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G_j

(40,366 posts)
Tue Feb 14, 2012, 12:32 PM Feb 2012

Latin Jazz Musicians Lead Protest Against Grammy’s for Cutting 31 Musical Categories from Awards

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/2/13/latin_jazz_musicians_lead_protest_against

Latin Jazz Musicians Lead Protest Against Grammy’s for Cutting 31 Musical Categories from Awards Show

Dozens of musicians demonstrated outside the Grammy Awards on Sunday protesting the Recording Academy’s decision to eliminate dozens of ethnic music award categories, including Hawaiian, Haitian, Cajun, Latin jazz, contemporary blues and regional Mexican. Some protesters see racial bias in the revisions, others see them as harmful to low-budget indie labels. Last August, four Latin jazz artists filed a lawsuit with the New York Supreme Court claiming that the dropping of such categories had adversely affected their careers. They also said the academy was violating its "contractual obligations" to its 21,000 members. We speak to Oscar Hernández, founder of the Grammy Award-winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra, and Roberto Lovato, co-founder of Presente.org, which helped organize the protest and petition signed by more than 20,000. "[The Grammys have] given me the credibility that I need to go forward to do what I do, to do the music that I love, and gave me the stamp of credibility across many boundaries," Hernández said. "I’ve traveled all over the world playing my music. And it’s an important part of what we do, for sure." [includes rush transcript]

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Latin Jazz Musicians Lead Protest Against Grammy’s for Cutting 31 Musical Categories from Awards (Original Post) G_j Feb 2012 OP
You can sue for not getting an award? Dreamer Tatum Feb 2012 #1
you really ought to watch/read this G_j Feb 2012 #2
My brother is coming home from L.A. today. EFerrari Feb 2012 #6
I thought this was a good take on it, "the McDonaldization of music" G_j Feb 2012 #8
Definitely. If these people had there way, Paul Simon's Graceland album EFerrari Feb 2012 #11
I always considered that the American Music Awards BumRushDaShow Feb 2012 #3
They get rid of the real music categories qanda Feb 2012 #4
gee "Latins" have their own special grammy awards and show, in Spanish. Where's the beef? msongs Feb 2012 #5
Obviously, there is no comparison. n/t EFerrari Feb 2012 #7
I Remember Gospel Awards otohara Feb 2012 #9
This was a dumb move flamingdem Feb 2012 #10

EFerrari

(163,986 posts)
6. My brother is coming home from L.A. today.
Tue Feb 14, 2012, 02:40 PM
Feb 2012

I don't know if he played this year but he has played the Grammies many times. And he got his break with a Latin Jazz group, too. He looks Anglo but is Latino.

The Grammy people just shot themselves in the foot big time.

G_j

(40,366 posts)
8. I thought this was a good take on it, "the McDonaldization of music"
Wed Feb 15, 2012, 01:06 PM
Feb 2012

ROBERTO LOVATO: Yesterday we mourned and celebrated the life of Whitney Houston, who got her start as a seven-year-old gospel singer, which is now one of the categories that’s been eliminated, for example. And so, the death of Whitney Houston, the deaths of Don Cornelius, of Etta James, and the elimination of these three categories provide an opportunity right now, I think, to remind ourselves about what matters. People or profits? Musical virtuosity or money? A scholar at the University of Texas, Ben Agger, called this the—this decision to abolish the categories "the McDonaldization of music" and the cultural banality that will result. So, the larger context for this is, this has to do, I think, with a global crisis that the community that Whitney Houston came out of is affected by, that the community that Oscar and Latin jazz musicians came out of is affected by, and the community that a lot of these different Zydeco and Native American musics are—all came out of, where all these communities are affected.

I mean, it’s no coincidence, for example, that when you hear Russell—when you hear Neil Portnow, the head of the Grammys, say that, you know, this is just hard decision, that, you know, it’s evolutionary, we’re going in a certain direction—it’s the same things that people like Russell Pearce and Joe Arpaio say when they’re abolishing ethnic studies in Arizona or when they’re banning books or uprooting culture. I mean, you know, history has taught us anything, it’s that the uprooting of culture is a servant to, I’d say, the control and domination of communities that belong to those cultures. And so, we shouldn’t take these kinds of decisions by Grammy and other cultural institutions lightly. They matter in a profound way for the little girl today that wants to be a gospel singer but is not going to recognized anymore, because that music is not worthy of being—or the Latin jazz singer—I mean, musician, that wants to, you know, be virtuous and make beauty, rather than make money.

EFerrari

(163,986 posts)
11. Definitely. If these people had there way, Paul Simon's Graceland album
Wed Feb 15, 2012, 01:49 PM
Feb 2012

woudn't exist. This is a way to close markets to minorities. I hope people keep fighting.

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
3. I always considered that the American Music Awards
Tue Feb 14, 2012, 12:44 PM
Feb 2012

were explictly the "anti-Grammy" because of this type of thing. They could consider petitioning the AMAs to add categories and obsolete the Grammys...

qanda

(10,422 posts)
4. They get rid of the real music categories
Tue Feb 14, 2012, 01:06 PM
Feb 2012

And keep the stuff that has nothing to do with real musicianship--where everything is sampled, processed and mixed beyond musical recognition. Sad!

msongs

(67,199 posts)
5. gee "Latins" have their own special grammy awards and show, in Spanish. Where's the beef?
Tue Feb 14, 2012, 02:35 PM
Feb 2012

Latin Grammies:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Grammy_Award

Is there a category for Hawaiian, Haitian, and Cajun in the Latin Grammies Show too?

 

otohara

(24,135 posts)
9. I Remember Gospel Awards
Wed Feb 15, 2012, 01:16 PM
Feb 2012

some of my favorite performances were the big Gospel choirs at The Grammys and - and Jazz, and Latin...

flamingdem

(39,304 posts)
10. This was a dumb move
Wed Feb 15, 2012, 01:20 PM
Feb 2012

especially considering the demographic changes in the US!

The impacted musicians and fans are really feeling snubbed over this.

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