/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-ARGENTINA: Fito Paez, an Artist in Decline, Nominated for Grammy

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 16 2001 (IPS) - Argentina will have a presence at the next Grammy awards through rock musician Fito Páez, who paradoxically finds himself receiving international awards just as he is losing public and critical approval in his own country.

“I was protected from the music critics until my records started to sell,” laughed Páez shortly after learning that his second-most recent album ‘Abre’ (Open), was nominated for the Grammy award in the category for ‘best Latin rock/alternative album’.

The less-than-friendly criticisms began to appear a couple years ago when several star-watchers blamed his marriage to the notable Argentine actress Cecilia Roth for the loss of his identity as a musician committed to the perspective of people who are marginalised.

Páez’s most recent concerts -Dec. 1 and 2 – to launch his latest album ‘Rey Sol’ were poorly patronised, a fact concert organisers blame on Argentina’s economic crisis.

“Evidently, in another part of the world they are interested in what I do, and here in Argentina they are not as interested, but fine … I like that, I’ll take it as an honour,” Páez joked.

The Grammy, since 1957 the highest award organised by the US recording industry, now has 11 categories dedicated to Latin American music. This year’s awards ceremony is to be held Feb. 21 in Los Angeles, California.

For the award in his category, Páez is competing with the Chilean group La Ley and its album ‘Uno’ (One), the Mexican band El Tri (‘No podemos volar’ – We Can’t Fly), Venezuela’s Los Amigos Invisibles (‘Arepa 3000’) and the Spanish group Café Quijano (‘La Extraordinaria Paradoja del Sonido Quijano’ – The Extraordinary Paradox of the Quijano Sound)

Last year the Argentine musician won an award at the Latino version of the Grammy’s, a ceremony that originated three years ago as a result of the great popularity in the United States and throughout the world of rhythms originating in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Páez took the award for best male voice in rock for his song ‘Al lado del camino’ (By the side of the road), from the ‘Abre’ album. He also won the award for the same work in the best rock song category.

His victory made him somewhat uncomfortable and he admitted he felt that he was in a foreign environment among superstars like Colombian singer Shakira, Puerto Rico’s Ricky Martin and Mexico’s Luis Miguel.

Páez does not take his critics very seriously and prefers to interpret the slump as the media’s disappointment “with a guy who makes records, films a movie, has a wife, a son and, on top of all that, feels happy”.

The artist avoided speaking about the deeper issue that is laid bare by his Grammy nomination: the entry of Latin music into the enormous international market and its negative connotations for local critics, who had defined Páez as a rebellious rocker.

Though the organisers of the Grammy insist that the academy does not seek to reward those who have sold the most albums, but rather those who represent the highest artistic quality, the event is closely tied to recording companies, which appear to back certain artistes in order to sell more albums later.

The Mexican group El Tri, with vocalist Alex Lora, represents a kind of heavy, rebel rock, and holds strong influence in the poor and marginalised sectors of society. But, in moves that some would call “selling out”, Lora struck a deal with Mexican television giant Televisa, which he had always criticised, and even threw his support behind President Vicente Fox, of the conservative National Action Party (PAN).

For the moment, El Tri is not selling very many albums, but it is likely that sales will rise as a result of the Grammy nomination, and much more if it wins the prize in February.

The Chileans of La Ley, in what has become a clear parable of their career, decided in 1996 to move to Mexico to boost their international image, and then went on to Los Angeles.

As far as the nomination, La Ley’s vocalist Beto Cuevas told the Santiago newspaper ‘El Mercurio’ that they do not have high hopes, given that in the Latino version of the Grammy, the group was nominated for best album, best song and best video, but did not win in any division.

In any case, he said, they prefer to revel in the success of their nominated album, ‘Uno,’ which was “recognised in many countries, and even Chile,” and that thanks to the new recording they are once again stars in their own country.

The Spanish rockers of Café Quijano, a group with heavy influences from Caribbean music and which crossed over to rock with the album ‘La Extraordinaria Paradoja’, acknowledge that the Grammy nomination has come at a time when their music is taking off in Spain and in Latin America.

Los Amigos Invisibles, from Venezuela, are also at a high point in their country, with a strong presence in the media and brisk album sales.

Their music remains within the rock genre, though with typical touches of Venezuelan music, as the title of their album indicates, ‘Arepa 3000’, an ‘arepa’ is a corn flour dumpling that often accompanies the main course of a Venezuelan meal.