Brazil's Maria Rita, daughter of one of her home country's biggest ever music stars, the late Elis Regina, got considerable recognition last night at the fifth Latin Grammys in LA, taking the awards for Best New Artist and Most Popular Brazilian Album. She was among an eclectic mix of winners at the event which covered an impressive array of performers from the Latin music world, though not so many that will be familiar to the mainstream audience in America.
One of the best known among the winners was probably Spain's Alejandro Sanz, a top selling artist in his home country and Latin America, who took the awards for Best Song, Best Album, Best Male Pop Album and Record of the Year.
The distribution of awards to lesser known and more alternative Latin artists is a change of direction for the Latin Grammys, which in the past have been dominated by more mainstream artists like Ricky Martin. The move is sure to delight the Latin music community, although it may make the event less attractive to broadcaster CBS who look to secure as big a mainstream audience for the awards programme as possible.