By Javier Herrero.
Seville, Spain (EFE).-
The 24th edition of the Latin Grammy Awards, the first held in Spain, on Thursday night crowned musical kings and queens including the Mexican-American Édgar Barrera, Argentinian Bizarrap, Mexican Natalia Lafourcade and Colombians Shakira and Karol G in an especially powerful night for their country.
On “the most important night of Latin music,” this year held far from the United States at the FIBES Conference and Exhibition Centre in Seville, the list of winners was inaugurated by Édgar Barrera as songwriter of the year, a new category that he said “opens space for those who compose songs but do not sing them and who usually go unnoticed.”
This artist of Mexican origin went into the ceremony with the most nominations at 13, of which he also won producer of the year and best regional Mexican song as co-author of “un x100to,” all of them in the ceremony prior to the televised gala.
The night didn’t go badly for Natalia Lafourcade either, winning best song and best album by a singer-songwriter for “De Todas las Flores.”
Lafourcade celebrated “the medicinal power” of music, acknowledging that this was “the most personal album” of her career, at a time when she was “all broken.”
“I can’t believe that this year the best urban music album has a woman,” said Karol G when collecting the urban music album award for “Mañana Será Bonito.” Later she collected the Latin Grammy for album of the year.
Off camera, she had also received the award for best urban fusion/performance for “TQG” alongside Shakira, who experienced a night as strong musically as her last year has been.
Much of that success came from her artistic association with the Argentinian DJ and producer Bizarrap with the “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” which the Colombian used to catalyze frustration over the end of her relationship with soccer player Gerard Pique.
“I have promised my children that I will be happy,” said the artist, who won the awards for song of the year and best pop song with Bizarrap and dedicated it to Sasha and Milan. They accompanied her in the audience during the ceremony and even during her performance by debuting through a video as little singers.
They were not the only Colombians making the current moment for their country’s music even more celebratory. Juanes won the best pop/rock album for “Vida Cotidiana,” Camilo won the best long-form music video for “El Primer Tour de mi Vida” and Carlos Vives won the cumbia or vallenato album for “Escalona Nunca Se Había Grabado Así.”
Others such as Andrés Cepeda (best traditional pop vocal album for “Décimo Cuatro”) also added to the list alongside Monsieur Periné (best alternative music album for “Bolero Apocaplíptico”) and Juan Galiano (member of Diamante Eléctrico, for best rock song, “Leche de Tigre”).
The Spaniard Quevedo and the Argentinian Bizarrap won the award for best urban song as composers of their “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52,” which already achieved the feat of sitting at global no.1 on Spotify for seven weeks.
The Argentinian producer and DJ, who started this whole adventure “in his room with a computer,” cited “all the kids who are starting out, to see that with very little you can achieve a lot.” while his Canarian ally thanked the public “for taking the song where they took it” and making them “an example that you can come out of nothing.”
That this was the first edition of the event in Spain was represented in numerous nods such as the gigantic fans on stage and the flamenco number that starred in the first bars of the evening’s artists such as Israel Fernández and Niña Pastori, winner of the best flamenco album.
The Spanish flavor was felt even more at the beginning of the televised broadcast, first with the delicate flamenco quejío version that Rosalía made of “Se Nos Rompio el Amor” popularized by her compatriot Rocío Jurado and, right after, with the recovery of “Corazón Partío,” which Alejandro Sanz sung surrounded by a large group of dancers among Manila shawls and fans.
Antonio Banderas, who was awarded the 2023 President’s Award for his support of the arts and, specifically, music, praised the change of venue to Andalusia, which he said was “fertile land” for creators such as Federico García Lorca and Rafael Alberti.
The gala featured other notable moments such as the performance of the Puerto Rican Rauw Alejandro, generous on stage even with a version of “Se Fue” by the 2023 Person of the Year Laura Pausini, but elusive with the press when faced with personal questions before the first event in which he has shared a roof with Rosalía since their breakup. EFE
