Shakira

By Beatriz Mesa

During the last five years, this Colombian singer, with her piercing eyes and sugary voice, has become the break-out artist of Latin pop music. She has sold over six million copies of her first two cd's "Pies Descalzos" (Bare Feet) and "Donde estan los Ladrones" (Where are the thieves?), and she has become a symbol of the tremendous impact that youth of such a war torn country can have.

Shakira's "Donde estan los Ladrones" recently went quadruple platinum, an honor she was awarded in Santiago, Chile. In fact, Shakira is currently the top selling pop artist in many Latin American countries, outdoing even Enrique Iglesias of Spain, and Chayenne of Puerto Rico.

Shakira was born in the coastal city of Barranquilla only 23 years ago, and she has already performed her first live concert on MTV: "Shakira MTV Unplugged" was viewed live by over five hundred spectators.

Among Shakira's ambitions is to record her first album in English, which would be distributed throughout the world, given the success she has already secured in the international market. Difficult to doubt her fulfilling her dream, this coming from a talent who included in her first album, "Magia" (Magic), songs that she had composed from the age of ten to the age of thirteen.

Shakira is determined to make her debut in the English speaking world a success. She comments, "It's a challenge for me not to sacrifice my poetic style when writing in English. I have already written a couple songs in English and I feel that they express my spirit, my language...I am a woman who welcomes challenges, and at the moment, there is no greater one than this."

Songs such as "Ojos asi"(Eyes like yours), revealed to the Latino public the seductive Arab rhythms hidden in her blood. One of the songs Shakira most enjoys performing is "Inevitable," whose content can readily be called autobiographical.

Given her increasingly unforgettable and meticulously staged performances all over the world, and the ever widening audience this has produced, the media is beginning to speculate as to the millions of dollars that must be undulating around the sensual and exotic vibrations of her hips. Gabriel Garcia Marquez asked her about her earnings in an interview and she had this to say: "I have less than people are saying, and more than I'm saying."

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