Shakira: En Vivo Desde París Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Shakira: En Vivo Desde París Blu-ray Movie Review

Shakira storms Paris.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 7, 2011

The Latin Music market was largely an afterthought for decades, at least in the United States or the United Kingdom, where it was mostly relegated to “specialty” artists like Xavier Cugat, Carmen Miranda or Edmundo Ros. That changed somewhat in the late fifties and early sixties with the explosion of the Bossa Nova, which at least brought a greater global awareness to music south of the Equator, and transplanted artists like Antonio Carlos Jobim and Sergio Mendes became their country’s ambassadors to the world music scene, scoring huge single and album successes. But after the Bossa Nova died down, Latin Music was once again mostly the purview of crossover artists like Carlos Santana or the Escovedos, who managed to blend elements of their ethnic heritage with more mainstream pop and rock sounds. The advent of Tejano gave us major chart successes like Selena, but by that time often “Latin Music” simply meant a traditional percussion ensemble playing alongside typical pop or rock consortiums that, aside from offering Spanish language lyrics, could just as easily be any stateside Top 40 act. Something along the same lines could be said of Shakira, the multi-platinum Colombian singer who has had enormous worldwide chart successes since the mid to late 1990’s. Shakira’s sound is so international, sometimes blending Middle Eastern sounds that are redolent of Ofra Haza, with more traditional Latin motifs and a lot of good ol’ American dance and techno elements, that it seems a bit narrow to simply describe her sound as “Latin Music.” And yet that’s the genre she’s been saddled with, for better or worse. The fact is she exploded out of her native country with such a force that she really should be considered an ambassador of World Music, if anything, for she sings in several languages (mostly in Spanish and English on this Blu- ray), and works in a wide enough variety of styles that relegating her to one fairly narrow category doesn't do her justice.

Shakira makes her entrance out in the audience in a fluffy pink dress and slowly moves among her adoring fans, stopping to hug and kiss a few chosen ones, some of whom cry uncontrollably, others who scream “Yeah!” into her microphone. The music is surprisingly subdued, and longtime followers of this performer may wonder for a moment what exactly is going on. Has Shakira morphed into a laid back lounge singer? Of course not! Within a moment of her getting onstage, the dress has been shorn and we have the Shakira we’re all used to, the madly gyrating, spandex-clad woman who’s as much a poster girl as she is a pop star. The concert kicks into mostly high gear from then on, with a few relatively calmer ballads thrown into the mix, probably to give Shakira a well deserved chance to catch her breath.

This isn’t an all out assault on the senses, as might be expected from a superstar of Shakira’s status. There are no fireworks, and while there is a large projection screen, it’s relegated mostly to showing the singer herself so that those in the nosebleed seats can actually see who they came to enjoy. Shakira is in great voice throughout (though I must admit I personally do not like her weird full throated voice which often sounds like she’s trying to gulp down a basketball), sounding alternately defiant and vulnerable. As might be expected, she ventures into some proto-Middle Eastern sounds (replete with her signature belly dancing), as well as more straight ahead rock-dance numbers. The quieter Flamenco segment is a standout, with some great acoustic guitar playing and nice dance moves.

Shakira has an easy rapport with her audience, though she does tend to get into fairly cliché ridden rockstar mode a lot of the time, prancing around the stage like a distaff Steven Tyler, and of course turning the microphone out to the audience so that they can sing along with her on various tunes. (The audience is inordinately loud throughout a lot of this concert, so forewarned is forearmed and/or fore-eared). But Shakira is a walking advertisement for incredible sex appeal and charisma, and while the music itself may not be incredibly innovative or deep, it’s well constructed and shows the performer off to her best advantage. There's a touching segment at the very end of the concert featuring African children on the giant screen talking about their dreams of what they want to be when they grow up, which segues into a boisterous "Waka Waka."

Shakira' set list moves through several of her most iconic hits as well as some lesser known material and includes:

• Pienso en Ti
• Why Wait
• Te Dejo Madrid
• Si Te Vas
• Whenever, Wherever*
• Inevitable
• Nothing Else Matters/Despedida
• Gypsy
• La Tortura
• Ciega Sordomuda
• Underneath Your Clothes
• Gordita
• Sale el Sol
• Las de la lntuición
• Loca
• She Wolf
• Ojos Así
• Antes de las Seis
• Je L'Aime a Mourir
• Hips Don’t Lie
• Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)

*There’s a tiny (as in miniscule) little sticker that’s been appended to the back cover stating that “Wherever, Whenever” includes “Unbelievable”, the EMF tune.

Shakira: En Vivo Desde París Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shakira En Vivo Desde Paris is presented on Blu-ray by Sony Music with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1 that is one of the nicer looking concert videos in high definition in recent memory. While the opening sequence with the bright pink dress dances just this side of posterizing due to some aggressive lighting, for the most part colors are incredibly robust and stable without being overwhelming or blooming. The image is very sharp an well detailed and close-ups reveal every last inch of Shakira's rather incredible face and body. (In fact fine detail is so sharp that it almost looks like Shakira may have had a tracheotomy at some point—there's evidence of a slight scar on her throat). Black levels are really solid throughout this offering, and contrast is also excellent, so even when a lot of the stage is bathed in darkness, there's still sufficient shadow detail. The one niggling complaint some may have about this release is the general fuzziness of some of the far- and midrange shots, which don't match the sharpness of the closer up footage.

Shakira: En Vivo Desde París Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shakira En Vivo Desde Paris features two lossless and one lossy soundtrack, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, an LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down, and a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. This is a multilingual concert, with songs and interstitial dialogue in French, English and Spanish (as well as whatever African language is being sung in "Waka Waka"). The best thing about the lossless mixes here is the awesome low end, especially since so many of these songs feature strong beats with powerful bass and drum work. Fidelity is exceptional throughout the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, though I for one would have much preferred the audience to have been mixed much more in the background. The audience does provide a really nice sense of immersion, however, so it's a bit of a trade off. There's not incredible dynamic range here, since the vast bulk of the tunes are rockers or dance numbers, but when things do quiet down at least a little for some of the ballads, the track sounds just as clear and precise.

Shakira: En Vivo Desde París Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Shaki in Rehearsals (HD; 4:57) is a backstage look (in Toronto) at the exhausting process of putting on a show this big.
• Shaki and Sanziana (HD; 3:26) is a look at Shakira in Budapest with young singer and fan Sanziana, who does a great Shakira impression.
• Shaki in Paris – Making of the DVD (HD; 4:49) is a quick look at some of the set up for the filming process.
• Shaki – The Donkey Race (HD: 3:30) is, believe it or not, Shakira in a donkey race.
• Shaki Golfing (HD; 3:28) is a montage of Shakira attempting to golf in Mexico.

Shakira: En Vivo Desde París Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Those with long memories may think of another Latin blonde bombshell who actually was part of Xavier Cugat's life and professional touring ensemble for many years, the "coochi coochi" girl Charo. Like Charo, Shakira is an incredible bundle of energy and sex appeal, and both of those elements come through loud and clear throughout this concert. Shakira knows that she's got it, and she is not above flaunting it. The music here is fairly standard stuff, but it's extremely well played by a crack band. Perhaps surprisingly the quieter moments here are more effective than some of the most bombastic numbers, but the closing montage of the African children followed by "Waka Waka" is a "bring down the house moment" that Shakira plays for all it's worth. With excellent video and audio, this release should be loved by Shakira's legion of fans. Recommended.