Latinos Expected to Be Mainly Excluded from Major Awards at Grammys
On Feb. 15, the 58th annual Grammy awards will be handed out with multiple first time nominees vying for awards and many great performances.
This year Latin America will not be very well represented in the main event. Since most Latin American artists were placed into specialized categories, their awards will not announced during the main event. Instead the main event will see numerous white and black artists performing and receiving awards.
However, Pitbull will perform at the Grammys for the first time and represent Latin America. The singer is also nominated this year for his first Grammy in The Best Latin Rock, Urban or alternative Album for his album "Dale." But Pitbull is not new to the Grammy; a few years ago the Latin singer presented an award with Jennifer Lopez. He has also been nominated for various Latin Grammys of which he has won.
Pitbull is joining numerous great singers including Taylor swift, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Adele and Kendrick Lamar for the main show which is the big event.
However, for those interested in the premiere show, that will include the bulk of the awards as well as the more specialized categories where many Latinos are nominated in various categories. José Alberto, Rubén Blades, Juan Luis Guerra and Victor Manuelle are among the celebrated Latinos who are nominated and are expected to show up for the premiere show.
Blades has been nominated seven times and has won seven Grammys. Juan Luis Guerra, who recently won the Latin Grammy is up for his first Grammy as is Victor Manuelle and Jose Alberto.
Rolando Villazon, who is nominated for Best Operatic Recording, is unlikely to attend but this marked his first Grammy nominee as well as Antonio Sanchez, who is nominated for the Oscar winning film "Bridman." Meanwhile Isabel Leonard will competing for yet another Grammy as her first came for her work in Thomas Ades "The Tempest." This year her work on Ravel's " L'Enfant Et Les Sortilèges; Shéhérazade."
The Grammy awards have more opportunities to diversify the categories. A category such as Record of the Year does not necessarily have to be geared towards American or British music. It can actually diversify into different types of music including some Latin music, Jazz and even Classical. Instead the Academy of Music places these genres in specific categories that pin them to a specific culture. These artists are also placed in a different ceremony and their awards are hardly ever seen in the prime time event. Where audiences could be exposed to different types of artists, the Grammy ceremony prefers to keep ratings high and forget that music is a universal language that can see multiple genres collaborate.
Pitbull is representing Latinos but it still offers the question as to why his work or any other genre isn't nominated for the top awards.
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