Chapter One

Beginnings

"Barranquilla is my land, my people, my family, my friends..."

"I am a walking contradiction. A mix of elements that come from far and different worlds." That was how our artist described herself a couple of years ago, and she went on to explain: "But these elements are not in conflict, they coexist peacefully. I accept all of the contradictions within me and they accept one another." And no city could better represent Shakira's soul than the city where she was born. Just like her persona, in Barranquilla disparate and distant elements coexist in harmony and mutual respect.

Bathed by the Caribbean waters and visited by almost countless merchants since the colonial era, Shakira's home is one of the most joyful and vibrant cities in Colombia. Barranquilla is the most important port in the country, through which tons of coffee and petroleum are imported and exported, and through which almost every race in the world has passed. Since its founding in the seventeenth century, the city has grown with a mixture of three races: the Indigenous, the Spaniard, and the African. But during the last one hundred years ... read full excerpt from: Shakira: Woman Full of Grace ebook