Monday, February 14, 2011

It has been a while....

I would think the win of Arcade Fire from Montreal had to be a bit of a surprise to the folks gathered in LA for the 53rd annual Grammy Awards.

In our house, this surprise win was observed by one fewer as our 13 year daughter left the viewing of the broadcast after her idle Justin Bieber failed in his bid to win a Grammy for "Best New Artist".

"No one even knows who she is...", opined my daughter. "The only reason she is trending so high on Twitter is b/c all the JB fans are trying to figure out who she is....".

I was inclined to agree.

Indie band Arcade Fire restored my shaken faith in the Grammy's as they are a dynamite band with an original sound, superior musicianship and unique song writing. Not what you would call a pop sensation or something that I even expected to be nominated, let alone win.

The same holds true for the win of Esperanza Spalding as best "new" artist, both crushing my 13 year old daughter and making a lot of people go..... WHO?

Well as it turns out she is a rather amazing artist, although an argument could be made to question the "new" label. Mind, she certainly was new to me and my 13 year old daughter.

From Huffington Post, Esperanza Spalding may have won the Grammy for Best New Artist, but some have reveled in her talent for years.

A 26-year old, classically trained jazz/chamber music fusion musician and singer, Spalding has been making headlines in the jazz world since before her 2006 debut solo album, "Junjo." Having attended the Berklee Academy of Music, where she immediately became a professor after graduating at 20 years old, she began to travel with well known jazz musicians -- and then, the President.

Showing prescient hipness, President Obama selected Spalding to perform at the Oslo City Hallwhen he accepted his 2009 Nobel Prize, as well as at a White House poetry jam.

"Chamber Music Society" is actually her eighth overall album, including her teenage band and collaborations with famous jazz musicians. But she's still excited to be considered Best New Artist.

"I feel really lucky that I got to be acknowledged on this stage in front of so many people who hopefully will get to experience my music, and I got there by doing what's really dear to my heart," she told the AP after her win.

To earn the Grammy, she beat out an impressive field, including teen idol Justin Bieber, rapper Drake and band Florence + The Machine. Beliebers, as Bieber's are known, hacked into her Wikipedia page after the upset win, making changes such as saying she won, "even though no one has heard of her."

Clearly, that's not the case.

Best tweet I saw during the broadcast went something like this:

"Lady Gaga has done one red carpet dressed in meat and now in an egg, she's two awards shows away from being a Denny's GrandSLAM...."