Native American Music CategoryCut From the Grammy Awards

this year

Carissa EppersonNovember 4, 2011

Grammy AwardsMusic’s Biggest Night

The Grammy Awards is a ceremony created by The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding musical achievements. The Grammy Award was established in 1958. Originally the award was called the Gramophone Awards. The Award Ceremony was promoted to be the daddy of all award shows.

The first ceremony was held on May 4, 1959 to honor musicians for their accomplishments for the previous year. There were

only 26 categories the first year.

Best Vocal Performance, MalePerry Como – Catch A Fallen Star

Best Vocal Performance, FemaleElla Fitzgerald- Duke of Ellingotn Song Book

The categories have grown over the years from 26-109

Record of the YearSong of the yearBest rock song

Best Urban/Alternative music

2001 Grammy Award for Best Native American Music Album

The Grammy Award for Best Native American Music Album is an award presented at the 43rd Grammy Awards Ceremony (2001) to recording artists for quality albums in the Native American music genre.

Ellen Bello, founder of the Native American Music Awards and the Native American Music Association fought three years to get Native American Music as a category. Previous to 2001 Native American Music was not represented as its’ own category.

According to the category description guide for the 52nd Grammy Awards, the award is presented to "vocal or instrumental Native American music albums containing at least 51% playing time of newly recorded music", with the intent to honor recordings of a more "traditional nature".

Per Allbusiness.com 2001 The creation of a Native American music category for the 43rd annual Grammy Awards in 2001 brought long overdue mainstream recognition to one of the most vital and diverse genres in contemporary music.

“Today, Native American pop is standing in the wings," says j. poet, who has written extensively on the subject for the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS). "It's a position not dissimilar to that of alternative rock at the end of the '80s, and there are several Native artists ready to take the music to the next level.

Bill Miller, Native American ArtistWon 2 Grammys since 2001

Mary YoungbloodNorthern California Native American FlutistShe won 2 Grammy Awards

The Native American Music Awards also known as the “Nammies” has been celebrating the accomplishments of Native American Artist since 1998

What did it mean to people when the Native American category was introduced in 2001?I think it was a coup. It was really exciting because it would be a recognition of the types of Native American music that are out there. It's so diverse. It was also in a few of our minds in the industry: How will this carry through because of the diversity? You have traditional music, traditional mixed with contemporary—it just goes on and on. Those were some of the first questions, but overall, the category being included was a victory.

What did it mean to people when the Native American category was introduced in 2001?I think it was a coup. It was really exciting because it would be a recognition of the types of Native American music that are out there. It's so diverse. It was also in a few of our minds in the industry: How will this carry through because of the diversity? You have traditional music, traditional mixed with contemporary—it just goes on and on. Those were some of the first questions, but overall, the category being included was a victory.

Melissa Sanchez , co-owner of Emergence Productions answered in an interview with Albi.com

What did it mean to people when the Native American category was introduced in 2001?

I think it was a coup. It was really exciting because it would be a recognition of the types of Native American music that are out there. It's so diverse. It was also in a few of our minds in the industry: How will this carry through because of the diversity? You have traditional music, traditional mixed with contemporary—it just goes on and on. Those were some of the first questions, but overall, the category being included was a victory

The Native American Grammy Award Category lasted a decade. The removal of the category stunned many people.

The La Times Reported

“All categories will remain, they'll just be found in different genres," said President and Chief Executive Neil Portnow. "The message isn't about cutting, it's about changing the way we present the awards. We welcome all artists who make music in the Grammy process, it's just going to look a little different."Since 1959, the number of award categories has expanded from an original 28, evolving one category at a time on a piecemeal basis and "without an overall vision," Portnow said. The result has been more of a "collage," he said, "without a continuity across the various genre fields." The restructuring, he said, would give the Grammys a more cohesive structure that better mirrors the current musical landscape.

Cont.

Academy officials said that the restructuring process began in 2009, when the organization initiated a comprehensive evaluation of both the award categories and voting procedures. The awards and nominations committee spent more than a year on the review, said five-time Grammy Award-winner and songwriter/record producer Jimmy Jam. It then submitted its recommendations to the Recording Academy's board of trustees."We tried to make the numbers match up and be fair across the board," said Jam, who was chairman of the board of trustees at that time and also served on the awards and nominations committee

Neil Portnon said at the press conference“Diligent research, careful analysis, and thoughtful discussion of all Fields resulted in an overarching framework and a restructuring of Categories to 78, and ensures that every submission continues to have a home”

According to the Trading PostIt’s disappointing to hear that they’re taking these,” said Bill Birdsong Miller, a Native American artist who has won three GRAMMYS (in 2005, 2006, and 2010) and was in town last week to participate in a formal effort by NARAS members to ask the Academy to reconsider its decision.”We weren’t alerted to the fact that they were about to change our categories. We weren’t asked if it mattered to us. It just happened.”Cont.

“It doesn’t work,” said Miller, who has performed with the likes ofTori Amos, Pearl Jam and the BoDeans. “Our categories was one of the most strange, to me, categories. If you put every Hawaiian music CD ever made next to every native one, they wouldn’t even match. They’re not the same. They don’t use our native flutes, they don’t use our language. The same with Zydeco and Cajun.”

“It ups the game in terms of what it takes to receive a GRAMMY and preserves the great esteem (with) which it’s held in the creative community, which is the most important element,” Academy President and CEO Neil Portnow told the Associated Press. “That’s appropriate. We are talking about the most prestigious, coveted award and it should be a high bar in terms of the measurement of receiving that.”

Miller, who plays native flute and guitar and writes his own songs, says the competition will devolve into a numbers game.“What’s going to happen in our category, it’s voting by numbers,” Miller said. “So let’s say Zydeco or Cajun get more votes that year than Hawaiian or native, then that will be the top category and the rest will not get any Grammys. So we’re sort of fighting against each other. We’re all trying to outdo each other. Which we don’t want to do.”Miller said it’s similar to moves he has seen regarding native communities throughout history.

In response to the elimination of the Native American category

“As a Native American person, I am intimately aware - and continually reminded - of the lack of understanding about Native people and culture by mainstream American society. This lack extends to the perceptions of our music as well, and I have spent my entire career battling against unbelievable misconceptions, stereotypes and even outright racism.”

Author unknown

Notwithstanding the above quote, most people including Native American do not believe the removal was not based on race.

Native Americans can still compete in any category for the Grammy award based on genre. It is believed that this new classification will make it more difficult and more competitive.

In conclusion, Native American music has been around for a long time. Being honored and recognized as its own for one decade, helped to bring Native American to the main streem venue.

Although many are disappointed in the removal of the category, I personally like the idea of reduced categories. At some point one has to question the prestige of the award when so many people are receiving them. Some people in the music industry are believing the award has become a promotion for the music industry.

Looking back at the creation of the award, only 26 artist were recognized.

Woks Cited(n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2011, from allbusiness.com: http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-retail-stores-not/4665655-1.html(n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2011, from enotes: http://www.enotes.com/topic/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Native_American_Music_AlbumDeMarco, M. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2011, from Albi: http://alibi.com/feature/36918/Grammys-Ditch-the-Native-American-Category.htmlGrammies 1958. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2011, from Infoplease: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0150535.htmlTrading Post. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2011, from http://blog.theautry.org/2011/06/15/native-american-music-and-the-grammy-awards/Wild, D. (2007). And the Grammy Goes To.... Ann Arbor: State Street Press.