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El Rincón Español - homeschool Spanish support
Feb. 19, 2009
La Pared por Shakira

Posted in música


La Pared - Shakira

The Wall - Shakira

Shakira is one of those entertainers that I have mixed feelings about.  You can't step into the Spanish language music scene without bumping into her, and you may well become quickly hooked by her singular, soulful, powerful voice.  There is no arguing that this woman has real talent, and that her numerous fans cross the generational lines.

The only objection that I feel I must inject is that most of her videos are over-sexualized.  When she has crossed over into the English language market, her songs were written for her by others, and further reinforce this image.  Curiously, her Spanish language lyrics are clean, and her songs deal with the usual: love, missing someone, etc, and tend to be mostly focused on emotions; her voice lends itself well to those themes.

Shakira is from Baranquilla, Colombia, a coastal city that I visited when she must have just been a little kid.  She had some parts in movies in the local film scene when she was a teen.  Being half Lebanese (there is a Lebanese-Christian enclave in Baranquilla), she grew up belly dancing.  He first public performance was a belly dancing recital.  Belly dancing is as natural to her as walking at this point, and she incorporates it into many of her videos and performances.  You can give her a pass on it as a "cultural thing" , but it adds to the sexualized image.  She performed in a Latin American talent search show several years ago, and guess who was watching?  Emilio Estefan, husband of Gloria Estefan, and top Latin music producer.  He signed her on, and the rest is history as they say.

Early on in her rise to great success, Shakira created a foundation to provide shoes to poor children in Latin America.  She said that she had always felt heartbroken at the numbers of children she saw that never owned a pair of shoes, and dedicated herself to funding and promoting a foundation to address this need.

So I admit, I'm hooked on that voice, and my kids became fans in no time.  We just listen and stay away from the videos (this one is an exception).  I believe that Shakira has enough musical talent that she could do without the excesses associated with her image. 

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