International recording star Gloria Estefan is ruffling many feathers among the organizers and the sponsor of the Cassandra Awards, the DR’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards for musical acts. The awards, named for legendary Dominican performer Cassandra Damir?n, are given each year by the DR’s Asociaci?n de Cronistas de Arte (Association of Art Reporters — Arcoarte), in a televised ceremony at the National Theater sponsored by Dominican National Brewery (CND), makers of Presidente beer. Estefan was invited to the 1998 ceremony to receive a special "International Cassandra," but could not attend. She has repeatedly promised ever since to attend the 1999 ceremony, scheduled for Monday night, February 8th. Arcoarte was so confident of her attendance that it had already prepared a ceremony segment paying homage to the famed Cuban-American singer, featuring performances of some of her more famous songs by singers Linette Caba, Audrey Campos and Katherine Rose. However, it emerged yesterday that Estefan has made a conflicting commitment for a movie shooting with film star Meryl Streep in New York on the same day, and is asking Arcoarte to postpone the ceremonies until February 9th so that she can attend. The request has caused consternation at Arcoarte and CND, who want the international press attention Estefan’s attendance would bring but know that a postponement may preclude the attendance of other invited international stars and many of the over 50 Dominican stars expected to attend. Many international stars run a tight schedule that allows them to attend only the evening of the ceremony. Many major Dominican stars tend to plan their international tours to start the day after the Cassandra awards ceremony.
