Sunday night’s 54^th GRAMMY awards show was a good night for music lovers.  From the Boss’ opening number, to a Beach Boys reunion, to a number of moving tributes to departed artists, to Sir Paul closing the show, the GRAMMY’s put talent, hard work and a passion for the craft of songwriting and music making on display.

While the Staples Center gleamed with glamorous gowns and familiar faces, many of the winners were less well known to the general public.  People like Paul Epworth, who won trophies as the producer and co-writer of Adele’s Record and Song of the Year Rolling in the Deep as well as the Top Producer of the Year, Non-Classical award.  There were also nearly 70 awards presented during the pre-broadcast that honored artists that may not yet be household names and to people who labor behind the scenes like Caroline Robert, the art director for Arcade Fire’s Scenes From the Suburbs, who took home the trophy for Best Recording Package.  During the television broadcast, music’s biggest night was all about the voice from memorials for the legendary voices of Etta James, and Whitney Houston, to the coronation of the newest big voice, Adele.  It also gave voice to artists like Dave Grohl, who after winning the GRAMMY for Best Rock Performance (one of five wins for the Foo Fighters that night) reminded all watching that “the human element of making music is what’s most important.  Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do.”

Neil Portnow, President and CEO of the Recording Academy, summed up the night well when he said, “The power of music is legendary. Music inspires, brings joy, hope, and heals. And nowhere is that more true than on our GRAMMY stage.”  He also encouraged all in attendance and watching to lend their voices as advocates for music, saying: “We take care of protecting the ability of our artists, songwriters, and studio professionals to earn a living creating the soundtrack of our lives. Sure, there’s an ongoing debate about how to do that in today’s changing digital world. But there should be no debate about the need for creators to be fairly compensated. So let’s work together — creators, fans and the tech community — to ensure that the music keeps playing for generations to come. “

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 5:53 pm by Sandra Aistars and is filed under creativity, creators. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.