Latin music beyond ‘Havana’
Ooh na-na! What the awards ceremony got right and wrong after its historic opener.
Even A-Rod got TV time. The opening of the 61st Grammy Awards was a powerful and revved-up showcase of Latin music with bright lights and dizzying spins centered on “Havana” singer Camila Cabello, with Puerto Rico’s Ricky Martin, Colombian reggaeton star J Balvin, Atlanta rapper Young Thug and Cuban American jazz trumpet maestro Arturo Sandoval.
“Dreams do come true,” Balvin, in an interview with The Times, said of the historic live music spectacle from L.A.’sStaples Center. “We want to keep spreading our music and show the world we are global.”
Yet given such a strong opening — and the forceful show of diversity that followed when host Alicia Keys came onstage with Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lopez — it was surprising that the Grammys telecast didn’t include one regional Mexican artist, considering that Mexicans are the second-largest racial or ethnic group in the U.S.
Nonetheless, “Money” rapper Cardi B, Bronxraised by a Dominican father and Trinidadian mother, slayed her perform-
ance, and the surprised look on her face as she made history as the first solo woman to win the rap album Grammy was priceless.
Lopez, with lots of cutaways to an admiring Alex Rodriguez, also gave her all to a Motown tribute, showing off major dance moves, but was hit with social media flak because of her heritage. Why, many tweeted, did the Grammys “allow a Latina artist to perform songs … created by and geared toward black artists?” Smokey Robinson rejected the critics: “Anyone who is upset is stupid,” he told Variety. And after her performance, a tearful Lopez told “Entertainment Tonight, “I grew up on all of those songs. … You can’t tell people what to love. You can’t tell people what they ... should sing or not sing. You’ve got to do what’s in your heart.”
One of the toughest jobs on any awards show is managing to be inclusive, respectful and relevant. This year’s Grammy producers made a statement by opening the show with a Latin theme, but some of the show’s misses could have been avoided with a few strategic moments, mere seconds, to give the Latin music showcase more depth.
It mattered that Grammy producers did not include a few seconds to acknowledge Colombian rapper Legarda, who just a few days before the Grammys was killed in Medellín after a stray bullet from an unrelated street robbery pierced his head when he was sitting in his car in traffic.
It mattered that openly gay Latin trap Puerto Rican rapper Kevin Fret, 24, wasn’t even briefly mentioned after he was fatally shot in Puerto Rico in early January.
It mattered that Grammy-winning Tejano music icon Jimmy Gonzalez, the Grupo Mazz frontman who died from diabetes complications, wasn’t in the Grammy “In Memoriam” tributes. In June 2018, Recording Academy president and CEO Neil Portnow and Gabriel Abaroa Jr., president and CEO of the Latin Recording Academy, released a joint statement, calling Gonzalez “an influential artist who combined his U.S. roots with traditional Mexican music to create his unique Tejano crossover sound.”
It mattered that the show opener didn’t include the regional Mexican recording artists such as Christian Nodal, 20; Ángela Aguilar, 15; or Luis Coronel, 22 — all, except Nodal, born in the U.S. Coronel’s passion for urban music would have made him a natural in the opening set.
Of course, this wasn’t the first year the Grammys broadcast showcased Latin music. Colombia’s Juanes told The Times that performing a song in Spanish at the 2015 Grammy show, a rarity for a Latin act, was a window to a growing worldwide audience.
“I was able present my culture and my country, but it represented so much more,” Juanes said.
It mattered that the song “I Like It,” by Latin urban stars Cardi B, Balvin and Bad Bunny, was nominated for record of the year. Though it lost to Childish Gambino’s “This Is America,” its inclusion in the category — and Cardi B’s rap album win — showed the growing importance of Latin music. Of YouTube’s mostviewed videos of 2018, eight of the top 10 were Spanish-language cuts.
As in the past, the Latin pop, rock and regional Mexican Grammys were given out before the CBS broadcast. Among the winners was Mexico’s Luis Miguel, who, after a seven-year recording hiatus, returned with a studio album of classic mariachi songs, “¡México Por Siempre!” (“Forever Mexico”), which won the Grammy for regional Mexican music album. The same album won album of the year at the Latin Grammy Awards in November. But the former heartthrob was a no-show at the pre-broadcast ceremony.
Claudia Brant was more than happy to take the stage when her album “Sincera” was named the winner of the Latin pop album Grammy.
After spending most of her career as a songwriter in English, Spanish and Portuguese for artists such as Barbra Streisand, Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez, the Argentine-born Brant has launched her own singing career.
“I came here 20 years ago as an immigrant and the doors were open to me,” Brant said during her acceptance speech. “I want to thank this country for the opportunity. I hope that chance is still open to the rest.”
Mexican rock band Zoé’s Aztlán won for Latin rock, urban or alternative album. The band was not present during the afternoon ceremony.
Spanish Harlem Orchestra, the salsa and Latin jazz group based in New York, took the Tropical Latin Album win for “Anniversary.” Their first Grammy win was in 2004 for salsa/merengue album for “Across 110th Street.”
Three of the biggest names in Mexican music — Ángela Aguilar, Natalia Lafourcade and Aida Cuevas — performed the classic Mexican folk song “La Llorona” during the early ceremony. They may not have made it to the prime-time show, but this year the Grammys did extend their reach and showed the world that Latin music is a force to be reckoned with.