Shakira - Latin America's very own Madonna !

BBC's "Top of the Pops" towards the end used to be so irritating. It was like watching a non-stop commercial for itself, what with all those flashing TOTP neon lights.

Speaking for myself, I was not sorry to see it go. The whole thing had become too narcissistic and self-congratulatory. But there was a bit of backsliding last week when, round at a friend's house, there was a half-hour programme billed simply in the TV guide as “TOTP2 : Archive chart music featuring the Carpenters”.

Well, that was not something this Karen C fan could lightly pass over. I go into a kind of reverie whenever I hear that warm honeyed voice. Her death in '83, when she was just 32, was a huge loss to music . As it happens the TV guide was misleading: she "performed" just one of her songs, Close to You, somewhat static on a swing, looking a bit lost, and presumably miming. But incredibly it was for me the first and only time that I had ever seen her "live" on screen, albeit as archive footage. Much of the remainder of the programme was bizarre stuff from archives, mercilessly ungrainy. There was Ozzy Osbourne in the 80s, when he was lead singer for Black Sabbath, with those mad, mad scary eyes. And there was Robbie Williams in his Take That days, barely recognizable, and a few others ghosts from the past (Adam Ant etc). I was half asleep at the end when a video began with a noisy boxing ringside scene. The camera then homed in on a sultry peroxide blonde, alone in the corner of the ring. On close-up it was a doe-eyed, wasp-waisted figure in a contour-hugging bright red dress. For a moment I thought, cor, they don’t make them like that any more. And then she began to sing. Oh my, how she could sing. There was feeling, passion, all of which was enhanced by the attentions she was giving (and receiving from) a bull-necked boxer. One moment she was a siren, the archetypal blond bombshell. The next she was in angelic Florence Nightingale mode, tenderly patching up her man after a punishing round. A memorable juxtaposition of roles and images, one might say. Well, if one's a bloke, that is, still missing his Pan's People (from the glory days of TOTP).

Louise (yesterday’s comments under my previous post re rubbish-tips) says of Shakira that she's the kind of female who makes her teenaged son’s face go red. I’d almost forgotten what it was like to be that age !

By the way, bravo Louise for taking the plunge with your own blog, which I've added to the Escape Route in the margin.

Well, I hate to admit this, since it shows just out of touch I am, but having been smitten, I straightaway went into trainspotter mode, carefully noting her name (Shakira) and just one phrase from her song ( "a woman’s heart"). And so to Google, fully expecting to find that Shakira had briefly been something in the 80s, and was now doing the club circuit in Las Vegas. So imagine one's surprise to find that she’s in fact what might be described as Latin America’s answer to Madonna (though maybe not quite so overtly sexy). Shakira too has been going for some years, constantly re-inventing herself. Again, the TV guide was misleading: what I was listening to was, in fact, her latest release. It's one she has done in partnership with the highly talented musician/guitarist Carlos Santana. If you want to see the video, just make sure the microphone is switched on, and then click the following YouTube link. The clip starts immediately with that boxing ring side scene. Don’t be alarmed at the word “Illegal”, because that, in fact, is the title of the song (honest). Whether YouTube is infringing copyright (or permitting others to do so) is another matter. I seem to recall reading about some disgruntlement recently in the industry. But lawyers please note: I for my part am now far more likely to add Shakira to my Christmas present list than if the video had not been available online .

Her rendering of the lines below reminded me of the force and defiance that Alison Moyet used to bring to her performances.

"You don't even know the meaning of the words "I'm sorry"

I'm starting to believe it should be illegal to deceive a woman's heart"

Needless to say, there’s an entry for Shakira in Wikipedia . And what fascinating reading it makes too. She’s Colombian, although her mother is Catalan, and her father a Lebanese- Christian -American. As a child she was somewhat shy, and took up belly-dancing, an integral part of Lebanese culture, to build her confidence. It worked !

Her name Shakira means "grateful" in Arabic, and came down from her grandmother.

To begin with, she performed entirely in Spanish, and was almost unknown in the English-speaking world. But in 2001 or thereabouts she took the brave decision to include English numbers in her repertoire, writing them herself, would you believe it ? Wikipedia says there were initially fears she might have overreached herself. But look at the lyric for “Illegal” .

Better still, listen. Amazing. For a non-native speaker, she puts a lot of our home-grown songwriting "talent" to shame.

That's one powerful song she has written and performed there. But with her voice (and those looks) I’d be content just hearing her sing from the telephone directory. Anyway, Shakira's Illegal has made an impression on this blogger, as you will have gathered by now. By way of reward, she's been awarded the first musical slot in my new-look, invigorated margin . No doubt she'll be beside herself when she gets word of this latest accolade.

With Google, it's possible to access video and audio clips of her earlier work. Some of them I found OK, but others, most in fact, were not my tasse de thé. But one's tastes in music are obviously a very personal thing. I just happen to like melodic, soulful stuff. One could be a pessimist, or maybe realist, and suggest that Illegal may turn out to be a one-off, compared with her previous work, perhaps the only one that will be remembered in years to come.

I once bought a Neneh Cherry album on the strength of just one number ("Seven Seconds Away", the one she performed with Youssou N'Dour. (The link is again to YouTube for a free video clip.) There were one or two other quite memorable numbers, like Woman, but none in the same league as that haunting Seven Seconds.

Shakira had a number 1 hit in both the US and UK with "Hips Don't Lie" (such a curious title! ). According to Wikipedia, Hips Don't Lie was THE very last single to be played on TOTP before it was axed. Which kind of brings us full circle!

Late postscript (Jan 13, 2021)!

Well -  I never! Shakira is still going strong. She's the subject of an article on today's BBC Site!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55645178

Have managed to track down that wonderful track of hers - the subject of this posting - the one of many of hers called "Illegal". 

It's  still music to my ears - after all these years.  Brilliant - simply brilliant!

Have little time left right now for the internet  re broadcasting of the common-man- - but at least it's  responded to my  historical search terms ("dreams and daemons, shakira)!

sciencebod (aka Colin Berry)