Grammy officials deny no-Cuban assurances
JORDAN LEVIN
Despite efforts to sidestep the issue of Cuban musicians
performing in Miami, the lobbying effort to bring the Latin
Grammys to South Florida this year has not managed to
elude it.
Grammy officials have denied claims made by Miami Mayor
Joe Carollo and others that representatives negotiating on
behalf of the city and Miami-Dade County were given private
assurances by Grammy officials that no Cubans would be
involved in the event.
Both Carollo and Joe García, executive director of the Cuban
American National Foundation, were on-air late last month to
defend their support of the show during a call-in program
hosted by Carlos D'Mant on Spanish-language station La
Poderosa 670 AM.
Carollo said he only agreed to support the Latin Grammys
after being assured that no Cubans would participate.
``I was told by two sources [that] they had talked to the
Grammy people [who] had assured them no Cuban artists
were coming,'' he said in a later interview.
García admitted Friday: ``I might have in my passion
overstated'' the language used by negotiators for the
Grammys. ``What I said is that no Cubans have been invited
. . . that right now there are no Cuban groups on the horizon
that could be expected to win anything.''
Michael Greene, who, as president and CEO of the National
Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences heads both the
American and Latin Grammys, said he never made any such
statement.
``If there was a [Cuban] nominee who we felt it was
important to have perform at the Latin Grammy awards
show, we would present them,'' Greene said from his Los
Angeles office. ``Nothing to the contrary has ever been said
to anyone.''
Last year's inaugural Latin Grammy show bypassed Miami
for Los Angeles because of the Cuban-artist issue.
Latin Grammy nominees go through a lengthy selection
process intended to prevent manipulation. This year, record
companies and Academy members will enter recordings
released between April 1, 2000, and March 31, 2001, for final
voting by members. Any suggestion that nominations can be
reliably predicted now would undercut the publicly touted
integrity of the awards.
But several local government representatives who were party
to a series of meetings organized by Mauricio Abaroa, the
Miami-based executive director of the Latin Academy, said
they were were told Cuban participation was unlikely.
Fred Balsera, a lobbyist Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas
has recruited for the effort, said Grammy officials ``told us
that until now they don't know of any Cuban entries.''
Jeff Peel, director of Miami-Dade's office of film and
entertainment, was present at several meetings to discuss
the Grammys.
``The question was asked . . . `Will any Cubans be playing?'
and the answer was, `There's nothing out there that looks
very strong . . . that looks like it would be a contender for
nominations.' ''
Abaroa denies that prognostications were made. ``We have
said . . . since the beginning that we are not going to make
any concessions,'' he said.
``Maybe they are talking about [the Cuban issue] because
that's what they want or need but that's not what we said to
them.''
However, Greene acknowledged he told the South Florida
negotiators that he would not press to include Cuban artists.
``We're not going to put anyone on to prove a point,'' he said.
``I think it was important to some of the Cuban-American
folks in Miami to know I wasn't coming down to do anything
provocative. . . . People get things turned around
sometimes.''
Although the past year's releases have not included a
breakthrough Cuban hit like The Buena Vista Social Club,
there have been more than a dozen recordings from Cuban
artists in the past year, including four Buena Vista alumni
and four major dance bands. At least three record
companies, Nonesuch, Tumi and Universal, said they
planned to enter Cuban artists for consideration.
Greene said a decision on whether to hold the Sept. 12
show in Miami or Los Angeles would be made within two
weeks.