Dino d’Santiago wins Latin Grammy in Las Vegas
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on A Nação
Cape Verdean musician Dino d’Santiago won a Latin Grammy for the album “Criolo, Amaro & Dino”, recorded with Brazilians Criolo and Amaro Freitas. The award was presented on 12 November in Las Vegas, where Dino d’Santiago hailed Portuguese as a language uniting Portuguese-speaking countries, according to A Nação.
Dino d’Santiago, a Cape Verdean musician, won a Latin Grammy on Friday 12 November in Las Vegas in the Best Brazilian Popular Music/Afro-Portuguese Brazilian Music Album category for “Criolo, Amaro & Dino”, recorded with Brazilian artists Criolo and Amaro Freitas, A Nação reports.
On receiving the trophy, Dino d’Santiago presented the Portuguese language as a factor of unity between Portuguese-speaking African countries and Portugal. He cited Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe and Portugal. Amaro Freitas, from Recife, described the project as a meeting between black music, the African diaspora and several territories in Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal, according to A Nação.
Criolo said the album had been created to celebrate friendship and the role of music in transforming lives. He dedicated the award to Brazil’s Indigenous peoples, whom he said were “massacred”.
The album brings together 12 tracks inspired by Afro-Atlantic traditions and rhythms from Brazil and the African diaspora. The three artists recorded sessions in Rio de Janeiro, Recife, São Paulo and Lisbon, Arruada news agency reports. The project originated with the song “Esperança”, released in 2024, which earned Dino d’Santiago a Latin Grammy nomination that same year.
