Rubén Blades Quotes

Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna , known professionally as Rubén Blades , is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in the salsa, and Latin jazz genres. As a songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of Central American nueva canción and Cuban nueva trova as well as experimental tempos and politically inspired Son Cubano salsa to his music, creating "thinking persons' dance music". Blades has written dozens of hit songs, including "Pedro Navaja" and "El Cantante" . He has won eleven Grammy Awards out of seventeen nominations and eleven Latin Grammy Awards.His acting career began in 1983, and has continued, sometimes with several-year breaks to focus on other projects. He has prominent roles in films such as Crossover Dreams , The Milagro Beanfield War , The Super , Predator 2 , Color of Night , Safe House , The Counselor and Hands of Stone , along with three Emmy Award nominations for his performances in The Josephine Baker Story , Crazy from the Heart and The Maldonado Miracle . He portrayed Daniel Salazar, a main character on the TV series Fear the Walking Dead .

He is an icon in Panama and is much admired throughout Latin America and Spain, and managed to attract 17% of the vote in his failed attempt to win the Panamanian presidency in 1994. In September 2004, he was appointed minister of tourism by Panamanian president Martín Torrijos for a five-year term. He holds a Law degree from the University of Panama and an LL.M in International Law from Harvard University. He is married to singer Luba Mason.He made his debut U.S. with the Pete Rodriguez orchestra in 1970 on his album De Panamá a New York and among his most successful albums are Rubén Blades y Son del Solar... Live!, Amor y Control, Caminando, SALSWING!, Son de Panamá, Tangos, Canciones del Solar de los Aburridos, Buscando América, El Que la Hace la Paga, Escenas, Salsa Big Band, Metiendo Mano! and his famous album Siembra released in 1978. In addition, he has collaborated with different artists such as Usher, Elvis Costello, as a soloist and as a guest Michael Jackson, Luis Miguel, Julio Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Juan Gabriel, Laura Pausini, Shakira, Thalía in the Spanish version of the song "What More Can I Give" written and translated by Blades as "Todo Para Ti". He has also participated in several productions by different Latino artists such as "Almost Like Praying", "Color Esperanza 2020", "Hoy Es Domingo" among other tracks. He also translated into Spanish the track "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" in the version called "Todo Mi Amor eres Tu" included in Jackson's anniversary album Bad 25. Wikipedia  

✵ 16. July 1948
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Rubén Blades: 4   quotes 0   likes

Famous Rubén Blades Quotes

“There's a moment in everybody's life...where you have more past than future, and then you better start organizing your time. So I thought maybe this is the time to do this. I'm not keen on people following me and recording my life and asking personal questions and what-not, but I figured I had to do it.”

Source: On the documentary Ruben Blades Is Not My Name in "Inside Ruben Blades: New Documentary Showcases the Man Behind the Music" https://afropop.org/articles/inside-ruben-blades-new-documentary-showcases-the-man-behind-the-music in Afropop Worldwide (2018 Apr 10)

“I like to think of it as like watching The Godfather...You might have seen it 1,000 times, but when it comes on it makes you stop. Each time you see it, you find something different. That’s what I want people to get from my music.”

On comparing the longevity of his music to The Godfather in "Forty Years Into His Career, Rubén Blades is Still Building Bridges & Inspiring Change" https://daily.bandcamp.com/2018/07/03/ruben-blades-music-interview/ in bandcamp daily

“I grew up surrounded by all types of music...You have to remember, Panama is a port so I always had contact with all types of music—from the big bands of Count Basie to all the Cuban bands of people like Benny Moré.”

On all of the musical influences that he was exposed to in Panama in "Forty Years Into His Career, Rubén Blades is Still Building Bridges & Inspiring Change" https://daily.bandcamp.com/2018/07/03/ruben-blades-music-interview/ in bandcamp daily

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