Calle 13 tops Latin Grammy winners
Hip-hop duo Calle 13 won album of the year at the Latin Grammy Awards Thursday in Las Vegas, earning the top prize after a record-breaking night that saw the Puerto Rican brothers receive the 19th award of their career.
Earlier in the night, the socially charged rap group made history and won its 18th award: song of the year for "Latinoamérica." That broke the record for most awards previously held by 17-time winner Juanes.
"Today, the music triumphed," frontman René Pérez Joglar said in Spanish at Mandalay Bay.
Calle 13 was up for 10 awards in all Thursday and took home all but one because they were nominated twice for album of the year for their work on Shakira’s "Sale el Sol." The Caribbean group’s anti-establishment album "Entren Los Que Quieran" lent a political overtone to the annual awards show, with its lyrics that slam the White House and the Vatican while celebrating the joys of being poor.
One of the most controversial songs, "Calma Pueblo," won best alternative song, with its lyrics that call the Vatican the largest mafia in the world. The group also won producer of the year, best short-form music video and best tropical song for its ode to behaving badly, "Vamo’ A Portarnos Mal." Those awards all came before the show started, during a pre-telecast ceremony.
Calle 13 opened the show with an emotional rendition of its Hispanic anthem "Latinoamérica" before going on to win the prize for best urban music album, best urban song, song of the year and record of the year for "Latinoamérica."
"May this transport you to your roots, your streets … and may you feel it here in your chest," Joglar said in Spanish before the rousing performance, dedicating the song to Latin Americans.
In many ways, they hogged the spotlight from the other nominees. Even Shakira, the Latin Recording Academy’s person of the year, came home with only one award for best female pop vocal album after Calle 13 swept the show.
"We know that we aren’t the ones who get played on the radio … but the people who don’t sell themselves for money and make real music," said Joglar, who goes by the stage name Residente, speaking in Spanish after accepting the award for best urban song.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rican newcomer Sie7e was named best new artist. He performed his Spanglish love song "Tengo Tu Love" with Mexican-American rapper Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas.
"Another one for Puerto Rico," Sie7e cried after accepting his gramophone.
The awards show was a blend of genres and talents, as performers from nearly 100 countries gathered for a night of Spanish pop, rock, salsa, rap and country.