POP/ROCK - March 4, 1991

Better Late . . .: The Cuban jazz fusion group Irakere earned a Grammy in 1979, but the band didn’t receive the award until Friday. It could not travel to the United States to attend the awards show in 1980, so National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences officials traveled to Havana last week to make the presentation. The 11-member band won the award for its first album, titled “Irakere.” Irakere, on the Columbia label, was the first Cuban group to sign with an American record label after Fidel Castro came to power.