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Latin Is Language of Grammys
By Letta Tayler
STAFF WRITER
The Latin music explosion crossed over to the Grammy nominations yesterday, but it was veteran Carlos Santana, not newcomer Ricky Martin, who led the sweep with nods in 10 categories.
Santana, who has only won one Grammy in three decades of performing, staged one of last year's most remarkable comebacks with "Supernatural," his Latin-rock album of duets with younger stars, including Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 and Dave
Matthews. The album, which picked up coveted Grammy nominations for album and record of the year, has sold more than 4 million copies.
"The response to 'Supernatural' has exceeded all expectations," Santana, 52, said in a prepared statement. "I am deeply gratified to know that we were able to touch the hearts and minds of a whole new generation of fans."
The rise in Latin music also was reflected in choices for best male pop performance, where Sting's "Brand New Day" is the lone Anglo entry. The other contenders are Martin's ubiquitous "Livin' La Vida Loca," Marc Anthony's urgent "I Need to Know," and Lou Bega's slick "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...." Italian Andrea Bocelli's operatic "Sogno" also was nominated.
Anthony, who participated in a Manhattan news conference to unveil the nominations, told Newsday he was "thrilled" by the number of Latin nominees but cautioned that most of them were picked for Anglo- inflected hybrids. "They're not recognizing our music. It's pop music, it's not truly representative of what Latin music is," he said.
However, less adulterated Latin music fills nominations in two new Grammy categories, best salsa performance and best merengue performance. A third new category, best soundtrack album, reflects soundtracks' growing commercial clout since the massive success of the "Titanic" album.
Those three new categories swell the number of Grammys to 98. They'll be awarded Feb. 23 in a live CBS broadcast from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Front-runners this year are all over the musical map. Tying at second place, with six nominations apiece, are the feisty rhythm-and- blues vocal trio TLC for their comeback album "Fanmail," classical music conductor Pierre Boulez, and Ray Benson, frontman for the...