Hernandez’s La Santa Cecilia Wins First-Ever Grammy

It’s one memorable Grammy night for Marisol Hernandez and her La Santa Cecilia band mates…

The Mexican-American singer, known as La Marisoul, and her Los Angeles-based band members earned the first Grammy of their career on Sunday during the pre-Grammy telecast ceremony.

La Santa Cecilia

La Santa Cecilia, named after the patron saint of musicians, Saint Cecilia, won the award for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album for the bilingual band’s album Treinta Dias.

“Thank you to our beautiful City of Angels,” said Marisoul. “We are proud to be from immigrant parents and dedicate the Grammy to the 11 million undocumented workers in America.”

Along with lead singer Hernandez, band members include guitarist Gloria Estrada, accordinist and requinto player Jose Carlos, bassist Alex Bendana, percussionist Miguel Ramirez and drummer Hugo Varagas.

La Santa Cecilia wasn’t the only act to earn its first Grammy…

Draco Rosa, a three-time Latin Grammy winner, picked up his first gramophone from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

The 44-year-old Puerto Rican singer-songwriter and former Menudo band member, a previous nominee in 2011 for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album, won the award for Best Latin Pop Album for his latest studio effort Vida.

The sixth time’s the charm for the Gipsy Kings

The group, made up mostly of the children of Spanish gitanos, won their first Grammy for Best World Music Album for Savor Flamenco, tying Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s Live: Singing For Peace Around The World for the prize.

Christian Tumalan’s 19 piece traditional Latin big band Pacific Mambo Orchestra won its first  Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album for its self-titled album, which was produced independently through a Kickstarter campaign.

Meanwhile, Bruno Mars earned the second Grammy of his career at the 56th annual Grammy Awards. The 28-year-old part-Puerto Rican singer-songwriter, nominated for four awards this year, earned the Best Pop Vocal Album award for his chart-topping sophomore album Unorthodox Jukebox.

Paquito D’Rivera earned the fourth Grammy of his noted career. The 65-year-old Cuban saxophonist and clarinetist’s Song for Maura took the prize for Best Latin Jazz Album.

Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea won its second career-Grammy. The group earned the award for Best Regional Mexican Music Album (including Tejano) for its album A Mi Manera.

Click here to see the complete list of winners and nominees.

Mars: This Year’s Top Latino Grammy Nominee

It comes as little surprise that Bruno Mars is this year’s Latino Grammy darling…

Following the release of his critically acclaimed sophomore album Unorthodox Jukebox, the 28-year-old part-Puerto Rican Grammy-winning singer has received four Grammy nominations for the 56th annual awards, the most of any Latino artists this year.

Bruno Mars in GQ

Mars, a 19-time nominee who earned a Grammy in 2011 for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his first career smash hit “Just The Way You Are,” is nominated in two major categories. He’s up for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for his No. 1 song “Locked Out of Heaven.”

In addition, Mars’ latest studio effort is nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album and his ballad “When I Was Your Man” is up for Best Pop Solo Performance.

But Mars isn’t the only Latino artist to receive multiple nods this year…

Miguel, who won the award for Best R&B Song during the 2013 Grammys, is nominated for two awards.

The 28-year-old half-Mexican American R&B singer is up for Best R&B Performance for his duet with Kendrick Lamar, “How Many Drinks?,” as well as Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for his collaboration with J. Cole, “Power Trip.”

Paquito D’Rivera, meantime, is nominated for two awards.

The Cuban Grammy-winning alto saxophonist, clarinetist and soprano saxophonist is nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for the track “Song for Maura,” as well as Best Latin Jazz Album for the album of the same name.

Other Latino nominees include Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan, Intocable, Frankie J and Carlos Vives.

The nominations were announced during the Grammy Awards’ special on CBS on Friday night.

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the organization that awards the Grammys, used to announce the nominations through an ordinary news conference. But for the last six years, it has tried to stir excitement with a primetime TV special with the rapper and actor LL Cool J as host. Performers on Friday’s show included Lorde, Robin Thicke and, by satellite, Taylor Swift from Sydney, Australia, and Katy Perry from Toronto.

The 65th Grammy Awards, dubbed music’s biggest night, will be held on Sunday, January 26, 2014.

