Thursday, November 30, 2006

It's True, Her Hips Don't Lie

Last night we went to the Shakira concert to celebrate Kenny's 30th birthday and, apparently, unbeknowst to me, to fulfil a decade long dream. Apparently, while Kenny was on his mission in Mexico, Shakira, who is from Columbia, came out with one of her early albums and quickly catapulted to stardom and fame in South America. Despite limited access to television and other forms of media, Kenny couldn't help but be caught up in the swirl of Shakira worship even while toiling in the vineyard. Thus began his dreams of seeing Shakira live in concert. And, though I was unaware of the dream, I was aware of his need to be Shakira's champion in light of what he believes to be the systematic perpetration of heinous falsehoods by music producers, promoters, consumers etc. in America with regard to her talent and her place in the music world. Despite the fact that she is often marketed as an ingenue and frequently lumped into the same category as Britney or Jessica or others of that ilk, Kenny is always quick to point out that "she is actually talented," "she writes all her own lyrics and music," "she didn't want to record in English until she could speak the language well enough to write her own stuff," "she is not run of the mill" etc. etc. etc. And, last night, I have to say, that in spite of the fact that I'm not certain of the meaning of most of her songs, and though I am not a total convert to the way she sings (she has Celine Dion's power, Mariah Carey's range, and sounds a bit like the lead singer of the Cranberries), the woman really is very talented. She has clearly had years of dance and in particular her belly dancing prowess is phenomenal. Her songs are varied and musically interesting and despite her penchant for doing a 21st century version of the robocop several times during the evening, she puts on a great show.

5 comments:

robin marie said...

i am so jealous!!! what a great birthday bash for kenny! my obsession for shakira began about nine years ago... kenny did you at least convince her to bring back the brown hair with magenta and purple highlights!?!??

Michelle said...

Hey, music on the mission is impossible to avoid. I can still remember songs from Los Prisioneros (a Chilean band) and Locomia (a Spanish group that inexplicably made it very big in Chile)--you just can't avoid it. It's in the air; it's everywhere.

Glad you finally got your wish, Kenny! ¡Féliz cumpleaños!

Christian said...

Oops! Didn't realize Michell'es ID was logged in. That last comment was from Christian. (But I'm sure Michelle wishes you a Happy Birthday too, Kenny!)

Anonymous said...

Hey, got to your blog from Adriannes- your baby is beautiful and so is your home in Peru! Sounds amazing. -Paige

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