The 2010 Alternativa Grammy Award Winner Is…

As I’ve mentioned before, my favorite music genre is Alternative–in both English and Spanish. So for the 2010 Grammy Awards on Sunday the category I was focusing on was Best Latin Rock, Alternative, or Urban Album.

As might be expected, it was rappers Calle 13 who walked away with the prize. (They came away from the 2009 Latin Grammy’s with a wheel barrow full of trophies).

It’s too bad they lump three distinctive types of Latin music (Rock, Alternative, and Urban) all into one category. It’s like deciding between They Might Be Giants or Kanye West.

Oddly, there are separate categories for “Best Tejano Album” and “Best Regional Mexican Album.”

If it were up to me, I would have focused on the more Alternative-sounding choices:

• Natalia Lafourcade (Mexico City), or
• Aterciopelados (Colombia)

This is “No Viniste” (you didn’t come) from Lafourcade’s 2009 album Hu Hu Hu:

I don’t understand why Aterciopelados (means “the velvity ones” in English) was even up for a Grammy for their album Rio, which was released in 2008.

But this man-woman duo from Colombia is worth a listen. They were the gateway drug that got me hooked on the alternative Latin music scene.

Their best album was Gozo Poderoso (2001), which had them performing in mainstream U.S. venues like the Tonight Show. Aterciopelados caught the attention of NPR’s Studio 360, when it did a radio segment and blog post last weekend on Colombian music.

One of the things I like about Latin Alt. is that sometimes I detect English Alt. influences. But the recently released Vampire Weekend album suggests that things are starting to come full circle.

The first track of their album is entitled “Horchata” —a traditional Mexican drink. On the Ritmo Latino Facebook Fanpage, Neil Hohmann observed that another song on Vampire Weekend’s album–”Diplomat’s Son”– sounds suspiciously like the Mexican Sound Institute.

You can listen to Vampire Weekend’s entire album on their website for free.

Got any Latin music recommendations?