The debate provoked by the decision of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) regarding the number of competing categories in the Grammy Awards continues. Legendary Latin guitarist Carlos Santana, who previously expressed his disagreement with the Academy's move, has recently said the decision is racially motivated.
In a recent interview featured in the Canadian newspaper The Province, Santana questioned the decision of the Grammy Academy arguing that "we have so many categories of Country & Western. Country & Western people have seven to nine to 10 (awards) shows a year and you seldom see Negroes or Latin people. You can't eliminate black gospel music or Hawaiian music or American Indian music or Latin jazz music because all this music represents what United States is: a social experiment."
The strong remarks made by the famous guitarist were questioned by Latin actor and musician Andy Garcia who did not agree with the choice of words calling the term racist a very harsh word to use in this case. Nevertheless, the famous Cuban-American artist also expressed his disagreement with the decision of the Grammy organization.
Recently, a group of Latin Jazz artists decided to suit NARAS for its decision regarding the competing categories. Very likely, this fight will go on for a while. So far, NARAS has shown confidence about its decision. However, I do not think it would be a bad idea if the Academy explain to us again why and how it implemented the new changes. We will see how it goes. If you have something to say about this, please feel free to leave your comments or discuss in the Latin music forum.
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