A Difficult Step Toward Inclusion

Last year, the Grammy Awards took a chance on an “unknown” pop singer from Puerto Rico named Ricky Martin--who happened to be famous in the Spanish-speaking world--by having him perform on their telecast. Grammy chief C. Michael Greene has admitted that several CBS executives were against the Martin performance, concerned the nation wasn’t ready for Spanish lyrics on an English-language network. The results are well-known by now, as Martin ended up with the third-best selling pop album of last year.

This year, the Grammys took the whole ethnic thing several steps further, by featuring not just one Latino star, but dozens--as presenters, performers, mainstream and Latin category winners, and audience members. As Jimmy Smits and Christina Aguilera pointed out in their introduction to a special three-song performance segment featuring two numbers in Spanish, the past year has been remarkable for Latin music.

Nonetheless, the very presence of a separate segment for Latino performers offended some artists, activists and industry players, who saw it as a fancy form of segregation based wholly on ethnicity rather than musical style.

Several sources close to singer Marc Anthony said he was concerned at being asked to perform in the Latin segment, in spite of having released a mainstream pop album in English last year and having been nominated for best male pop vocalist in the mainstream category. Martin was also nominated in mainstream pop for his English album, but was featured in the Latin segment.

Other artists also said this week they were disturbed by the ethnic grouping, but none wanted to say so publicly for fear of angering the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, which produces the influential awards.

Other observers, however, said Anthony and others might simply be overly sensitive.

National Council of La Raza spokesperson Lisa Navarrete said that she understands Anthony’s point, and believes he deserved more than a portion of a special Latin segment. But she also said she was proud of the Latino presence at the Grammys, and thinks it represents increasing Latino power.

“One of the things that really struck me is that when they promoted the show this year, they promoted Latinos,” Navarrete said. “In the past it was never like that. The fact is, we were not just a segment, we were the whole show.”

Latino presenters, in addition to Smits and Aguilera, included Jennifer Lopez, Gloria Estefan, Ruben Blades and Andy Garcia.

Tomas Cookman, who manages several rock en espanol bands, said he was also concerned by the Latin segment. “It’s very dangerous to lump people in just because of their background,” he said. “It’s a tough situation because on the one hand we’ve never had this before, so we’re happy, but on the other hand, it’s wrong the way it was done. If it was black artists up there performing in some ‘black’ section, the NAACP would be up in arms.”

One of Cookman’s clients, Gabriel Fernandez-Capello, lead singer for the Argentine rock group Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, was less concerned, however.

“In my opinion, these events are always messed up and people always end up in the wrong category,” he said. “If I’m asked to perform, I’m not interested in being a missionary. You perform at something like this to get more work, to get more money for your kids and family. I wouldn’t worry too much about how other people see me, because I know who I am.”

The debate is likely to continue in coming months, as artists and industry heavies take sides on the issue of the inaugural Latin Grammy Awards show, planned for September.

“The Grammys are trying to capitalize on the supposed Latin explosion,” Latin Style magazine editor Walter Martinez said. “Obviously they’re pandering. Do you blame them? But they shouldn’t have included Marc Anthony in the Latin lineup when he’s nominated for a pop album in English. They’re trying, like everyone else, but they really don’t know what to do with us yet.”