Fish Tease Shakira Attacked By Sea Lion

Colombian pop star Shakira has been attacked by a sea lion. She was taking a picture of the wild animal when the beast "roared in fury". It is believed that the aquatic mammal mistook the camera for a fish and thought the popular singer of such songs as 'Suerte' and 'Hips Don't Lie' was teasing it.

Shakira's brother was on hand to carry her away from the giant beast, which seems not to have actually inflicted any injury on her or made any real attempt to do so. Shakira did however hurt her hand slightly.

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France salutes Shakira

France has made the Colombian singer Shakira a Chevalier de L'Order des Arts et des Lettres, an honour previously bestowed on TS Eliot, Clint Eastwood, and George Clooney. Shakira reports that she is honoured to have had this award bestowed on her by a country like France that has contributed so much to world culture.

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Shakira "She Wolf"

Rarrr! Now here is someone who is not afraid of digitisation. As you know, I have a certain fondness for Ms Shakira, which leads me to occasional acts of foolishness. She Wolf is of course Shakira's most recent album, one perhaps taking a more electronic pop direction than previously trod by her. I think this maybe suffers a bit too much from the over-relentlessness associated with today's pop music, so although there are a lot of great tunes on here the album is not really something you could put on and listen all the way through. Plus it is very much not really the kind of thing my actual beloved likes, so I have had to keep the record hidden from her.

The title track (which was probably a big pop hit or something) is a stormer, but even better is 'Loba' – the same song sung in Spanish. Shakira has been singing away in English for ages now, but she is still a way better singer in her native language. I remember in Portugal noticing that the contestants in some local X-Munter programme were also far better at singing in Portuguese than in English, so I am guessing that in general it is easier to sing in a language you speak well. I wonder why this is the case? You would think that singing is really just about hitting the notes, making understanding the words unimportant. Yet it does seem like people cannot really throw themselves into it unless they are fully comfortable with the language. Who knows? Anyway, I am sad that there is only one Spanish-language song on Shakira's album. Maybe it is time I tracked down one of the Spanish language albums from the flower of Colombian womanhood.

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