Shakira's concert much more than just music

It was Nov. 24, 2002, and I was at the former First Union Center (now Wachovia Center) with someone who admires Colombian rock singer Shakira as much as I do. She is a very versatile musician; she dances in five different styles, sings four music genres and plays three instruments. Shakira finally appeared around 8:30 p.m. In the middle of the concert, she started singing "Octavo Dia" (Eighth Day).

Behind the stage there was a black and white background video of George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein playing chess, and on the stage some of the musicians were wearing masks of Richard Nixon and Cuba's dictator Fidel Castro. Usually people go to concerts to relax and have fun, but Shakira wanted to deliver a message more complex than just criticizing the war against Iraq.

When I left the concert, I could not stop thinking that the war was not about freedom but about winning authority over this world. Most wars have been about that; even all the independence wars in the Americas. "[Leaders] just want to continue playing their little game of power," the rock/pop singer Shakira said in an interview with MTV.

Shakira seems not to care about the reasons to go to war, but about the consequences of any conflict, which is something she has experienced closely. Shakira comes from a country that has been subject to an undeclared war for almost 50 years. "[Colombian children] are aware that there is injustice and [that] it's impossible to escape from that reality or not have an opinion in all these things," said Shakira to The Observer, a British newspaper. For years, Colombia has received full support from the United States despite the corrupt Colombian administrations and unrealistic anti-drugs programs from the U.S.
Colombia's hopes now rely on President Alvaro Uribe, who is aggressively attacking guerrillas, though with the same unstable political floor as his predecessors. The guerrillas now control drug production and have made it impossible for Colombians to live and work in peace for the past five decades. Such joint actions of both countries may end in capturing and bringing to trial guerrilla members, the same way Colombian authorities and U.S. agents captured kingpin Pablo Escobar during the mid 1990s. A direct attack on guerrilla groups, however, will bring more civilian death.

Unfortunately, peace talks in Colombia do not work anymore; talks have been tried for almost as long as the conflict has lasted. There has not been any improvement, and Colombians are tired of it. The consequence of Colombia's warfare is one of many examples. The same fear is felt with the conflict in Iraq: psychological and physical trauma, which usually starts a cycle of violence that is hard to stop. Also, one of the problems is that there is not enough support, human aid or money. The United States already has other commitments around the world and organizations such as the United Nations have no teeth when it comes to dealing with these types of situations in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Going back to the concert, despite the fact that talking about politics is not usual in a rock concert, it seems that the game of power between Bush and Hussein, as pictured by Shakira, goes like this: In international politics there is an actual "game of power" called deterrence, which was used during the Cold War and is being used with Iraq. Nowadays, military armaments, especially nuclear weapons, are not only used to attack countries, but also to elevate a country's power in the world and to threaten psychologically those considered enemies.

The trick of this game is that no one really knows how many nuclear weapons each country has and whether they are really willing to use them. "While the evidence that Saddam Hussein has used chemical weapons in battle with Iran and again its own Kurdish population [but didn't use them in other situations such as the Gulf War] suggests that deterrence should not be dismissed," according to a New York Times article.

However, some members of the audience were confused with Shakira's criticism when she performed "Octavo Dia." David Hiltbrand, a journalist from The Philadelphia Inquirer, said that it was an atypical show number. "I thought it was a mistake, personally, not as a journalist," said Hiltbrand referring to "Octavo Dia." "What I took from it [is that] our leaders are caught up with themselves," Hiltbrand said.

During the video at the show, Hussein's and Bush's puppets suddenly became restless and violent as they started playing with nuclear bombs instead of chess pieces. Then the Grim Reaper appeared behind the two leaders and moved the strings that control the puppets. Shakira said during the concert that pop singers typically do not talk about politics nor about politicians, but this time, her tour had a political view. "[Some] think pop stars are made to entertain. Period. I don't see that way," said Shakira during her concert in Britain, which was reported by Siobhan Grogan from The Guardian.

In an interview with MTV, she said that sometimes governments do not represent their people nor make the right decisions because "governments are controlled by just a few." The video and the song ended with a quote from Jimi Hendrix in the back screen of the stage:

"The world will know the peace, when the power of love, overcomes the love for power."

And the concert went on.

Elisa Bermudez is a senior majoring in communications.

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