(2 of 3)
Colombia isn't the first country one tends to think of when it comes to rock. It is, perhaps, the first when it comes to magic realism (as the home of Gabriel Garcia Marquez), and also tops when it comes to stuff that's a little too real (the narco-violence that has ravaged the country for decades). However, Colombia has also produced a number of notable rock-edged acts in recent years, including the veteran duo Aterciopelados (which played The Tonight Show this year), the rhythmic rockers called Bloque, folk star Carlos Vives and up-and-coming male crooner Juanes (who had the highest number of nominations at this year's Latin Grammys). In centuries past, the conquistadors believed Colombia could have been one of the locations for El Dorado, the fabled city of gold. They were only a little bit off. They should have been looking for gold records. "Colombians are people with a great sensitivity surrounded by a difficult reality," says Shakira. "That makes us look for ways to channel all those feelings. Sometimes pain creates artists, or at least shapes them."
Fusion shaped Shakira's life. She was born Shakira Mebarak in the coastal city of Barranquilla, the youngest of eight children. Her father William is of Lebanese descent; her mother is Colombian. By age 8 she was writing her own songs; by age 13 she had released her first album, Magia (Magic). On her past two studio albums, the affable 1996 release Pies Descalzos (Bare Feet) and its 1998 follow-up, the excellent ?Donde Estan Los Ladrones? (Where Are the Thieves?), she grew more ambitious, giving her sound a rawer edge and drawing on a wider range of influences, including Mexican mariachi and Middle Eastern grooves (she's given to doing a kind of belly dance when she plays her Arabic-influenced song Ojos Asi). "Yo soy una fusion. I am a fusion," says Shakira. "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."
So what does the new album sound like? Shakira sits down at the studio controls and flicks a switch. The sound of her newest song, Objection (Tango), fills the room. It starts with an accordion-driven Argentine tango passage before moving into fast-tempo retro-rock. "If the guitar riffs are true to traditions like Led Zeppelin, then I'm satisfied," says Shakira. Objection, however, has a very un-Zeppelin-ish feminist theme. "I grew up in a very machista society where men have a lot of difficulty being faithful," says Shakira. "I hope the song makes clear that the tango is a dance for two, not three." One of the lines in the song says, "Next to her cheap silicone I look minimal/that's why in front of your eyes I'm invisible." Not a bad rhyme. Some of the lyrics on Shakira's new album sound a bit odd, but it's hard to tell if the oddness is poetic license or simply a beginner's English grammar. In any case, it works.