruben Blades
Dancing
Band
Music
" But, when I was about thirteen, I began to sort of sing in my neighborhood. "
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Sing
Neighborhood
About
" It doesn't make sense for me to be a lawyer in a place where there is no law. "
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Law
Sense
Place
" In those days the big U.S. labels didn't have any particular interest in the Latin market. "
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Market
Any
Big
" So that when I came to New York again, it was, I'm not too sure right now, but it was '74 or '75. I went to Miami in '74 and then I came to New York, I think, at the end of '74. "
Ruben Blades
New York
Now
End
" What is interesting in this is the exchange of music that occurred between New Orleans and Cuba, I mean, they had ferries that would go from one port to another. "
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Go
Music
Interesting
" Not everybody goes to government to serve themselves and not their country. "
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Serve
Country
Everybody
" So that in 1974, when I graduated as a lawyer, I figured I'm not going to be a lawyer under a military regime. "
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Lawyer
Military
Regime
" My mother never finished elementary school. My father didn't, and that was a reality for many of us. "
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Never
Reality
School
" I was never particularly a part of the following of tango; I just liked it... most of all, I recognized that the urban content and the approach seemed very familiar and very connected to the songs that I was doing, the kind of songs that I wanted to write - the songs about the street. "
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Content
Doing
Street
" We had something to say. Whenever we played, people didn't dance, they listened. "
Ruben Blades
Say
People
Had