Things aren’t going well for the Latin jazz musicians who stormed the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences headquarters
in February, 23,000 signatures in hand. The group, who have been
protesting the Grammys’ decision last year to cut the number of awards
by 30 percent (a significant number of which affected the Latin jazz
genre), have been shut down by a New York judge in their endeavors to
sue the NARAS, claiming irreparable harm to their livelihoods.
According to an Associated Press report, the lawsuit, which also contends that the cut from 109 categories to 78 for this year’s awards
was not only made out of line with “proper procedures” but is
prejudicial towards ethnic groups whose cultural musics — Hawaiian,
zydeco and American Indian among then — have now been cut off from
national recognition, was dismissed by New York State Supreme Court
Justice Jeffrey Oing, in favor of NARAS president Neil Portnow’s claim
that the changes were “very clear in the eyes of our legal system.
