I caught this performance at New York's "Dizzy's Coca Cola" a posh club connected with Lincoln Center that overlooks Columbus Circle.

Although Claudia Acuña is a full fledged jazz singer, her repertoire still reflects her Chilean origins, and she presented several jazz settings of songs from its folk heritage.

"El Cigaritto" is by the iconic songwriter Victor Hara, whose work is almost synonymous with the protest songs of the  Nuevo Cancion movement that arose in Chile in the 1970's. He was publicly tortured and executed by the Pinochet regime, and must remain one of Chile's great political martyrs. But we must not let his terrible end overshadow the fact that he was also a great songwriter. "El Cigaritto" does not make any overt political statement. It is instead a gentle song with a lovely melody and a poetic lyric sung from the vantage point of a field worker on a tobacco plantation.

Claudia and her band have created a setting that not only preserves the spirit of the song, but enhances the melody with nuanced chord progressions and a different meter. It's a sensitive, loving interpretation. She has stated that Jara's work is very close to her heart, and she recorded three of his songs on her first CD.

You can go here to compare this rendition with Jara's.

It's official. Latin jazz artist Bobby Sanabria will be suing the Grammys over their recent category restructuring. At a press conference at the law offices of Balber Pickard Maldonado and Van Der Truin, Mr. Sanabria, a four time Grammy nominee read his own explanation of the reasons, as he sees it, for the action. I will let him and his council speak for themselves, before throwing in my two cents:

Unlike Mr. Sanabria, I have always thought of the televised Grammys show as a carefully packaged main stream media program, calculated to maximize the sale of goods. When a friend of mine won a Grammy, she did not receive her award on air, nor did she expect to, it having been in an "ethnic" category and unlikely to raise the profit margins of the show's various sponsors. Whether they ought to or not, the general public does not tune in to see awards for Best Hawaiian Slack-key Guitar, or Best Native American music. (I invite comments on this topic.)

But is this what the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (as opposed to the broadcast) is predicated upon? According to the Wikipedia, NARAS is an "organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its makers." That is a far cry from how it is currently represented on air, or where it is veering with this decision. By lumping together certain ethnic musical forms, it makes it far harder for the artists involved in those genres to get the Bona Fides that the Grammy award bestows, and the career benefits thereof. And it shows a shocking ignorance -- at best, heedless and dismissive -- of what these various genres are really about.

Since they refuse to divulge the minutes of the meetings that led to the decision, we are left to imagine the true motivations and the conversations that took place. Where was the need for the "streamlining?" Did it have anything to do with financial troubles: an overextended budget, a cutting back of foundation support, and a diminishing membership? Perhaps Latin Jazz was eliminated since "they have their own Grammys" or because "Jazz is Jazz" (both can-of-worms discussions which I am sure they would not want put up for an open debate). Did CBS' or any major label's input affect the decision directly or through other means? Exactly who voted for or against? Which of them was an expert in the fields that were affected? -- Or were the panels all made up of Pop, Rock, R&B and Rap aficionados? One could go on, but I don't wonder that NARAS refuses to disclose the information demanded by Mr. Maldonado's firm. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't. And I don't mean that sympathetically. I mean, what did they expect?

While some of the category winnowing is not dreadful, (best male or female pop vocals are now merged into "Best Pop Vocal") some categories need further expansion, not compression. Best Traditional World Music and Best Contemporary World Music are already inadequate, vague categories, and have been reduced to Best World Music Album…grrrrr… By the way, Tex-Mex, Zydeco, Cajun, Hawaiian, Native American and yes, polka, ARE World Music!
For whatever reasons it may give, NARAS has made a heavy-handed blunder, and after stirring up this hornet's nest, it is responding autocratically. By remaining inflexible, it does itself a great disservice. Even as it, along with the music industry, may be grappling with economic downturns and a changing landscape, it is obligated to stay true to its founding tenets by supporting all the music its membership is dedicated to. Members who were knowledgeable in the fields most affected should have been consulted in these decisions, those decisions should have been announced with sufficient time given for preparation by the artists, and secrecy was not the way to go. In excluding its constituency on such crucial matters, NARAS has placed its own credibility at risk.

For more information regarding action on this issue go to: www.grammywatch.org

Click here to see the categories as they were and as they now are.

Malika Zarra has had to negotiate the world of her heritage (Morocco) and the world she has found herself in (Europe, the USA) and has emerged with a strong musical identity that combines the structures of jazz with songs that come from her North African heart. She brought the music of her latest release "Berber Taxi" on Motema Records to the intimate NY club, the Jazz Standard, and from my perch on a bar stool, above the audience -- and the waiters delivering slabs of barbecue -- I caught the title track on video.

Zarra has a warm and caressing presence, and she introduced this traditional song that she learned from her mother by telling of how in remote villages, sometimes one hopes that a taxi will come from far away, bringing love. But the song also operates as a metaphor for Zarra's own inner journey through Morocco, France and New York City. She grew up listening to traditional music in her home, but was introduced to jazz after the family moved to France, where her formal musical studies began. Throughout the evening, the cadences of Arabic and Berber dialects sat easily within the sophisticated arrangements, as did the modalities of the melodies. By the end of her set, the audience was thoroughly entranced.

Musicians in the top-notch band that night, were Jean-Christophe Maillard on guitar, Etienne Stadwijk on piano, Mamadou Ba on bass, Harvey Wirht on drums, and Brahim Fribgane on oud and percussion.

I also liked the room. The Jazz Standard has a welcoming feel, and I found myself chatting with a very interesting couple who live on a boat, and make it a point to come to the club whenever they are in town. But when the music began, cell phones were off, and ears were turned on, giving complete attention to the music.

For more information about Ms. Zarra's upcoming performances, visit www.malikazarra.com

Once again, I am bringing you a performance from one of New York's many small venues which are outlets for all the talent that is attracted to the city. The Caffe Vivaldi is a tiny, informal place in the West Village of New York. It has live music regularly; mostly singer songwriters. On this night Neil Pearlman brought his ensemble, and proceeded to expand the palette of Scottish music with healthy injections of Jazz harmonies and Latin rhythms. I had gotten a shout from Rachel over at Rock Paper Scissors publicity, and so I grabbed my camcorder and hoped for the best.

The band played mostly songs from Pearlman's new CD "Coffee & the Mojo Hat" along with some new tunes they were working up. Regarding this performance, Neil says: "That set... in particular is centered around the tune called the Sailor's Wife. It is interesting because I alter a traditional jig (6/8 time) and turn it into a 2/2 Latin groove. In order to bring that alteration out for people who don't already know the tune I start it off in its traditional form before bringing in the rest of the band."

I found the music to be a sweet hybrid because Pearlman, who has been performing Scottish and Cape Breton music with his family since he was a kid, obviously truly loves the trad stuff. And though he has felt the need to break out of the strict interpretations of the melodies, that affection never departs. The ensemble also has an amiable sound, everyone plays well, and although my video does not quite capture it, drummer Alex Cohen's precise yet relaxed rudiments are real ear candy.

Neil can be reached at www.neilpearlman.com

Click here for another performance by Neil Pearlman.

For more of Michal's original world music videos visit inter-muse.com

Jazz has traveled the world and I had definitely planned to check some out when I was in Taipei.  I had invites to hang at the various clubs in town, but ended up too weirdly jet-lagged to partake of any nightlife (25 sleepless hours of travel will do that...). But I had heard about Sizhukong, a jazz ensemble featuring two Berklee grads, Yuwen Peng on keyboards, and Toshi Fujii, who plays bass here in my video, but who usually plays the drums. I was able to make a daytime appointment and went to see them during one of their rehearsals. I found the combination of traditional Chinese instruments and jazz sensibilities to be surprisingly successful, thanks to thoughtful arrangements and good material.

A quick note: Yuwen Peng was born and raised in Taiwan, and returned there after graduation from Berklee with a mission to create a jazz with Taiwanese character. The composition "I Remember Formosa" was written while she was at Berklee. It's easy to imagine her recalling the modalities she was raised with to write the piece, and it's lovely to hear it now, arranged for Erhu (violin), Dizi (flute) and Ruan (lute).