Lebanese-Colombian pop/rock singer Shakira Mebarak has announced that she will be visiting her home country Lebanon this April to perform two concerts. Shakira had stressed her desire to hold different performances in Lebanon and a contract has been signed with sponsors to hold the concerts in Beirut, the London based Elaph reported.
The Lebanese Broadcasting Company (LBC) satellite channel show Pepsi Musicana hosted by Taleen (previous announcer on MBC) had earlier featured Shakira, who wholeheartedly accepted the invitation by the Lebanese channel and openly spoke of her pride of having an Arab Lebanese decent and mingled certain traits in her performance.
In December 2002, Shakira kicked off the European leg of her World tour, Tour Of The Mongoose, in Barcelona's Palau Sant Jordi in front of fans that waited in heavy rain for almost four hours to see their idol. During the concert Shakira gave her audience a taste of her Arabic origin by singing “Shati Ya Dinia” (Rain Oh World) by the prominent Lebanese singer Fairouz.
Upon singing the Arabic song, Shakira began to dance for her audience (Belly dance) which threw them in a state of overwhelming joy and excitement. Shakira added that ever since she was a child she loved reciting songs, despite her weak skills in speaking Arabic, for the great Lebanese singer Fairouz, and in fact her family nicknamed her “Little Fairouz”.
Shakira performed in Germany and the United Kingdom before taking the tour back to the U.S.. Tour Of The Mongoose, her first world-tour visiting 30 countries and 50 cities throughout 2002 and 2003, is sponsored internationally by Pepsi and Reebok and presented by MTV in North America.
Shakira is truly a "world artist" and one of the most poetic songwriters of our time. Her music is a fusion of her Colombian background, her Lebanese descent and her love of rock and roll. Her ability to combine all of these elements is readily embraced in the number 1 single "Whenever Wherever" an up-tempo English pop song with a searing Brazilian beat. Her sensitivity and vocal prowess shines in the song from the same album "Underneath Your Clothes."
Multicultural Shakira is one of a growing number of Latin American singers making a splash on the US pop charts. Her latest album, "Laundry Service," has sales approaching 10 million albums worldwide. Her music combines rock, pop, Latin and Arabic sounds. Shakira also plays guitar and writes most of her songs, which allows her to control its content and style, something she is very keen on. – Albawaba.com
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
