Nov. 21--The 15th Latin Grammy Awards started off with ... President Obama's immigration speech. The Univision network delayed the telecast of the Latin music awards show for almost 20 minutes so that the president could make his announcement about his executive action that will potentially allow millions of those in the U.S. illegally protection from deportation.
As soon as the speech was done, the Latin Grammys got down to the glamorous business of giving awards -- to salsa singer Marc Anthony, Spanish pop crooner Enrique Iglesias and Mexican balladeer Pepe Aguilar, among others.
But mostly the show was about performances (19 by my count). And in what has become the Grammy formula (in both English and Spanish), these were mostly an array of medleys, performed by teaming up gaggles of headline-grabbing names for no other reason than it makes for good headlines: reggaeton singer Wisin with Pitbull and Chris Brown, the befuddling combination of Pitbull with Santana, and Anthony and the Canadian act Magic! singing the latter song's "Rude." Because when one thinks Marc Anthony, one thinks Canadian reggae.
No Grammy Awards show --be it in Spanish or English --can be accused of being a platform for creativity or experimentation. Everything is scripted, down to host Eugenio Derbez's jokes about selfies and plastic surgery. But Obama's speech did provide a thought-provoking launch pad to what is generally a pretty ho-hum proceeding.
The speech was screened inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, where the awards were held, to a jam-packed audience of Latin pop stars, rock bands and Mexican regional groups. If anyone wants to know how the Latin Grammys are different from the Grammy Awards besides language: Well, here you go. It's hard to imagine the regular telecast being interrupted by a policy speech, much less one about immigration.
From there, things kicked off with a rousing performance by Puerto Rican hip-hop duo Calle 13, who sang their Irish-inflected tune "El Aguante," ("The Endurance,") a song about enduring difficult circumstances. It was the perfect segue from Obama's talk that was all about the hardships faced by immigrants in the country illegally. Toward the end of his performance, singer Ren預鲥z Joglar ripped off his jacket to reveal a T-shirt that read "Ayotzinapa Falta 43" ("Ayotzinapa is Missing 43"), a reference to 43 recently disappeared Mexican students.
From there, the show took a steady pace that consisted of roughly two performances (too many medleys to count) for every award handed out. Panamanian singer Ruben Blades brought the house down with a confidently languid performance of his seminal salsa hit "Pedro Navaja" ("Pedro the Knife") sung as a tango. Aguilar gave a heartfelt rendition of "La Ley del Monte," complete with a stately sweep of the sombrero.
In between, awards were handed out. Anthony took the trophy for best salsa album for his critically acclaimed "3.0." Iglesias and Cuban singer Descemer Bueno accepted their award for "Bailando" ("Dancing"), which won song of the year, via satellite from France. And Colombian singer Carlos Vives dedicated his award for best contemporary tropical album to an unlikely source of inspiration: the U.S. president.
"This award," he said with a smile, "I dedicate especially to President Obama."
This is one of the more dissonant aspects of the Latin Grammy Awards: The show doesn't necessarily reflect who won. Most of the small golden gramophones were handed out before the telecast even began. This included trophies for Calle 13, who won for best urban music album and best alternative song, the Mexican group Molotov for best rock album, and the Colombian singer Juanes, who got the prize for best pop/rock album. None of these performers had that thrilling moment of the win televised. (Though Calle 13 and Juanes did perform.)
Likewise, low-key Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler received the award for record of the year for "Universos Paralelos," a collaborative effort that featured Chilean hip-hop star Ana Tijoux. When Drexler took the stage to claim his award, he seemed nonplussed.
"Are you sure?" he asked with a confused grin.
All of this left the two Mexican regional acts for the end of the show: La Arrolladora Banda El Lime Ren頃amacho and Banda El Lime Salvador Lizarraga. Though Mexican regional music is a big seller, the Latin Grammy Awards generally give it short shrift and this year was no different. And rather than a bouncy polka or brassy cumbia, the producers of the show had them play languid ballads.
Overall, the awards played like a weird, disjointed variety show: an endless array of pop medleys studded with a tango here and a reggaeton there, all book-ended by a rousing political anthem and Mexican regional. Is it representative of Latin music today? Not even close. It's more like an array of made-for-TV moments that cease to be memorable seconds after you've seen them. In that way, the Latin Grammys and the regular Grammys couldn't be more alike.
Find me on Twitter @cmonstah
