Apr 18 2006
The winners are in! See the complete list of world-music related nominees here. Please note that I made predictions as to who was going to win in each of the categories, and since I've been suffering a severe gold-star withdrawal since graduating from kindergarten, I've marked all of the categories in which I "called it" with a star.Best Traditional World Music Album
*In The Heart of the Moon - Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabate
No surprise here; this album was stunning and caught a lot of people's eyes (ears?) this year. While I was secretly a little bit disappointed that my personal fave, Mamadou Diabate didn't win, I hadn't expected him to, being a relative newcomer to the scene.
Best Contemporary World Music Album
Eletracustico - Gilberto Gil
Okay, I was wayyyy off the map on this one, and I have to say that I'm pretty surprised that Gil won. Actually, I'm pretty surprised that he's hanging around the world music category at all, I would've classified him as Latin music, but that's just me. In any case, he is a fine performer and this is an excellent album and more than deserved a Grammy.
Best Reggae Album
*Welcome to Jamrock - Damian Marley
Yes, Damian Marley is the son of reggae legend Bob Marley, but no, this Grammy is not about nepotism. This is a brilliant album that has done remarkably well (it's very rare for any album to go Gold, let alone a reggae album), and Marley deserves any and all accolades that he receives!
Best Native American Album
Sacred Ground: A Tribute to Mother Earth - Various Artists
No major surprise here, this was a great album, featuring the likes of Joanne Shenandoah and Bill Miller. Generally, I prefer full-length albums of a single artist over compilations, I just feel that one person or small group's vision of what they want to create is more powerful than a random sampling, but this was a particularly well-done sampling, so I have no beef with it.
Best Hawai'ian Album
Masters of Hawai'ian Slack Key Guitar, Vol. 1 - Various Artists
While the Native American album winner was also a compilation, I think that one was better done. This "Masters" album seemed like a bit of a cop-out to me, on the part of the voters, as if they couldn't bother to listen to all of the albums so they just picked the compilation instead, figuring it'd be the best the category had to offer. I'm sure "Masters... Vol. 2" will take the cake next year as well.
Best Polka Album
*Shake, Rattle and Polka! - Jimmy Sturr and his Orchestra
Jimmy Sturr is always a safe horse to put your money on in a polka race; he's the reigning king and continues to make top-notch albums on a regular basis. Congratulations, Jimmy!
And congratulations to all of the winners and nominees! It seems clichéd to say that it's an honor just to be nominated, but in the large traditional and contemporary world music categories, keep in mind that literally thousands of albums are competing for that title every year. So hooray for everyone, and I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next.
