Where is Ricky Martin when you need him? That’s what I kept asking myself while watching the Grammy Awards telecast last night.
In celebration of the awards’ 50th anniversary, the show featured performances spanning different genres (a classical violinist played with the Foo Fighters) and generations (Beyoncé joined Tina Turner for an electrifying dance number), yet was disappointingly light on Latino musicians and celebrities, with presenters Juanes, George Lopez and Roselyn Sanchez notable exceptions.
As noted previously on this blog, U.S. Latinos have made immense contributions to the U.S. music scene, with salsa and reggaeton two of the strongest examples of Latino music forms that have influenced pop culture in the last 50 years.
And on this year’s list of nominees, Latino musicians and artists were well represented in many categories, including: best duo (Shakira and Beyonce), best comedy album (George Lopez), best female pop artists (Christina Aguilera), best picture score (Gustavo Santaolalla for Babel), as well as in the eight categories now devoted to Latin music (click here to see the winners).
So why weren’t there more Latinos on stage last night? I would have loved to see Santana jamming with Brad Paisley, Shakira singing with Sheryl Crow and Daddy Yankee dropping rhymes with Kanye – as I’m guessing the rest of this country’s fastest-growing demographic might have, too.
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