Editorial

Attention Musicians:  LARAS (The Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) adds “Best Tropical Fusion Album” Category

In a May 10, 2012 news release, LARAS announced a few changes to the categories for the 2012 Latin GRAMMY awards.   Of special interest to musicians that play progressive music is the new category “Best Tropical Fusion Album”.   It remains to be seen what types of groups and recordings will be recognized in this new category,  but this appears to be a change similar to what we suggested in these pages in 2011 as a way to help distinguish  the newer forms of music from the older styles of  tropical dance music.   We encourage musicians that play Timba, Cuban Funk and other experimental or “mixed” tropical music to learn as much as possible about this new category because this may be a more appropriate place to submit your recording than Best Contemporary Tropical Album now.   

Two recent examples of tropical fusion - Palo! and Interactivo

Timba.com salutes LARAS for the category expansion and hopes that this will also help provide an opportunity for more recognition of groups playing Timba, Fusion, Cuban Funk etc.  in the United States, Cuba and beyond.