Latin Grammys to allow 10 nominees for album of the year

The chance of winning an album of the year Latin Grammy just slightly improved. Coming to the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards is an expansion of the four top categories, which will now include 10 nominees apiece.

This adds five new contenders to best new artist, as well as the record, album and song of the year fields. The move would seem to foretell similar changes for the Grammy Awards and would follow like-minded tweaks by the Academy Awards and the Emmys. However, the Latin Recording Academy operates independently of the Recording Academy, with each maintaining a separate board of trustees.

"Each organization, independent of the other, reviews its awards process annually, evaluating proposals and recommendations to the process and then, ultimately, determining any changes to be made," said Barb Dehgan, the Recording Academy's vice president of communications and media relations.

The Recording Academy will meet in late May to discuss any changes to next year's Grammy telecast. President Neil Portnow earlier told Pop & Hiss that he "would anticipate there would be some changes this year," but he did not elaborate. 

Dehgan cautioned against reading too much into the Latin Grammy changes. She pointed out that the Latin Grammys recognize and balance works from multiple countries, whereas the Grammy Awards honor only domestic releases. 

Increasing the number of nominees has been an award show trend of late. In 2009, the Motion Picture Academy altered the rules for the Oscars to allow for 10 nominees in its best picture race. The rules were further amended in 2011 to allow for anywhere from five to 10 best picture contenders. Also in 2009, the Emmys began allowing six nominees instead of five in a number of major fields.

Specific rules as to how the 10 Latin Grammy nominees will be arrived at were not revealed. A press release from the Latin Recording Academy was vague, noting only that the body "will closely evaluate a formula that now includes 10 nominees."  

Calle 13 is big winner at Latin Grammys with 9 wins

Puerto Rican alt-hip-hop duo Calle 13 reigned supreme at this year’s Latin Grammy Awards, taking home nine trophies, including the top award for album of the year, for the anti-establishment album “Entren Los Que Quieran.”

The stepbrothers -- René Pérez, who calls himself Residente, and Eduardo Cabra, a.k.a. Visitante -- were honored for urban music album (an achievement that came “without being played on the radio,” as Residente noted). Earlier they won for alternative song and best short form video (“Calma Pueblo”), tropical song (“Vamo' A Portarnos Mal”), and producer of the year.

Going into the night, they led all contenders with 10 nominations. Winners of two Grammy Awards, their nine wins Thursday night mark a Latin Grammy record, surpassing the previous record of five they held with Juanes and Juan Luis Guerra.

And their stately presence was felt from the start. The duo opened the show performing “Latinoamérica” and were accompanied by the Orquesta Sinfonica Simon Bolivar, a youth orchestra from Venezuela, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, current music director and principal conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. (Dudamel would later present the duo with the award for album of the year).

Latin music’s biggest night, now in its 12th year, was televised from the Mandalay Bay Hotel theater in Las Vegas on Spanish-language network Univision and was hosted by Mexican singer/actress Lucero and Chilean American actor Cristián De La Fuente. The night celebrated artists of various musical genres from throughout North, Central and South America and the Caribbean, as well as Spain. Most of the 49 Latin Grammy awards -- including top albums in Christian, Latin jazz and flamenco -- were handed out during a preshow ceremony.

Among the other winners were: Rubén Blades y Seis Del Solar in the salsa album category for “Todos Vuelven Live.” Trio Alex, Jorge y Lena (which consists of multi-instrumentalists Alex Ubago, Jorge Villamizar and Lena Burke) won for pop album by a duo or group with vocal. And Puerto Rican singer Sie7e (otherwise known as David Rodriguez), who put out the 2011 album “Mucha Cosa Buena,” was honored in the new artist category.

Latin Grammys: Marc Anthony, Pitbull shower Vegas with "Rain"

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, they say. But until the second hour of Univision's telecast, it was a bit hard to tell that the Latin Grammy Awards actually were happening in Vegas. 

That's because many of the live performances had been ultra-mellow, musica romantica numbers that lacked the million-watt glitz that screams out "LAS VEGAS!!!" like a flashing neon marquee.

Then Pitbull floated onto the stage in a see-through white globe that seemed to have wandered in from a Cirque du Soleil show. Seconds later, Marc Anthony materialized amid a swarm of lingerie-clad female dancers balancing on chairs like the femmes fatales in "Chicago."

Together, they launched into their insanely catchy, entendre-loaded, synth-driven dance hit duet "Rain Over Me," while the chorines gyrated through an onstage torrent of spraying water.

Now that's the cheesy, irresistible Las Vegas we all know.

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Photo: Marc Anthony, front left, and Pitbull perform at the 12th annual Latin Grammy Awards at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Credit: Jewel Samad / AFP /Getty Images

Latin Grammys: From Sie7e, With Love (and Amor)

The Latin Recording Academy sets pretty strict rules when it comes to the language content of Latin Grammy-nominated songs. Nominees for Song of the Year, for example, must contain at least 51% Spanish or Portuguese lyrics.

But that still leaves 49% that can be in English, Spanglish, Finnish or Yiddish, if you like. What matters is mixing languages poetically, playfully, wittily and expressively, which is what up-and-coming Puerto Rican singer Sie7e, otherwise known as David Rodriguez, manages to do on bilingual songs such as "Tengo tu love," which he performed after winning this year's Best New Artist award. 

Here's the official video:

   

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Photo: Taboo, left, and Sie7e perform during the 12th annual Latin Grammy Awards at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Credit: Kevin Winter / Getty Images for the Latin Recording Academy

Latin Grammys 2011: Complete nominees and winners

Calle 13 led the nominations for 12th Latin Grammy Awards with a record 10. Below is a complete list of the 2011 nominations as provided by the Latin Recording Academy.

