Estefan takes 6 noms from Latin Grammys
1st ceremony to be held in L.A., b'cast bilingually
Estefan will also be recognized as the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences' first Person of the Year at a Sept. 11 ceremony at the Beverly Hilton, announced Recording Academy prexy and CEO Michael Greene at a packed press conference in Miami.
The first annual Latin Grammys will use the same facilities and production team (Cossette Prods.) as the regular Grammys.
Greene intimated that the ceremony may eventually be held in the city that describes itself as the capital of Latin music.
"We don't plan on being strangers here very much longer," Greene said.
After months of wrangling and negotiations, the Recording Academy ultimately opted to hold the event in Los Angeles over Miami, in part because a Miami-Dade ordinance prohibited any facility with a county link from hosting an event at which artists from Cuba may perform. The Acad's decision is estimated to have cost the Miami area roughly $35 million in lost revenue.
Recent court rulings that render the Miami-Dade ordinance unconstitutional have brightened the hosting prospects for South Florida.
"Lots of artists from all over the world deserve to be represented. Hopefully, in the coming months, we will be able to meet with the city fathers and mothers to discuss how to bring the Latin Grammys to Miami," Greene told Daily Variety.
Also dominating the nominee list were crossover pop singer Marc Anthony and Colombian rockera/pop songstress Shakira, each tapped for five of the 40 categories.
Mexican rock group Mana, Argentine rocker Fito Paez, Colombian pop/tropical singer Carlos Vives and Dominican merengue sensation Juan Luis Guerra all nabbed four noms.
Estefan, Vives and Guerra were among the luminaries, who also included Julio Iglesias, Gloria Estefan and Ry Cooder, to unveil the list of nominees.
Only Latin music pros with at least six records were allowed to nominate and will be casting the final votes, Greene emphasized. "These are peer awards -- the process is exactly the same as the U.S. process."
The two-hour awards show will be broadcast live in the U.S. by CBS. "This is a first. There has never been a bilingual, primetime TV show on a major network before," Greene said.
All presenters will speak in English, though perfs will be in either Spanish or Portuguese.
The Recording Academy will re-create part of the set backstage, and presenters will hustle off immediately to record the reading of the nominees and "the winner is" in Spanish.
A Spanish-lingo version will then be retransmitted via satellite to Latin America with a time delay of less than half an hour.
The Recording Academy controls the rights to the international broadcast but has yet to cut any deals with Latino broadcasters.
