The Latin Grammy nods are in…

The 2023 Latin GRAMMYs are set to take place on November 16 in Seville, Spain, which will be the first international show in the awards’ history, and the nominations have now been revealed. As is usual, these nominations offer a glimpse into what Latin music is finding an audience worldwide but there are always a few surprises too.

Bizarrap’s ‘Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53’ is up for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, which is intriguing as this song was recorded for one of Bizarrap’s sessions in Argentina. Bizarrap (aka Bzrp) is an Argentine producer and he has been producing these sessions since 2018 in what appears to be his home studio in Buenos Aires. It started with him asking local rap or cumbia 420 (a very specific form of Argentine urban music) artists to freestyle over his beats, with the sessions filmed live and posted on YouTube, but it has grown and grown in popularity, becoming the place for the crème de la crème of Latin urban music to perform (with memorable performances from Residente and Snow Tha Product, to name two examples). It seems it’s now entered the mainstream, with Shakira performing and helping him get this award nod.

Natalia Lafourcade is nominated for Record of the Year for ‘De Todas Las Flores’, as is Maluma & Marc Anthony, Rosalía, Karol G and Fonseca & Juan Luis Guerra. Lafourcade is also up for Album of the Year, and several other awards. There are too many names to go through everything in the big categories, but it’s nice to see Colombia’s Monsieur Periné receive a nomination for Best Pop Song and likewise Chile’s Álex Anwandter in Best Pop/Rock Album and Venezuela’s La Vida Bohème in Best Alternative Song.

It's outside of those big categories where we find many names familiar to Songlines. In Best Traditional Tropical Album there are a bunch of albums that we have featured, though it must be said that it is a category dominated by Cuban artists: Omara Portuondo’s Vida, Estrella Acosta’s Tierra, Songs By Cuban Women and albums by Orquesta Failde, El Septeto Santiaguero and Septeto Acarey De Reynier Pérez all get the nod. Only Mexico’s La Sonora Santanera are not from Cuba, but as they based their style on Sonora Matancera, maybe this really should be the Cuban category.  

What else? There is a Best Singer-Songwriter Song nomination for Silvana Estrada, Jorge Glem y Sam Reider are a Best Instrumental Album contender, and Susana Baca, Cantares del Pacifico and Vicente García are all in with a shout of winning Best Folk Album. Xênia França is in with a worthy shout for Best Portuguese Language Contemporary Pop Album and there is plenty of Brazilian talent in the Portuguese-language/Brazilian categories, with João Donato, Tim Bernardes, Vanessa da Mata, Tulipa Ruiz, Martinho da Vila, Maria Rita, Lô Borges, Carlinhos Brown, Chico Buarque and Djavan all up for added kudos.

You can see the full list of nominations at grammy.com/news/2023-latin-grammys-complete-winners-nominees-nominations-list