Someone sent me this
link to an online petition for a Soca/Calypso category at the Grammy Awards 2009. Now, I have no idea if this is genuine or not but I signed the petition any way since I believe this is a good fight. If they can have a nomination for Polka music at the Grammy Awards why not for Soca/Calypso? Machel’s concert at Madison Square Garden, which was sold out twice on the same night, is a very strong indication that “our” music is gaining in popularity and reaching out to more diverse audiences apart from West Indians. To understand why some genres of music are left out of the Grammy’s
Wikipedia has this to say about the Awards:
“The Grammy Awards have been criticized on numerous occasions for being only devoted to mainstream music and for not highlighting alternative groups and artists. This has also lead to the speculation that The Grammy Awards are controlled and manipulated by major record labels.[citation needed] Evidence for this is limited, though the lack of non-mainstream acts being nominated for awards has supported this speculation.”
To be honest with you, I do not look at the Grammy Awards apart from the pre-shows to see who shows up and what they are wearing. The show is boring, predictable and “safe”. I am one of those persons who prefers MTV’s Music Video Awards instead. However a Grammy Award comes with its own merit, much like wining an Oscar and I remember the first time both Rap and Reggae music were given their own categories at the Grammy Awards, which was a huge step for music considered too “black” for the Grammys. Even so, the nominees and winners for either category have still been chosen from among rappers who are not hardcore (has Tupac ever won a Grammy?) and popular reggae singers like Sean Paul.
I think Soca/Calypso music has made some inroads into American pop culture, albeit not what would consider true to the art form like Baha Men’s “Who let the Dogs Out”, since Kevin Little did have a lot of airplay for his songs. To tell the truth I would really be disappointed to have a Soca/ Calypso category at the Grammy Awards and have Kevin Little win over someone I think is more deserving but less popular to main stream audiences. But I guess just having the category would be some achievement in itself, and that is what this petition is all about.
You can get more information about the petition by checking out
this link and lets all hope that this is not just another bit of spam and our signatures can make an impact someday.
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10 comments:
This is a LONG tim coming...let us get our foot in the door where a Grammy is concerned..while simultaneously educating the international masses about our music =)
Hey saucy, not tryin to be a downer, but i think you have a mistake. People win oscars at the academy awards (for film) not at the Grammy's. I beleive the award won at the grammy's is the gramophone (the old time music player)
thanks anon I was making reference to the award the Oscar as being an award of merit and not that the award for the grammy was an Oscar :)
i cyaan believe in this HYPE... y are we constantly looking to others for recognition... I know Mixtape makers that sell more CDs than any SOCA artist... the Grammys are based on unit sales and we don't have enough to compete in that type of environment...
Saucy
I think that it's our responsibility to support our artists to the fullest and not look to "outsiders" to do that for us. However, I firmly believe that there is a level of recognition and respect that comes from winning or being nominated for one of these awards and on that strength alone I think that we all need to sign. Our artists work hard too.
After listening to the interview with Machel on Wendy Williams and realizing that he's done 17 albums in his time, and you see how long it take these main stream artists to bring out ONE album, sometimes you can't get a second album from them for YEARS!!!
Recognize our talent dammit, RECOGNIZE!!
Thanks for the post.
This post made me do a double-take, so I went fishing for this article I read a few year ago:
http://www.ttgapers.com/Article853.html
According to this, we SHOULD have had a Grammy Award for this category last year. Was this just a rumour or was the plan abandoned for some reason?
hmm, interesting article squeezle!! There was no category like that last year for sure!
Hi all, My name is Ria, also known as Natakki and I am one of the persons involved in trying to make this dream come true. Some may question the validity of the petition and I undrstand the skepticism, but however this is real. We have been in constant contact with many different people including Mr Alan Foster of the Recording Academy(Grammy Awards). We are diligently working behind the scenes and gathering as much endorsements as we can to make this proposal to the committee. We have a website up but it is currently going under repairs. It is running however not to its full capacity yet. We are appealing to the artists and are getting their support because they too have the same dreams. It is about time our artists get the recognition they deserve. If anyone would like to further speak with us regarding this I can be reached at 347-451-5324.
There was a submission in 2005 but it was turned down by the Academy. I'm not sure if there was a misunderstanding in communication at the time this article was published but currently there is no category for Calyso or Soca. Ms Smith has done a lot of work and I commend her for it. This is something we have wanted to do for s very long time.
I've been hearing the buzz since 2005 about soca being part of the grammy's, but it seems it's not going to happen anytime soon, they rather put other crappy music we all still must honor up there, why can't they put soca, like it was mentioned machel sold out the garden, now someone tell me when ever did an artist from a 3rd world country
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