The musician and musical producer Alejandro Acosta (Lanzarote, 1980), based in Madrid, has been nominated for the third time for the most important awards in the Spanish music industry, the Latin Grammys, awarded by the Latin Recording Academy of Arts and Sciences, whose gala will take place on November 15.
His single La Ceniza, created together with the artist Valeria Castro from La Palma, has been nominated by the Academy for the category of Best Latin Electronic Music Interpretation. In this section, it will compete with other recordings such as the remix by Dj Tiësto of session 53 of Bizarrap Music Sessions, that of the Colombian artist Shakira.
"It was a brutal surprise because I didn't expect at all that, suddenly, I would be nominated for that song," said producer Ale Acosta during a telephone interview with La Voz.
Born in San Bartolomé, Acosta founded the duo Fuel Fandango (2010-2024) with the singer Cristina Manjón from Cordoba, known as Nita. With this group, they were able to reach different parts of the country, accumulated millions of views and collaborated with renowned artists such as Mala Rodríguez, María José Llergo or Ivan Ferreiro.
After 14 years on stage, both decided to continue their artistic career separately and focus on their respective personal projects. This summer, the music producer from Conejero released his first solo album El Porvenir, where La Ceniza was released as the second single. "It's incredible that with my first solo work I have been nominated for the Academy Awards," says Acosta on the other end of the phone.
His solo project includes dozens of visual and sound references from the island where he was born and raised, Lanzarote. "I made this album about a year ago, but it's really an album that I've been thinking about for many years, dedicated to the island where I was born, raised and continue to be inspired to this day," he confesses, "I wanted to start my solo career by talking about where I come from and how fortunate I feel to be from Lanzarote and to be connected to the island."
Proof of this is that the founders of the Las Revoltosas musical group appear in one of his latest video clips. "They are from my town, San Bartolomé, and I have known them all my life and they also represent a little part of the Lanzarote that I lived as a child. They have a revolutionary spirit of love for life," he confesses.
Three nominations for the 'Latin Grammy'
The artist from Lanzarote, who is already immersed in his first solo tour, now has three nominations for the Latin Grammy. The first was for his work on Chambao's album Con otro aire (2007). That album by the musical group had among its lyrics the hit Papeles Mojados, which spoke of the life stories of migrants who lose their lives at sea while trying to reach Europe. At that time, Acosta received the nomination for Producer of the Year 2008, although he finally failed to win the statuette.
Secondly, Fuel Fandango was nominated three years ago in the category of Best Short Version Music Video for the single Mi Huella.
On this third occasion, when the island producer presented the nomination for the Latin Grammys together with the artist from La Palma, he did not expect the song to receive recognition from the Academy. "There are thousands, thousands and thousands of projects that are presented, it's like, I can't say impossible, because look, it has been possible, but it is almost impossible for your project to suddenly come out as a nominee because all the members of the Academy vote and it is a super complicated process, but suddenly it happens and you are nominated."
The Canary Islands cultural scene
For Acosta, the key to success is none other than "sacrifice and, above all, work, doing things in a sensible way and following your intuition." In addition, he celebrates that this year his nomination for the most important awards in Latin music is accompanied by other Canary Islands artists such as Quevedo or Valeria Castro.
Finally, the artist from Conejero highlights that "in the Canary Islands there has always been an incredible niche of music and talent, because we are caught listening to music from the other side of the pond and at the same time, we are in Europe. We have a very rich mix of influences and a lot of talent. For years it has been seen that the entire urban scene is always at the crest."
