Camilo leads Latin Grammy nominations
NEW YORK – Camilo won his first Latin Grammy Award last year and could soon have many more in his hands: The Colombian singersongwriter of hits like “Tutu” and “Favorito” received a leading 10 nominations Tuesday, including song of the year and record of the year, for “Vida de Rico,” and album of the year for “Mis Manos” (My Hands).
Dominican maestro Juan Luis Guerra followed him with six nominations, and Spanish rapper C. Tangana received five. Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, who triumphed last week at the Billboard Latin Music Awards, garnered four nominations Tuesday.
“I am so happy! I am very proud, but I am just the face… these nominations are for a lot of people who have been working with me to make all these productions, this album ‘Mis Manos,’ ” Camilo told The Associated Press in a phone interview from London, where he landed moments before from Barcelona to continue his European tour.
“It fills me with great pride that an album that we made as a family with so much love, raising my identity as a Colombian singersongwriter,” has been so recognized. “I make music because music is my passion, but to receive 10 nominations! I am honestly in a little cloud of joy.”
The Latin Grammy Awards, in its 22nd year, will return to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas after being held last year in Miami without an audience because of the pandemic.
The gala will be aired live on Univision on Nov. 18, shortly after the “Premiere” – a livestreamed event in which most of the trophies will be handed out.
Camilo competes twice in the record of the year and song of the year categories. The first one also features “Amen” – a collaboration with his wife Evaluna Montaner, his father-in-law Ricardo Montaner and his brothers-in-law Mau and Ricky. In the second one, which recognizes the songwriters, he appears as co-author of “Dios Así Lo Quiso” performed by Ricardo Montaner and Juan Luis Guerra.
“Vida de Rico” was also nominated for best pop song and “Mis Manos” for best pop vocal album. But Camilo, whose sophomore album
Q: How many pumpkins do you normally carve every year?
Arensberg: I do about 400 pumpkins every fall, so I’ve got a few under my belt.
Q: How does the show work?
Arensberg: Every week, one carver goes home, which makes it more exciting. That’s kind of my style. My adrenalin pumps in a situation like that. I love my pumpkins, and I want to see where I stand against people. So this is the ideal show for professional pumpkin-carvers.
Q: When do you normally do pumpkin-carving during the year?
Arensberg: Mostly during late September and October. I do the local fall festivals and parties and pumpkins for friends, anybody who wants my work.
Q: What are the biggest challenges in pumpkin-carving?
Arensberg: It’s a temporary medium. It can deteriorate on you. You don’t know what kind of pumpkin you have until you cut it open. It can have a bad texture, or it can be rotted. And then in the show, there’s the time element and all the other competitors.
Q: What makes pumpkin-carving like ice-carving, and what makes it diffferent?
Arensberg: They’re both what I call temporary art. They’re either going to melt or rot. I don’t do anything permanent. I have a culinary background, so that’s where the pumpkins came into it. I worked in restaurants, and technically pumpkin is a food. But you don’t get frostbite from pumpkins like you do from ice-carving! I think the difference with pumpkins is that you get 101⁄2 months off from it. You do as many as you can, and you burn yourself out, and then you put it away. Everything else I do all year round, so you don’t have to wait for it, like Christmas Day.
Q: What are the most satisfying parts of carving a pumpkin?
Arensberg: The most satisfying part really is people’s reactions. Every carver has their own style. It took me years to find my cartoon-y style. I’m very familyfriendly. I couldn’t do scary if you asked me to. You could hold a gun to my head,
and I couldn’t do scary. Nine out of 10 comments are: “That’s cute!” Kids really get me. When they come up, and they know where I’m going with my design, that makes me try harder, and it makes me feel good.
Q: You have kids, right?
Arensberg: Oh, my goodness. I have five daughters. And a lot of gray hair. Even my dog is a girl. I have a teenager who is 6 foot tall, like me, and a set of 4-year-old twins, and two girls in between.
Q: What advice do you have for people carving pumpkins at home?
Arensberg: I try to keep it basic and encouraging. People ask, How did you get into that? And I say, I started as a child, like everyone else. I just never stopped. You just wait until the end of October, and all the pumpkins are only a dollar. You don’t spend a lot. I show them the tools I use. I use clay tools, ceramic tools, which are made for kids, and adults like me who can’t be trusted with knives. It’s not a huge investment. They’re about a dollar a piece. They’re not dangerous, kids don’t have to be supervised. You just have to keep trying. My first pumpkin didn’t look like the pumpkins I carve now. You’ll never find a photo of that pumpkin! Some kids really light up, you can tell they’re interested. I say, you’ve got to go home and try.
Q: So you’re not cutting all the way through, you’re doing shapes on top of the flesh?
Arensberg: They vary. Most of the time I’m focusing on the outside. As soon as you puncture it, they start to rot. You don’t have to gut them or clean them, and they last longer.
Q: How has your experience been on the show?
Arensberg: It’s been a great experience. I just wanted to do it this one time. As a pumpkin-carver, it’s a mark on your belt. Like all the hard work has been enough, like you’ve made it. And then I get to go home and go back to my normal life. But it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I got to meet a lot of great carvers. And I’ve got five daughters who are ecstatic to see it. The little ones sit at home and watch the commercial for the show over and over. I started this to impress my daughters. I’m a corny dad, but I like it.
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