Here’s a look at this year’s Latino nominees:

Record of the Year
GET LUCKY
 Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams
RADIOACTIVE 
Imagine Dragons
ROYALS Lorde
LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN Bruno Mars
BLURRED LINES
 Robin Thicke Featuring T.I. & Pharrell

Song Of The Year
JUST GIVE ME A REASON 
Jeff Bhasker, Pink & Nate Ruess, songwriters (Pink Featuring Nate Ruess)
LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN 
Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine & Bruno Mars, songwriters (Bruno Mars)
ROAR 
Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin, Bonnie McKee, Katy Perry & Henry Walter, songwriters (Katy Perry)
ROYALS 
Joel Little & Ella Yelich O’Connor, songwriters (Lorde)
SAME LOVE
 Ben Haggerty, Mary Lambert & Ryan Lewis, 
songwriters (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Featuring Mary Lambert)

Best Pop Solo Performance
BRAVE Sara Bareilles
ROYALS Lorde
WHEN I WAS YOUR MAN Bruno Mars
ROAR Katy Perry
MIRRORS 
Justin Timberlake

Best Pop Vocal Album
PARADISE Lana Del Rey  
PURE HEROINE Lorde  
UNORTHODOX JUKEBOX Bruno Mars  
BLURRED LINES Robin Thicke  
THE 20/20 EXPERIENCE – THE COMPLETE EXPERIENCE
 Justin Timberlake


Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
VIVA DUETS
 Tony Bennett & Various Artists [Featured artists include Chayanne, Thalia, Christina Aguilera, Franco De Vita, Gloria Estefan, Juan Luis Guerra, Ricardo Arjona, Romeo Santos, Vicentico and Dani Martín)
TO BE LOVED Michael Bublé
THE STANDARDS Gloria Estefan
CEE LO’S MAGIC MOMENT Cee Lo Green
NOW
 Dionne Warwick

Best R&B Performance
LOVE AND WAR 
Tamar Braxton
BEST OF ME Anthony Hamilton
NAKAMARRA
 Hiatus Kaiyote Featuring Q-Tip
HOW MANY DRINKS? 
Miguel Featuring Kendrick Lamar
SOMETHING 
Snarky Puppy With Lalah Hathaway

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
POWER TRIP 
J. Cole Featuring Miguel
PART II (ON THE RUN) Jay Z Featuring Beyoncé
HOLY GRAIL
Jay Z Featuring Justin Timberlake
NOW OR NEVER 
Kendrick Lamar Featuring Mary J.
REMEMBER YOU 
Wiz Khalifa Featuring The Weeknd

Best Improvised Jazz Solo
DON’T RUN
 Terence Blanchard, soloist  
SONG FOR MAURA Paquito D’Rivera, soloist  
SONG WITHOUT WORDS #4: DUET Fred Hersch, soloist
STADIUM JAZZ Donny McCaslin, soloist
ORBITS
Wayne Shorter, soloist

Best Latin Jazz Album
LA NOCHE MÁS LARGA Buika  
SONG FOR MAURA 
Paquito D’Rivera And Trio Corrente
YO
 Roberto Fonseca
EGGŪN Omar Sosa
LATIN JAZZ-JAZZ LATIN Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet

Best Latin Pop Album
FAITH, HOPE Y AMOR Frankie J
VIAJERO FRECUENTE Ricardo Montaner
VIDA Draco Rosa
SYNTEK Aleks Syntek
12 HISTORIAS Tommy Torres

Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album
L OBJETO ANTES LLAMADO DISCO Café Tacvba 

OJO POR OJO El Tri  
CHANCES 
Illya Kuryaki And The Valderramas
TREINTA DÍAS 
La Santa Cecilia
REPEAT AFTER ME Los Amigos Invisibles

Best Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano)
EL FREE
Banda Los Recoditos
EN PELIGRO DE EXTINCIÓN Intocable 

A MI MANERA
 Mariachi Divas De Cindy Shea
ROMEO Y SU NIETA Paquita La Del Barrio
13 CELEBRANDO EL 13 Joan Sebastian

Best Tropical Latin Album
3.0
 Marc Anthony
COMO TE VOY A OLVIDAR Los Angeles Azules

PACIFIC MAMBO ORCHESTRA Pacific Mambo Orchestra
SERGIO GEORGE PRESENTS SALSA GIANTS Various Artists
 (Featuring
CORAZÓN PROFUNDO Carlos Vives

Best World Music Album

SAVOR FLAMENCO Gipsy Kings
NO PLACE FOR MY DREAM Femi Kuti
LIVE: SINGING FOR PEACE AROUND THE WORLD 
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
THE LIVING ROOM SESSIONS PART 2 Ravi Shankar

 

Best Instrumental Composition
BOUND AWAY
 Chuck Owen, composer (Chuck Owen & The Jazz Surge)
CALIFORNIA PICTURES FOR STRING QUARTET Gordon Goodwin, composer (Quartet San Francisco)
KOKO ON THE BOULEVARD 
Scott Healy, composer (Scott Healy Ensemble)
PENSAMIENTOS FOR SOLO ALTO SAXOPHONE AND CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Clare Fischer, composer (The Clare Fischer Orchestra)
STRING QUARTET NO. 1: FUNKY DIVERSION IN THREE PARTS
 Vince Mendoza, composer (Quartet San Francisco)