美国国家公共电台 NPR--Grammys announce 3 new categories will be added to 2024's awards show

Grammys announce 3 new categories will be added to 2024's awards show

Transcript¹

The Grammys are expanding, again. The newly added categories are: best pop dance recording², best African music performance and best alternative jazz album.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Amid a ratings slump³, the biggest legacy⁴ awards show in music is going even bigger by adding new categories. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE⁵: The Grammys have been experimenting with adding categories and changing the rules. Last year, it added five - including video game soundtracks and spoken word poetry albums. This year's new categories are best pop dance recording, best alternative jazz album and best African music performance.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREE MIND")

TEMS: (Vocalizing).

ULABY: Music critic Walton Muyumba is also a professor at Indiana University. He says the Grammys are obviously trying to stay relevant and trading on the popularity of such stars as the Nigerian-born Burna Boy, who could headline a U.S. stadium, and the singer Tems, who has been ruling airplay charts.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREE MIND")

TEMS: (Singing) Yeah, yeah, my mind. Yeah, yeah, my mind.

ULABY: But Muyumba has a question about the Grammys' new categories.

WALTON MUYUMBA: So what are you going to do with Angelique Kidjo?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DIGNITY")

ANGELIQUE KIDJO: (Singing) Were you dey (ph) yesterday when the gunman shoot men down?

ULABY: Kidjo is a Beninese French singer, a New Yorker on the Grammy board of trustees who's won multiple Grammys for music that defies categorization.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DIGNITY")

KIDJO: (Singing in non-English language).

MUYUMBA: 'Cause it's not exactly jazz or dance or world music. It may, in fact, be all of that stuff. I'm also thinking about an artist like Pierre Kwenders - Pierre Kwenders, who comes to Montreal, I believe, from Congo Kinshasa. He can sing in English, in Lingala, in French.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PAPA WEMBA")

PIERRE KWENDERS: (Singing in non-English language).

MUYUMBA: Is Kwenders world music? Is he African music? Is he North American music?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PAPA WEMBA")

KWENDERS: (Singing in non-English language).

MUYUMBA: Does it matter? I'm sure he would love a Grammy in whatever category.

ULABY: Many new Grammy categories seem to be about making up for overlooking certain kinds of music and musicians in the past, Muyumba says.

MUYUMBA: It's like if they keep making new categories, at some point they can catch everyone. But I'm not sure that that's going to work or not.

ULABY: There's something that feels a little algorithmic, he says, about creating specific Grammy categories for musicians who explode them. And you cannot help but notice there are categories now for Latin and African music, but everything else is just world. Muyumba says, after all, when you listen to music, you do not listen to a type of music. You just listen to something you love.

Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOVE ON UP")

KIDJO: (Singing) Just move on up and peace you'll find.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

3 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

4 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。