According
to the miamiherald.com,
Univision's Latin music
awards show, Premio
Lo Nuestro, cut back
in more ways than one
in this recession-strapped
year. Thursday night's
show took place at the
BankUnited Center in
Coral Gables, a much
smaller venue than the
AmericanAirlines Arena,
where it had been held.
The
cutbacks weren't just
in size, with few big
production numbers and
a smaller live audience.
Musically the show felt
reduced too, with fewer
stars and an almost
complete lack of new
talent. The past year
has seen no major new
acts or trends in Latin
music, and the lack
of energy was apparent
in a show that often
felt frozen or even
regressive in style.
The
winners at Premio Lo
Nuestro are so predictably
the same that, with
a few changes, you could
almost copy the same
list of artists each
year. This year the
big winners were urban
bachata group Aventura,
which won four awards,
for Tropical Album,
Group, Song and Traditional
Tropical Artist of the
Year. They were followed
by Colombian rock star
Juanes, who won all
three Rock categories,
for Album, Artist and
Song of the Year. Enrique
Iglesias took home awards
for Pop Album and Pop
Song of the Year, and
reggaeton duo Wisin
y Yandel also took home
two, for Urban Album
and Urban Song of the
Year.
OTHER WINNERS
Flex,
a Panamanian newcomer
whose reggaeton lite
song Te Quiero has been
a big hit, took home
the prize for Urban
Song of the Year. And
Luis Fonsi, a pop singer-songwriter
who has had a breakout
year with his album
Palabras del Silencio,
won Pop Male Artist
of the Year.
Many of the best moments
were the nonmusical
ones. President Barack
Obama surprised the
audience with a video
address, arousing screams
by saying ''Buenas noches''
and ''Premio lo Nuestro''
in Spanish, and chants
of ''Si se puede'' afterwards.
''I want to thank all
of you who voted in
that other election,''
Obama said. ``Even if
it wasn't for me.''
Maribel Nesuda, who
came from Texas for
the show, said she was
impressed, although
she hadn't voted for
Obama last November.
'''It shocked me --
it's the president!''
she said. ``I can't
believe, with this economy,
that he's taking the
time to say a few words
for this.''
The
host, comedian Eugenio
Derbez, supplied some
much needed irreverence,
announcing his candidacy
for president (''It'll
cost less, because they
pay us Latinos less
for the same work'')
and showing off a poster
with the slogan Green
Go (a Mexican phrase
that's the origin of
the word gringo).
Premio opened with Wisin
y Yandel descending
from the ceiling with
dancers in devil/angel
gear hanging from trapezes
and bouncing on bungee
cords. But many of the
production numbers were
teeth-grittingly cheesy.
Mexican rockera Alejandra
Guzman, honored for
20 years in music, tried
to defy her age by wearing
too little lingerie,
rolling on a giant bed,
and bouncing in a flouncy
tutu.
CROWDED STAGE
With a smaller,
simpler production it
would have made sense
to focus on the music,
but most numbers featured
two or more artists,
often in more than one
song: Enrique Iglesias
with Wisin y Yandel,
Flex with PeeWee, and
Franco de Vita, Latin
America's Billy Joel,
with Mexican regional
group K-Paz de la Sierra.
And despite numerous
jokes about merengue
singer Elvis Crespo,
who was recently charged
with masturbating on
a plane from Houston
to Miami, Crespo appeared,
grinning, to present
the award for Urban
Album of the Year.
