PEOPLE
From Issue #7
COVER
STORY: SHAKIRA
A Cultural Fusion
by Suzanne Ma
(Shakira pics coming soon)
Shakira has ushered us into the brave new world of her music; a sound
often described as a refreshing blast of off-center rock that
is fused together with her native Arabic and Latin beats. "I
am a fusion. That's my persona. I'm a fusion between black and
white, between pop and rock, between cultures - between my Lebanese
father and my mother's Spanish blood, the Colombian folklore
and Arab dance I love and American music," she says in
TIME magazine.
Born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll in the coastal city of Barranquilla,
Colombia, she is the youngest of eight children. Her name, translated
from Arabic means, "woman full of grace."
At the age of eight she started writing her own songs, in Spanish,
and began winning local and national talent contests by the
age of ten. Now, with five released albums, Shakira has won
two Latin Grammys, a Grammy, and was named the Latin Female
Artist of the Year at the 1998 World Music Awards. She was also
designated the official goodwill ambassador by the Colombian
government, and granted an audience in the Vatican by the Pope.
However, as she pursued her dreams she was constantly challenged
to make decisions that would define who she was and who she
would become.
Her first album, Magia (Magic), was composed
of songs she wrote as a child, and was released when the rising
star turned thirteen years old. Two years later she released
Peligro (Danger). Shakira then took a break from music, graduated
from high school and then released another album, Pies Descalzos
(Barefeet), at the age of sixteen. The record was a smashing
success, selling close to four million copies internationally.
The budding artist toured for almost two solid years, performing
to audiences worldwide.
"Shakira's music has a personal stamp that doesn't look
like anyone else's…"
Shakira had always written her own music, but
despite her success, her label wanted her to explore more commercial
avenues and to stick to the light pop format of music for her
next record.
However, in defending who she was, Shakira refused to abandon
her cultural influences and insisted on recording her very own
brand of music. Laced with Mexican mariachi, Middle Eastern
grooves and soulful Spanish lyrics, Donde Estan los Ladrones?
(Where are the Thieves?), reached new heights. The culturally
rich album reached the No.1 spot on Billboard's Latin 50.
Acknowledging her achievements, countryman and Nobel Prize winning
author Gabriel Garcia Marques says, "Shakira's music has
a personal stamp that doesn't look like anyone else's and no
one can sing or dance like her, at whatever age, with such an
innocent sensuality, one that seems to be of her own invention."
But there was still more to be done. Shakira was determined
to introduce her unique sound, style and culture to the English-speaking
world. However, writing songs in English was a challenge. "I
prayed and asked God to send me a good song today, and I remember
I started writing the song [Objection] a couple of hours after.
I wrote the music and lyrics at the same time, and when that
happens it's really magical to me." With the completion
of this first song Shakira knew that she could write ten more,
so she packed up her loved ones and set up portable studios
in rural Uruguay. "I had to find a way to express my ideas
and my feelings, my day-to-day stories in English. So I bought
a couple of rhyming dictionaries, read poetry, and authors like
Leonard Cohen and Walt Whitman," she said.
In 2001, the yodeling diva released her break-through English
language album, Laundry Service, which debuted at number 15
on the Billboard Top 200. Laundry Service has been proclaimed
as extraordinary work, as Shakira translates her Latin American
sensibility into a new language.
"…because my father is of 100% Lebanese
descent, I am devoted to Arabic tastes and sounds."
It
is clear that this budding North American star is proud to become
a cultural ambassador, incorporating her heritage into her public
life as a singer. "I was born and raised in Colombia, but
I listened to bands like Led Zeppelin, the Cure, the Police,
the Beatles and Nirvana," she says. "I was so in love
with that rock sound but at the same time because my father
is of 100% Lebanese descent, I am devoted to Arabic tastes and
sounds."
However, few performers have been able to truly retain their
unique styles once they are exposed to the wrath of the American
pop world. The brutality of the market often sends foreign stars
like Robbie Williams back from where they came from. Or, performers
end up changing their image to fit the popular American 'look'.
Many see Shakira's music as a strong cultural statement. There
are some, however, who have called the Colombian native a sellout
- an overly ambitious diva that dyed her naturally dark locks
blonde in order to fit into the U.S. market.
"I plan to keep on being the same artist, with
the same musical language, just in a different spoken language."
"I
know my Latin people find this difficult," the singer admits
to Teen People. "And I want [my success] to be good news
to my country. But its typical that when you see somebody who
is so close to you growing, you feel that the very word 'growing'
is synonymous with leaving," and adds, "my hair is
a coincidence. I dyed it more than two and a half years ago."
"I plan to keep on being the same artist, with the same
musical language, just in a different spoken language,"
says Shakira to TIME magazine. "It's all still coming from
my real feelings, my real-life experiences."
She hopes that Laundry Service, helps to convince skeptics that
her career can be spread from one country to the next, and translated
from one tongue to another without changing its essence. "If
you check the subject of my songs, most of them talk about my
own experiences and feelings and what I was actually going through
in my life," she said.
By weaving her cultural heritage into the fabric of her music,
Shakira has introduced her audience to a new world - one she
is proud of as it defines who she is.
