Smaller Names Make the Biggest Noise

In the absence of qualifying releases from many of the world’s best-known Latino superstars, the second annual Latin Grammy nominations turned the spotlight Tuesday on an array of lesser-known, though not less acclaimed performers from Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

The main surprise in the nominations announced Tuesday in Miami by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences was the seven nominations for Juanes, a Colombian-born progressive pop-rock artist who is relatively unknown even to Latin audiences. Juanes captured the most nominations of any artist, sweeping the top categories for record, album and song of the year as well as best new artist.

Spanish pop singer Alejandro Sanz earned five nominations, including best record, album and song. The other album nominations went to Spain’s Vicente Amigo and Mexico’s Paulina Rubio, who is also competing for best female pop vocal. Rounding out the best record competition are Colombian rockers Aterciopelados, Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil and bilingual pop star Christina Aguilera, who is also up for female pop vocal album.

No big names dominated the nominations this time, as Carlos Santana did in the first Latin Grammy competition. Singers Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin were also among the major nominees who were nominated and/or appeared at last year’s Latin Grammy show at Staples Center, watched by 7.5 million television viewers nationwide. (Martin received a nomination Tuesday for the video of the Spanish version of his hit “She Bangs.”)

The nominations in 39 categories reflect the wide range of the Latin music world, from Spanish flamenco to New York salsa and Mexican tuba-based bandas . The ceremonies will be held in Miami on Sept. 11 and televised again by CBS.

The Latin Grammys were launched last year as a separate award program in the wake of a Latin music tidal wave that captured mainstream U.S. audiences. In recent years, stars such as Martin, Aguilera, Anthony and Enrique Iglesias sparked a crossover craze for Latin artists. The parallel success of the Buena Vista Social Club, which repackaged Cuban standards for receptive white listeners, seemed to cement the broad acceptance of Latin music, even in Spanish.

But the Latin boom gradually settled, leaving the field last year without a major new mainstream sensation. But that doesn’t worry Sony Music Entertainment Chairman and Chief Executive Thomas D. Mottola, who helped cultivate the global careers of Latin stars such as Martin and Anthony.

“I think it’s purely a function of cycles and release schedules, which is just a fact of life in our business,” Mottola said this week. “And there’s a positive side, because that creates an opening for brand-new artists.”

The controversy that plagued the first Latin Grammy awards show also appears to have faded. The recording academy held the inaugural ceremony in Los Angeles because a local Miami ordinance barred the county from doing business with those who have dealings with Cuba, which would have barred Cuban musicians from participating. The move to Miami this year came after the ordinance was declared invalid.

Prominent Cuban Americans, such as producer Emilio Estefan Jr,. reiterated Tuesday assurances that anti-Castro politics would not interfere with production of this year’s Latin Grammy show, which will be held at the 19,800-seat American Airlines Arena.

A few widely respected Cuban contenders emerged as nominees from among approximately three dozen entries submitted from the embargoed island. Singer Issac Delgado, who formerly fronted the seminal Cuban salsa group NG La Banda, was nominated for best salsa album. Delgado, who has recorded and performed extensively in the U.S., is considered a likely candidate to perform at this year’s show.

Delgado shares the salsa category with regular Grammy favorites Eddie Palmieri and the late Tito Puente, for their duet album “Obra Maestra.” Salsa stars Oscar D’Leon, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Tito Rojas and Grupo Niche fill out the category.

“I didn’t think Issac would get nominated, considering the competition from so many mainstream names,” Jimmy Maslon, owner of Ahi Nama Records, a tiny Cuban specialty label based in Studio City, said Tuesday. “It seems too good to be true.”

Singers Celia Cruz and Omara Portuondo, the former a U.S.-based exile and the latter still living in Havana, were both nominated Tuesday. They share the traditional tropical album category with Los Super Seven, a group that includes two members of Los Lobos, and Plena Libre, the festive, rootsy Puerto Rican group.

In addition, Cuban composer Francisco Cespedes was nominated for song of the year, for his “Donde Esta La Vida.”

After a decade of planning, the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences was established in 1997. Now with close to 3,000 voting members from about 30 countries, it was the first international branch of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, which has awarded Grammys in the U.S. since 1958.

The separate Latin awards came partly in response to complaints that Latin music was too broad to be adequately acknowledged in the seven categories now allotted for it in the regular Grammy competition. By contrast, the Latin Grammys have seven categories for the Brazilian field alone this year.

Like its parent program, the Latin Grammys are given to musicians, composers, arrangers and producers for their creative efforts, as determined by a vote of their peers. But unlike the original award program, the Latin Grammys are limited to performances produced primarily in Spanish and Portuguese. The eligibility period was April 1, 2000, through March 31, 2001.

The Latin awards are also unique because they are not limited to domestic U.S. releases. Yet slightly more than half of voters in the Latin recording academy are based in the U.S.

Last year, some critics charged that the Latin Grammys were biased against Mexican artists and in favor of East Coast superstars. Fonovisa, a major L.A.-based label, even boycotted last year’s show. To address the complaint, the Latin recording academy held industry forums in Mexico this year to explain the Grammy voting process and recruit new members.

“Everybody knows what a Grammy is, but not everybody knows how it works,” said Enrique Fernandez, a former Florida-based journalist picked to head the Latin academy. “The more membership we have in Mexico, obviously, the better represented Mexico will be in the academy.”

Fonovisa executives did not respond to several requests for interviews. But other Latin label executives gave the awards high marks for quality and fairness.

“What the academy has attempted to do with the Grammys is uplift, celebrate and promote the best music from Latin America, not just the music that is known and available in the United States,” said Rogelio Macin, western regional vice president of Universal Music Latino. “The Grammy has now reached the furthest points of our continent.”