Latin Grammys Premiering Wednesday

Sept. 12, 2000 -- There aren’t a lot of award shows that have a 92-year-old nominee up for “Best New Artist.”

The nominee, Cuban musician Ibrahim Ferrer of The Buena Vista Social Club, is among the five artists vying for that honor at the First Annual Latin Grammy Awards, being held at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday night. The ceremony will be broadcast live on CBS beginning at 9 p.m. ET.

Not only is the event considered a breakthrough for Latin music, but it will also be the first bilingual broadcast to air on network television during prime time.

The Latin music scene — dominated today by the swiveling hips of Ricky Martin, the sultry tones of Marc Anthony, and the sex appeal of Jennifer Lopez and Shakira — has broad appeal all around the United States, organizers of the event said.

“The nominations reflect both the international scope and reach of Latin music and the artists who make it, while also recognizing the important role the music continues to play domestically,” Michael Greene, president and CEO of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, said in a statement.

“While many of the nominations are names that the public will readily recognize, a great number will be artists and technical professionals whose work prior to these nominations has only achieved regional recognition,” he added.

Awards in 40 Key Categories

Leading the nominations for the Latin Grammy Awards are EmilioEstefan Jr., who earned six nods, and Marc Anthony and Shakira,with five each. The ceremony will boast awards in 40 key categoriescovering many genres and sub-genres of Latin music.

Martin, Carlos Santana, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez andMarc Anthony are among those nominated for Latin Grammys who alsopicked up nominations in the regular Grammys, held in January.Santana swept the awards show and Aguilera was named best newartist.

To qualify, submissions had to be at least 51 percent in Spanishor Portuguese and released during an 18-month period that ended inApril. The Latin academy has about 3,000 voting members, all musicprofessionals involved with Latin music.

Estefan’s nominations as a producer and songwriter were spread among albums from some of Latin music’s most popular artists, including Anthony, Gloria Estefan, and Carlos Vives, a former actor nominated for four awards of his own, including Album of the Year.

Anthony’s nominations included nods in the Record of the Year and Song of the Year categories, plus Best Pop Male Performance for “Dímelo (I Need to Know)” from his eponymous album. His duet with Lopez, “No Me Ames,” also earned nominations for both artists in two categories, including Best Music Video.

Overlap Raises Eyebrows

Long accused of including too little Latin music in the regularGrammys, the academy spent more than three years intensivelyplanning the Latin Grammys, fine-tuning the categories andrecruiting voting members from around the world.

The overlap raises the question of the purpose of a separateawards ceremony for Latin music. And the inclusion of big names associated withmajor record labels has led to complaints.

Most in the Latin music business are excited about the awards.But despite the planning, a few performers and executives at Latinmusic labels have criticized the academy for showcasing commercialacts at the expense of lesser-known regional performers.

Academy officials reject that criticism.

“The nominations unequivocally reflect the diversity of Latinmusic and are spread across all genres,” said academy spokesmanAdam Sandler. “Our process is our process. It has integrity. It’sbased on votes by voting members, and we don’t control that.”

There are some 200 Latin Grammy nominees in 40 categories, fromsalsa to flamenco to Latin jazz to styles of music most people inthe United States have likely never heard of, like sertaneja, atraditional Brazilian folk music. There are seven differentcategories of Brazilian music alone.

The regular Grammys, by comparison, are awarded by about 15,000voting academy members. There were 98 categories this year andabout 400 nominees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.