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Latin Grammy Nominations Out

Aired July 24, 2002 - 14:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Here's another sign of the growing influence of Latin American culture. There's now a separate Grammy Awards for Latin music. And today, the nominations are out.

And to talk about them we are joined from Los Angeles by Anna Maria Montero of CNN Espanol.

Hola.

ANNA MARIA MONTERO, CNNENESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: Hola. Que tal?

Bien, gracias. All right, we're not going to do it in Espanol. We're going to stick to English, OK, for now. We'll talk Spanish later, Anna Maria.

MONTERO: OK.

All right. Hey, let's talk about the nominations. The big one here to come out, Carlos Vives, from Columbia.

MONTERO: Carlos Vives, and I'll tell you what, Kyra, no surprise there. That album, for those of us who don't know, already won a Grammy this year for Best Tropical Album in the other Grammy category. Now for Latin Grammys, he's walked away with with six nominations today. I mean, it's been a great year. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) has been a fabulous album; it's brought him a lot of recognition and...

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: What is about him? Why is he so popular?

MONTERO: He just has managed to mix traditional Columbia rhythm -- the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) principally -- with rock and pop, and just made it mainstream. He took.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: No, no, no, go ahead, I'm sorry.

MONTERO: No, he just took rhythms that he grew up and are native to Columbia was able to just mix them and fuse them with other rhythms that made them popular. People were listening. Young people were listening.

PHILLIPS: This is pretty popular now because Juanes does the same thing, and this is someone that got nominated also.

Juanes walked away with three nominations. And Juanes was actually the big nominee last year as well. He got seven nominations last year. This year he has three for his new album. Last year was the old album; he put out a new one, and it already qualified for three Latin Grammys. So he Juanes is going to have a pretty good year, I think, as well. And he does similar to Carlos. He mixes the rock with the traditional Colombian rhythms.

PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about why the Latin music has gotten so popular. Whether it's in Spanish, like Mena, or (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and Marc Anthony, who have made the switch over and they sing in English, what is it about the rhythms and the music that is making everybody of all colors so interested in the music?

MONTERO: Honestly, it is the feeling. I mean Latin Music has a feeling, rhythm, a sort of heat. I mean it's sexy music. It's alive. It's happy. And it reflects part of the world that most people in America may not be so familiar with. So I think it's also intriguing. You know what I mean? It kind of shows off, like we see (UNINTELLIGIBLE), what Latin America is all about. I think people have really caught on to that. I mean, it's infectious.

PHILLIPS: Yes it is. I've been to those salsa clubs dancing. Are you going to salsa for us.

MONTERO: The truth comes out.

PHILLIPS: There you go. Give us a little merengue there, Anna Maria.

MONTERO: By myself, I don't know if I could pull that off.

PHILLIPS: Yes, that might be kind of hard.

Celia Cruz -- this is another one. She received a lot of nominations. She always does, though. This is someone that everyone loves all across the board.

MONTERO: She's veteran -- you know what I mean? She is one of our jewels, jewels of the Latin music. And Celia got four nominations this year for her new album, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which means the black woman -- African-American woman -- has rhythm. She's got it: She's got the beat, she's got the rhythm, and she has proved it with four nomination so far, including best video, which is always a riot because she comes up with the best outfits, the best get-ups in the business -- no doubt.

PHILLIPS: Now, why is that Americans, even if they don't understand the language, we talked about the feeling and all of that, but I hear a lot more of the Americans listening to this Latin music even if they don't speak Spanish.

MONTERO: Well, I think it is also has to do with fact that the Latin population in the United States growing like it is. You know, the last Census, what, 38 million Spanish-speaking or Hispanics in the country. And I think that that influence is pouring over into mainstream pop culture basically.

PHILLIPS: And we are watching (UNINTELLIGIBLE) right now. Boy, there's...

MONTERO: He's another one.

PHILLIPS: Everyone's in love with him, no matter if you're white, black, Latin.

MONTERO: He puts on a really good show, that one. That's the truth. And plus, he's perfectly bilingual. So he, like Marc Anthony, like other artists -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- they can move in both worlds, in both markets, and it's easy.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's pretty awesome. It's the best way to integrate, I'll tell you what.

Anna Maria Montero of CNN Espanol, gracias.

MONTERO: Gracias (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

PHILLIPS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

MONTERO: Adios.

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