Soulful Masters to Compete With Best-Selling Popsters

By ERNESTO LECHNER

July 8, 2000 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Ricky “Shake Your Bon-Bon” Martin competing against the soulful, sophisticated pop of Carlos Vives and Ruben Blades?

Over-the-top, melodramatic crooner Luis Miguel in the same category as the tender, brilliant Brazilian poet Caetano Veloso?

Argentine folk sorceress Mercedes Sosa fighting it out with teen sensation Christina Aguilera?

Welcome, alas, to the wonderful world of the Latin Grammy Awards, where the inspired collides with the cornball in many of the 40 newly appointed categories.

Mind you, this is not necessarily the fault of the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. For the last two decades or so, the commercial mainstream in Latin music around the world has been a dichotomy between the great and gross. The nominations illustrate that contrast.

The voters have made some surprisingly mature choices in all categories--artists who boast significant commercial appeal while also acting as trendsetters in their respective genres. Yes, they have been joined frequently in the categories by the expected, million-seller superstars. How could they not? Glossy bestsellers also have shown up regularly in the original Grammy Awards for almost a half century.

This competition between commerce and art makes for good, involving drama.

Furthermore, the nominations finally make it clear why it was necessary to institute a separate set of awards for Latin music. One is tempted to criticize the idea of a Latin Grammy as a sign of cultural segregation. What’s next? The Reggae Grammys? The Electronica Grammys? The Congolese Rumba Grammys?

When you study the nominations, though, and see that artists such as Ivan Lins, Pablo Milanes, Rosario, Joe Arroyo and Lito Vitale are competing for a Grammy, you can’t help but see the value in a wider playing field for many of the superb Latin artists.

Hopefully, all the attention generated by the Latin Grammys will help the best of them gain a wider audience.

When it’s time to choose the winners, academy voters will be torn between cool trends and visionary musicianship in most of the categories.

The nominations for best record, for instance (an award for the artist and producer), pit pleasant, solidly produced efforts by Marc Anthony, Martin and Santana against the poetic artistry of Vives and Blades. Considering that Blades’ “Tiempos” is not one of his better songs, the award should be given to Vives for “Fruta fresca.” The vallenato-inflected track is an uncompromisingly creative joy to hear.

Similar scenarios take place in the best album and best song categories. In best album, we find Miguel and Shakira confronting Vives, Dominican Juan Luis Guerra and Veloso. My vote would go to Vives because it is the most consistently satisfying of the collections.

The best song (given to the writers) puts Anthony and Miguel against Guerra, Vives and rocker Fito Paez (a particularly insightful and unexpected selection.) Here, Guerra’s “El niagara en bicicleta,” which he wrote, gets a close nod over Paez and Vives.

The pop categories are the least interesting ones, a reflection of the genre’s generally sad state. Still, the voters were wise enough to nominate Brazilian pianist Ivan Lins in the instrumental pop category, an excellent performance by Colombia’s Shakira in female pop vocal and “Vengo naciendo,” a sweetly addictive work by Cuban troubadour Pablo Milanes that is nominated for best pop album.

On the rock front, the five categories allowed the voters to display the wealth of talent to be found in the field. From Cafe Tacuba and Fabulosos Cadillacs to less known but equally important names such as Andres Calamaro, Enrique Bunbury and Gustavo Cerati, the nominations paint a very optimistic picture of rock en espanol.

The nominees in the tropical categories are predictable, an assortment of usual suspects that includes Celia Cruz, the late Tito Puente, Elvis Crespo and Gloria Estefan. The only novel touch was recognizing “En sol mayor” by Joe Arroyo. From his days with groups Fruko y sus Tesos and the Latin Brothers to his prolific solo career, the Colombian sonero has been one of the most distinct voices of contemporary salsa.

No big surprises in the six regional categories either, with inevitable nods to the Fernandez family (Vicente and son Alejandro), Los Tigres del Norte and La Mafia. Fortunately, the ample number of categories has allowed nominations for the noteworthy Los Temerarios, Conjunto Primavera and Banda El Recodo.

Discriminating Latin music lovers will be delighted by the remaining slots, which give long overdue attention to Brazilian pop, as well as tango, traditional folk, flamenco and even children’s music.

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Record of the Year

“Dimelo (I Need to Know),”

Marc Anthony

“Tiempos,” Ruben Blades

“Livin’ la vida loca,” Ricky Martin

“Corazon espinado,” Santa featuring Mana

“Fruta fresca,” Carlos Vives

Best New Artist

Ibrahim Ferrer

Fernando Osorio

Ivete Sangalo