What's happening in Vegas tonight is definitely not staying in Vegas: The 11th annual Latin Grammy Awards will be seen live across North America on Univision. The ceremony will also stream around the world to anyone with Internet access and, in a couple of weeks, will air on CBS. We sat down with Tell Me More host Michel Martin to take a look ahead at some of the awards offered by the Latin Recording Academy.
The Best New Artist category includes many different styles, but the guy we're excited about is Alex Cuba. He looks a lot like a young Sly Stone -- big afro, nice sideburns. His music is driven by an acoustic guitar and a wonderful voice, and his engaging personality shows that he really lives up to the idea of a best new artist. He has incredible potential.
For Album of the Year, you can see a handful of the usual suspects nominated, but there are two heavy hitters to watch. The first is Spain's Alejandro Sanz, for his Paraiso Express, and the other is Juan Luis Guerra from the Dominican Republic for A Son de Guerra. We bet Guerra will win; he studied poetry and literature in the Dominican before going into music, and his politically tinged storytelling makes his music infectious.
Then we have Best Alternative Latin Song, a category filled with pioneers and new musicians. We suspect that Chocquibtown will win for "De Donde Vengo Yo." It means "where I come from," and the group comes from a region in Colombia called "Choco."
In the category of Best Rock Song, there's Gustavo Cerati, who is almost like the Sting of Latin rock. He's a done excellent work with his group Soda Stereo, yet on his own, he's just iconic. Earlier this year, he was touring in Venezuela, was stricken with an aneurysm and fell into a coma; there's little hope for recovery. We're picking his song "Déjà Vu" to honor his legacy.
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