Los Angeles, Nov 27(ANI): Latin jazz musicians Bobby Sanabria, Mark Levine, Ben Lapidus and Eugene Marlow have sued the organisers of the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards for scrapping the Latin jazz category gongs and thus "devaluing" the genre.
The move comes after the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Naras) has reduced the number of awards to 78, as compared to 109 in 2010.
Under the new move, previous gongs for Hawaiian, Native American and Cajun music now constitute "regional roots" award, contemporary, traditional blues have been merged into blues, and Latin music categories have been reduced from seven categories to four, and Latin jazz has been dropped.
The musicians have slammed the reduction in the number of gongs in the event as 'racist'.
The San Francisco Arts Commission had earlier passed a resolution against the move, and described the omitted categories as "music genres that are truly reflective of the contemporary musical landscape and cultural diversity of the United States".
"When you notice that more than 70 per cent of the categories that have been cut are racially or ethnically based, then you have to say something," the Independent quoted Sanabria, as saying.
"People at the academy are so culturally insensitive that they don't know what they've done is racist. But it is. I was hoping that people like Sting and Bono would rally and say something, but they haven't. People don't say anything when it doesn't affect them," he added.
Naras countered the allegations saying its decision was prompted by a desire to be fair.
"A great deal of research, discussion and evaluation led to a call for change, embracing the idea that a transformation of the entire awards structure would ensure that each genre would be treated in parity to others," a Naras statement said. (ANI)
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