 Winners are in bold italics.

Latin Grammys: Shakira, Maná, Tigres del Norte are class acts

A Latin Grammy Awards show without appearances by Shakira, Maná and Los Tigres del Norte is kinda like Christmas without credit card bills. Theoretically, it could happen, but probably not.

Only an hour into what so far has been a fairly subdued ceremony dominated by soft ballads, those three sets of old pros already have performed and acquited themselves with old-school class and polish. Shakira probably deserves some sort of award simply for managing to quick-change from the ochre ballgown she arrived in into a cream-colored blouse and skirt to perform live onstage. Earlier this week in Las Vegas, the Colombian pop star received the Latin Recording Academy’s award as person of the year, in much-deserved recognition of Shakira’s extensive charitable work as well as her superstar status.

Just a few minutes ago at the awards show, the Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Wisin (a.k.a. Juan Luis Morera) y Yandel (birthname Llandel Veguilla) ramped up the telecast's volume and the intensity with a smoking version of their song "Estoy Enamorado," a nominee for best urban song. 

Even more than the Grammys, the Latin Grammys tend to be top-heavy with familiar names, so it's nice to see Sie7e, the Puerto Rican singer, take home this year's best new artist award. Get used to him: You'll likely be seeing him again at future Latin Grammys.

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Photo: Shakira performs onstage during the 12th annual Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas. Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Latin Recording Academy.

 

 

Latin Grammys: Calle 13 and Gustavo Dudamel get the show rolling

When Rene Pérez of the group Calle 13 rapped the opening number at the Latin Grammys, he had a semi-surprise guest from L.A. with him.

Right next to Pérez, on stage at the Mandalay Bay Hotel theater in Las Vegas, was none other than Gustavo Dudamel, music director and principal conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and budding multimedia celebrity, conducting the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, the orchestra that Dudamel apprenticed with as a youth. It's Dudamel's biggest television audience since he guested on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno earlier this year.

Resplendent in a yellow, blue and red sash -- the colors of the Venezuelan flag -- Dudamel led his orchestra in backing Calle 13's hit song "Latinoamerica," an anthemic celebration of Latin culture and identity stetching from the Rio Grande to Tierra del Fuego. Like Pérez and his stepbrother Eduardo Cabra, Calle 13's other half, Dudamel has made a point in his career of promoting music from all corners of Latin America -- including the music of the growing Latino presence in the United States.

He and wife, Eloisa, are pretty good salsa dancers too.

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Photo: René Prérez Joglar "Residente" of Calle 13 at the 2011 Latin Grammy's in Las Vegas. Credit: Julie Jacobson / AP

Latin Grammys: Red, um, green carpet arrivals at Mandalay Bay

And the big winner of the Latin Grammy Awards is — the new arrival carpet!

As the musical royalty of the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds, among them Romeo Santos and Paula Fernandes, pulled up in limos and SUVs at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas for the 12th annual ceremony, the Univision announcers couldn't stop talking about the new arrival carpet.

Rather than the usual shade of fire-engine red, the carpet is a shade of blue-green that looks swell as the backdrop for several gigantic logos of Heineken beer, which happens to be one of the evening's sponsors. The carpet has been getting so much attention from Univision that it almost upstaged the backless, nearly abdomen-less dress that actress-singer Adrienne Bailon was wearing. Bailon is presenting the award for best rock album.

The other word on everyone's lips is orgullo, pride. After decades of being swallowed up in the regular Grammy Awards, the 12-year-old Latin Grammys have established an identity of their own, and the pride that Latino and Latin American artists feel about having a show of their own is genuine.

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Photo: Members of Venezuelan music group La Vida Boheme and U.S. singer-actress D'Manti arrive for the Latin Grammy Awards. Credit: Mike Nelson / EPA

Live: Calle 13 shows off a large Latin American tent

The evolving duo Calle 13 embraces a diverse musical world at the House of Blues in Anaheim.

The dream of a unified Latin America has been an obsession of conquerors and revolutionaries from Hernán Cortés to Che Guevara and Hugo Chávez.

Politically, the idea is a minefield. But musically it's becoming more of a propulsive reality, as the white-hot Puerto Rican duo Calle 13 made clear in its Thursday night show at the House of Blues Anaheim.

At next month's Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas, Calle 13 will be up for 10 trophies, including album of the year and song of the year — a record number of nominations for any one group or artist at the annual ceremony.

What makes the feat impressive is that Calle 13 has prospered not by rephrasing formulas but by consistently pushing its music beyond the sexually bragadocious hip-hop and superbly savage reggaeton beats that defined its original sound and the group's early image as a sort of Puerto Rican Beastie Boys.

Calle 13 now embraces a pan-hemispheric approach that comfortably enfolds cumbia rhythms, Cuban syncopation, fiery ska horns and the folkloric tints of obscure regional instruments like the Mexican quijada (a donkey's jawbone) and the Argentine bombo legüero drum.

Latin Grammy Awards will honor Shakira for humanitarian works

 
It's hardly surprising that Shakira is up for three trophies at November's Latin Grammy Awards ceremony in Las Vegas. The Colombian pop superstar already is a seven-time Latin Grammy winner, and she's also taken home two Grammys  as well.

But even if Shakira leaves the Mandelay Bay Convention Center empty-handed on Nov. 10, her efforts won't go unrewarded. On the eve of the Latin Grammys, Shakira will receive the Latin Recording Academy's Person of the Year award, underscoring her reputation as a kind of Latina equivalent of U2 frontman Bono in philanthropic do-gooding.

Shakira was only 18 when she founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation, a charity that funds schools for Colombia's many underserved and impoverished children. She also serves as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, focusing primarily on educational issues and advocacy.