GRAMMY WATCH - World Music and Reggae Categories - Picks & Predictions

While my personal growing love for world music, most notably the poetry and rhythms of Reggae, some artists I have come to love went unnoticed this year. Some of these lesser known about Grammy fields have a seemingly separate set of rules, and eligibility ends August 31st now - as opposed to the many years when the awards year ended the end of September. Not sure if that has anything to do with NAS & Damien Jr. Gong Marley's sensational and instantly classic Distant Relatives album or Gyptian's triumphant breakthrough effort with Hold You not being nominated in the reggae category or not, but these two omissions peeved me the morning the Grammy nominations were announced.

PLEASE tell me it is a simple release date issue and they will have a chance next year. Clearly, these two discs were two of the best albums of the year, let alone 'reggae' albums and for them to not be Grammy nominated gives me a headache. LOL. Now, don't get me wrong, the six nominated albums are not chopped liver. The fact that none of them topped the charts on Billboard leads me to also believe that either Billboard needs to expand the cap on their Reggae chart or the musical genre is growing faster than people can track and chart it.

Either way, steps need to be taken to get these Reggae and World Music artists more airplay, sales and recognition. Their booming sounds and percussive passion is like heaven.

Best Reggae Album

The fact that Gregory Isaacs left this earth last year without ever getting a Grammy mention is disturbing to me. I hope the voters feel the same way and give him a posthumous win here. The competition is fierce though, Buju Banton, Lee Perry, Bob Sinclair, Sly & Robbie and Andrew Tosh's heartfelt tribute to legendary Peter Tosh were all finely made albums (again supporting my argument about the broader appeal this genre has obtained in recent years). It just all goes back to Gregory Isaacs for me, and with such a vast amount of his hundreds of recordings and his crossover appeal to Children's music and R&B - he should get the Grammy he should have gotten way before now.

My Pick & Prediction:

ISAACS MEETS ISAAC

Gregory Isaacs & King Isaac

[King Isaac Music]

Best Traditional World Music Album

If the Soweto Gospel Choir doesn't get a Grammy win in the Classical categories they are mentioned in, I think they will definitely win here. Their sounds is about as close to God one can get, musically. Truly, a triumphant and joyous story - and recording.

My Pick & Prediction:

GRACE

Soweto Gospel Choir

[Shanachie Entertainment]

Best Contemporary World Music Album

Bela Fleck is, and will always be hard to beat. Anyone who knows the history, knows this.

...but I liked what I heard from Sergio Mendes a little bit more.

My Pick:

BOM TEMPO

Sergio Mendes

[Concord Records]

My Prediction:

THROW DOWN YOUR HEART , AFRICA SESSIONS

PART 2: UNRELEASED TRACKS

Béla Fleck

[Acoustic Planet Records]

The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards will be telecast live on Sunday, February 13, 2011 on CBS at 8pm, EST. For complete coverage and full nominees list, please visit the Grammy site.