Another year, another round of weird Grammy nominations across the world music categories. Let's have a look at who got nominated this year, why (
whyyyy!?) some of them got nominated, and I'll bravely make my bets as to who is going to take home the gold.
Update: Winners are in bold-face, as is my post-awards commentary.
Best Traditional World Music Album:
- Ancient Sounds - Rahim AlHaj And Amjad Ali Khan
- Double Play - Liz Carroll & John Doyle
- Douga Mansa - Mamadou Diabate
- La Guerra No - John Santos Y El Coro Folklórico Kindembo
- Drum Music Land -Ten Drum Art Percussion Group
Let's pretend that you had to pick the best thing in the world. Your options? Peanut butter cups, that one really soft cotton t-shirt that you've had since high school, the smell of rain, babies, and freedom. Which one is best? That's about the level of randomness we're looking at here. The three that I've heard of are all very good. Rahim AlHaj and Amjad Ali Khan did a politically important and sonically gorgeous Iraqi
oud and
Classical Indian sarod fusion CD, and one which I think will take the cake, which would be perfectly reasonable on the part of the voters. Liz Carroll & John Doyle can always be counted on for clever, solid
Irish trad (which is apparently in the world music clump now... last year it was homeless, the years before that, usually somewhere in folk). Mamadou Diabate is one of my longtime favorites (and my personal oughtta-win choice this time around, his second nomination), and his slightly jazzy twist on traditional West African
kora music never ceases to impress. The other two are far lesser-known ensembles: the former is Afro-Cuban, the latter Taiwanese. I haven't heard either of those CDs, but I assure you that it's not because I'm not in the know -- the selections in this category are often very obscure. I'm sure there's some statistical reason why that might be, but it happens quite a bit.
Who will win: Rahim AlHaj and Amjad Ali Khan
Who should win: Mamadou Diabate, by a nose, though I reserve the right to change my mind on this one once I've heard the two dark horses
Hey, look! Grammy agreed with me re: who should win. That's a pleasant surprise -- Mamadou is a great artist who is well-deserving of a Grammy award.
Best Contemporary World Music Album
- Welcome To Mali - Amadou et Mariam
- Throw Down Your Heart: Tales From The Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3 - Africa Sessions - Bela Fleck
- Day By Day - Femi Kuti
- Seya - Oumou Sangare
- Across The Divide: A Tale Of Rhythm & Ancestry - Omar Sosa
Hahahaha, Grammy, you crack me up. Bela Fleck... hahaha. Wait, what? You're serious?
What? But there were, like, seven thousand amazing world music releases this year, and you picked the one where some decidedly un-African dude with a banjo plunkity-plunking over all of the best parts? Well, allllrighty then. Since I
wasn't particularly impressed with the whole thing, it'll probably win, despite the fact that the other four records were leaps and bounds better. I'm giving a personal veto to the Omar Sosa record because, though it was an exploration of the African roots of Latin jazz, it was more Latin jazz than African, and Latin jazz has a category of its own. As for the other three, the Femi Kuti record was, though excellent, not my all-time favorite, but the other two have me torn, and I'm having a hard time choosing. I think I'll have to go with Oumou Sangare, because not only was her own record outstanding, her portion of Bela Fleck's record was the best part of that whole thing, so she gets double-props and therefore, in my opinion, should take the win.
Who will win: Bela Fleck, because Grammy voters are purposely trying to irritate me, or maybe they just pick whomever they've heard of before, without actually listening.
Who should win: Oumou Sangare, with Amadou & Mariam taking a
very close second place.
Well, I called it. Bela Fleck, though he managed to turn an interesting concept into an ultimately stale, soulless album (African music for people who don't like African music, perhaps?) took an award that really should've gone to an international artist -- or at least an artist who plays international music as their full-time gig. But fame shall prevail! Oh, well. There's always next year.
More Grammy Winners in World Music Categories (and World Musicians who won Elswehere!)
- Best Reggae Album: Mind Control: Acoustic - Stephen Marley
- Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album: Lay Your Burden Down - Buckwheat Zydeco
- Best Hawaiian Music Album: Masters Of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, Volume 2 - Various Artists. Daniel Ho, George Kahumoku, Jr., Paul Konwiser & Wayne Wong, producers
- Best Native American Music Album: Spirit Wind North - Bill Miller
- Best Urban Alternative Performance: "Pearls" - India.Arie and Dobet Gnahore
- Best Musical Album for Children: Family Time - Ziggy Marley
- Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media: Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman
- Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media: "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman
