Cuba’s Orquesta Aragón was awarded a 2020 Latin Grammy, by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States, in the category of Traditional Tropical Album, on November 19, Prensa Latina reported.
This time around, the renowned big band won with the album Ícono, from the record label Puntilla Music, released on the occasion of the group’s 80th anniversary, offering a tribute to the legacy of the charanga genre.
Aragon band leader Rafael Lay celebrated the news along with other artists at the Cuban Institute of Music’s headquarters, in a special broadcast organized by the Ministry of Culture, PL noted.
Lay dedicated the award "to all the musicians who have been part of the band and to health personnel battling the new coronavirus epidemic. We hope that the Orquesta Aragón will continue to live on for a long time" and highlighted the imprint of his father and founder of the Orchestra, renowned as a classic exponent of Cha-cha-cha.
Nominated in the same category was the album Mariposas, by Omara Portuondo (who in the Latin Grammy’s previous edition was distinguished with the Musical Excellence Award); the Orquesta Faílde, with the album Faílde con Tumbao; and the group Changüí de Guantánamo, with the disc Este es Nuestro Changüí.