By Lisa Richwine

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) -Multi-genre artist Jon Batiste won album of the year and R&B duo Silk Sonic took two of the top honors on Sunday at a Grammy awards ceremony that featured a surprise appeal for support from wartime President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine.

Batiste was the lead band member on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He received five awards in total, including the largest prize for We Are, a jazz record inspired by Black Lives Matter.

“I am a firm believer in this: There is no one best musician, greatest artist, best dancer or actor. Batiste explained that the creative arts are subjective. “I simply put my head down every day and continue to work on the craft.”

Batiste was awarded two other awards: best music video of “Freedom,” which is a vividly-colored tribute to New Orleans; and the award for writing and arranging songs for Pixar’s animated Pixar movie, “Soul.”

Silk Sonic with Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak won the record and song of the year for the 1970s-inspired hit “Leave the Door Open.” They rose slowly from their chairs and began to dance before moving onto the stage.

Paak, who joked that they were trying their best to keep humble as they accepted the second honor.

Olivia Rodrigo (a 19-year old singer who sang the heartbreak ballad “Drivers License” from “Sour”) won three awards including Best New Artist.

This is the realization of my greatest dream. We are so grateful to you! Rodrigo’s words as Rodrigo held the trophy.

Trevor Noah, the host, introduced Zelenskiy’s video message midway through the ceremony. He compared the joy found in music with the destruction caused by Russia’s invasion of his nation more than one month ago.

What is opposite to music? Zelenskiy, wearing green t-shirts, spoke in hoarse.

He added, “Fill the silence by your music.” Support us any way that you can. You can help, but you must not be silent. [L2N2W10HZ]

This was before John Legend performed with two Ukrainian musicians and one Ukrainian poet.

Due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, the highest music honors were delayed in January and relocated from Los Angeles from January. The venue was packed with thousands of people, and stars walked the red carpet. This contrasts to last year’s smaller outdoor event.

Noah encouraged the audience to see the event as “a concert in which we hand out awards.”

Noah said, “We will be keeping people’s names out our mouths,” Noah continued, making a joke about Will Smith, an actor who, just a week before, had slapped Chris Rock at Oscars, and asked him to stop mentioning his wife’s name.

BTS from Korea, the pop group that is a worldwide phenomenon and has not won a Grammy award, was left empty handed. However, the group gave a spectacular performance of their song “Butter” despite having to dodge laser beams. It looked almost like something out of a film noir.

Foo Fighters are a rock band whose drummer is Taylor Hawkins (NASDAQ:) Died a few days ago. He won three awards including the best rock album award for “Medicine at Midnight”. None of the musicians accepted the trophies.

Recording Academy members voted to select the winners.

Louis C.K. won best comedy album in the comedy category. Louis C.K. won best comedy album with “Sincerely Louis C.K.” This was his first comedy special since the 2017 admission of sexual misconduct.