Grammy Nominations: my comments on Latin music
Posted on 05. Dec, 2009 by Hector Aviles in Blog
As Latino music fans, we have the advantage of seeing our favorite artists participate in 2 cycles of Grammy awards. We have the Latin Grammy Awards and we are now entering the original Grammy Awards, which have several Latin categories. And I like when new artist are recognized by nominations and awards, which did not got nominated or won an award in the Latin awards. It just provides more opportunities to recognize good Latin music.
The Grammy Awards have only a few notable surprises from what we saw in the Latin Grammy Awards. We also have “re-runs” of some heated competitions, particularly in the Tropical and Latin Jazz categories.
What I like about the Grammy Awards for Latin categories
Some of the repeat competitions will be interesting. I’m really excited to see the rematch in the Best Tropical Latin Album competition, where winners Luis Enrique (“Ciclos”) and Omara Portuondo (“Gracias”) are now in the same category, and where I personally feel José Lugo (“Guasábara”) still has a chance to win. I’m pulling for José Lugo, but we all win with the great Latin music all nominees brought to the market.
Chembo Corniel Things I Wanted to Do
I’m also excited about the rematch in the Latin Jazz category, where Latin Grammy winner Bebo and Chucho Valdes (“Juntos Para Siempre”) go against new competition with Miguel Zenón (“Esta Plena”) and Chembo Corniel (“Things I Wanted to Do”), none of which where considered for the Latin Grammy (I wonder what where they thinking?”). I will miss not having Bobby Sanabria (“Kenya Revisited Live”) among the nominees. I think his work should have been there.
Another interesting rematch will be in the Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative category. The category in itself is interesting because it bundles very dissimilar music types, but more on that later. Calle 13 (“Los de atras vienen conmigo”) winner of the Latin Grammy goes again against Wisin y Yandel (“La Revolucion”). My pick to win is one which did not even got nominated for the Latin Grammy; I’m pulling for Los Fabulosos Cadillacs (“La Luz del Ritmo”). But beside my wishes, I expect to see Calle 13 win the Grammy, based on all the Awards already received by them.
Full disclosure: after the poor taste of behavior René Perez displayed during the Premios MTV 2009 by publicly insulting the mother of the Governor of Puerto Rico, I’m not pulling for them to win anything anytime soon! We have enough problems to glorify bad examples like those of René Perez (see my related blog link below).
Miguel Zenon Esta Plena
Besides these, I’m pulling for Paquito D’Rivera (“Jazz-Clazz”) in the Best Classical Crossover Album, and for Miguel Zenón (“Esta Plena”) in the Best Improvised Jazz Solo category.
What I don’t like about the Grammy Awards Latin categories:
My biggest is not about nominees but about the categories. How come The Recording Academy bundles up Latin Rock, Urban, and Alternative Latin music all into one category, but has 4 sub-categories for mostly Mexican music (Best Regional Mexican Album, Best Tejano Album, Best Norteño Album, and Best Banda Album)? And how come Brazilian music doesn’t have a sub-category? This is absurd!
I’m not against the Mexican sub-categories; don’t get me wrong. But The Recording Academy should recognize there is too much good music that is being missed by not having adecuate categorization in the Grammy Awards.
Lastly, I wish all the Latin artist nominated to any category in the Grammy Awards the best of luck!
Related LatinoWebCafe blogs:
2009 Latin Grammy Awards – My Objections and Ideas
Calle 13 Wrong Insulting Puerto Rico Governor
Related posts:
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] Rico , I’m not pulling for them to win anything anytime soon! … See the rest here: Grammy Nominations: my comments on Latin music | Latino Web Cafe Share and [...]