BARRANQUILLA — The last time Barranquilla, Shakira’s hometown in northern Colombia, got to see their very own diva live on stage was in 2018. Back then, she inaugurated the Central American and Caribbean Games, singing just three songs, La bicicleta, Me enamoré and Hips Don’t Lie.
Before that, she had taken part in a huge concert there with other national stars like the Zuleta Brothers and Jorge Celedón, with an iconic moment where she brought ailing salsa star Joe Arroyo onto the stage to perform with him two of his songs, Te olvidé (I forgot you) and En Barranquilla me quedo (I’m Staying in Barranquilla). Arroyo died in 2011.
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Back in 2003, already firmly established as a global superstar, Shakira came through her hometown for the Mongoose Tour (Tour de la Mangosta). That was seven years after her first major concert in Barranquilla, in 1996, which sadly ended in tragedy as two young people and a stage-hand died in a stampede toward the stage.
These were the only previous times Shakira had given a concert “at home” before last Thursday’s show, where the city of 2.3 million received her with pride and patience — as some people waited more than eight hours in the sun to see her. Barranquilla’s city buses had signs next to the route number saying ‘Shak’s Home’ (Shak está en casa).
Buzzing city
The air was buzzing with the combined excitement and emotions of her concert and the carnival. This time, Shakira sang Te olvidé taking the queen of the carnival on stage with a millo (instrumental) group.
She is the biggest Latin American musical artist in history
Only one other artist was invited, Chelito de Castro, to sing En Barranquilla me quedo. Even more than her popular English songs, the public adored Shak’s mix of pop songs and rock, salsa, Champeta, reggaeton, Arabic dancing and genres rooted in African culture.
Is there anything Shakira cannot do?
The 48-year-old had returned not just as the city’s illustrious daughter but also the biggest Latin American musical artist in history. Who else can boast of having jumped quite so deftly from the Latino market to global stardom (meaning, far beyond the Anglo-Saxon world), of writing and singing their own songs, and dancing and staging them for over 30 years? The closest perhaps is the late Celia Cruz.
Local superstar
Perhaps what the city enjoyed most was just to see her among typical Barranquilla folk, like a local, eating breakfast in Dulcerna, going out incognito (with her children) to watch the Guacherna parade with all the freedom a carnival disguise allows, or being spotted outside a house in the Boston district. The porch where she was pictured has already become a new tourist attraction.
These are simple pleasures only locals, known as curramberos, can understand. For Barranquilla, Shakira is many things, but above all a middle-class girl who got to where she is with her talent and hard work.
When the giant concert screens showed animated pictures of a she-wolf under the rain, protecting her two cubs, a lady next to us said, “that’s me, only I have four children.”
It may have been a little cringeworthy, but momentarily allowed working moms who can very rarely identify with pop stars, to have a relatable model up on stage. The she-wolf’s great talent is to connect with people.
But it’s also Shakira’s singular ability to take us all to a higher place. When she shouted to the audience of 50,000: En Barranquilla se baila así! (That’s How We Dance in Barranquilla), it felt like an earthquake was about to bring down the stadium and the city right with it.
