The Recording Academy announced this Friday the list of nominees for the Grammy 2026 and about a dozen Cuban artists could win a prize at the 68th edition of the most important music awards worldwide.
The “Best Latin Tropical Album” and “Best Latin Jazz Album” categories are practically dominated by Cuban music.
In the tropical Latin area, the renowned singer Gloria Estefan is nominated with her album Roots and the Cuban bassist, singer and producer Alain Pérez with Bingo.
Along with them, Grupo Niche, Gilberto Santa Rosa and Rubén Blades along with Roberto Delgado & Orquesta also aspire to the award. The latter were included with the disc Photographswhich features the collaborations of several Santiago artists such as the group Azabache from Cuba, the producer Alden González and the sound engineer Damián Busqueta.
Meanwhile, in the “Best Latin Jazz Album” section, three of the five nominations have Cuban names.
They compete the disk The Fleur de Cayenneby the famous clarinetist and saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera together with the Madrid-New York Connection Band; the album A Tribute to Benny Moré and Nat King Coleby pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, along with saxophonists Yainer Horta and Joey Calveiro; and production The Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chano and Chico by Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, along with Pedrito Martínez, Daymé Arocena, Melvis Santa, Jon Faddis and Donald Harrison.
O’Farril himself and his group have another of the nominations in this section with their album Water World-Celebrating Carla Bleyand the Puerto Rican Miquel Zenón and his quartet occupy another seat with the album Underground Vanguard: Live at The Village Vanguard.
The young Cuban violinist, singer and composer Yeisy Rojas has this time achieved her first Grammy nomination in “Best World Musical Performance” for her single “Immigrante y qué”.
While the multi-award-winning Cuban composer Tania León aspires to the golden gramophone in “Best Contemporary Classical Composition” for the piece “Raíces (Origins)”. This work, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner, is part of the album Tania León: Horizons, Roots (Origins), Stride, Passages.
Likewise, Cuban music is present with the nomination of the album Buena Vista Social Club produced by Marco Paguia, Dean Sharenow and David Yazbek with the performance of the original Broadway cast, in the “Best Musical Theater Album” section.
The awards for the 68th Grammy Awards will be presented on February 1, 2026 in Los Angeles. On this occasion, figures such as Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber will fight for the main awards.
For his part, Bad Bunny became the first Latin artist to be included in the three most impact categories in the same year. The Puerto Rican aspires to the award in the sections of “Album of the Year”, “Song of the Year” and “Recording of the Year”, thanks to his successful album and single “I should throw more photos”.
Several of the Cubans who received their nominations for the so-called “American Grammy”, such as Gloria Estafan, Alain Pérez and Paquito de Rivera, They already aspire to the Latin Grammywhose awards will be announced next Thursday, November 13 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
