Shakira – Making Of ‘MTV Unplugged’ (Eng) – DVD “MTV Unplugged”

Shakira – Making of MTV Unplugged.
The stenography of English subtitles.
(DVD “MTV Unplugged”).
Age rating: 6+.

S.M. – Shakira Mebarak.
E.E. – Emilio Estefan.
T.M. – Tim Mitchell.
L.F.O. – Luis Fernando Ochoa.
L.M.A. – Los Mora Arriaga.
B.V. – Backing vocal.
V. – Viewers.

 

THE OTHER CAMERA. SHAKIRA.

S.M.: I really feel the need to sing live before an audience. It’s going to be very refreshing for me, like oxygen to my lungs (laughs). No, I can’t say no to the opportunity to be able to present my music in the simplest form possible, which is through an Unplugged (smile), especially being MTV (smile).

S.M.: (Rehearsing the song “Estoy Aqui”)
The same

E.E.: I love Unplugged, because it’s the real thing. You see the artist directly, offering you an explanation of how the song is written, unscripted.
 This Unplugged is spectacular, because you’re going to see a completely different Shakira, with a simple stage, and, musically… A show that musically and vocally works very well.

S.M.: (Rehearsing the song “Estoy Aqui”)
A thousand years might be enough
For you to be able to forgive me

E.E.: I heard Shakira when it was Shakira’s production, the first album, which was very original, incredible.
 When I was looking for a producer for the second album, she came by the Crescent Moon studios. She came to see the studios not knowing, because she had interviewed many producers in the States. The next day we began work. It was like magic. She asked me… “Can we work together?” I said, “Come tomorrow”. That’s how “Donde Estan Los Ladrones?” started.

S.M.: During the 5 minutes I talked with him, I felt very safe, very trusting. He is a supremely positive person, and I think his optimism was contagious. It gave me security, all the elements, all the pieces. He spoke the same musical language.

E.E.: She is a great daughter, a great friend, a great… colleague, even, as a musician. She’s a very professional, very intelligent woman. She writes and produces her own music. She has an impressive imagination, she’s a great musician. And I’m happy to have worked with her and to continue working with her, because it’s been a beautiful thing for my career as well.

S.M. & B.V.: (Rehearsing the song “Estoy Aqui”)  
If you still think about me a little
You’ll know that I’m still waiting for you
Here I am, loving you
Drowning
I’m going crazy
Here I am, loving you
Drowning
I’m going crazy
Here I am, loving you
Drowning
I’m going crazy

S.M.: Here are Los Mora Arriaga.

L.M.A.: (Los Mora Arriaga laughs) Look at the camera.

S.M.: It gives me great pride.               

(Los Mora Arriaga are delighted).

S.M.: Emilito! Say hello!

L.M.A.: Being able to perform with Shakira is a gift that God has bestowed upon Los Mora Arriaga.

S.M.: (Rehearsing the song “Ciega Sordomuda”)
I run out of arguments
And principles
Every time I’m presented with your anatomy

L.M.A.: The fact that they chose Los Mora Arriaga is really… something very special in our profession.

S.M. & L.M.A.: (Rehearsing the song “Ciega Sordomuda”)
It feeds on excuses
And it no longer wears the pants
This love won’t let me
Stand
Because it’s even broken

L.M.A.: As Mexicans, we want Shakira to… Well, it’s as if she were Mexican.

S.M. & L.M.A.: (Rehearsing the song “Ciega Sordomuda”)
When you’re near, nothing is useful to this useless person
Stupid, blind, deaf and dumb, clumsy, useless, cumbersome
Is all that I’ve been
Because of you I’ve become
Something that can do nothing more than love you
I think about you day and night
I can’t forget you

L.M.A.: She really enjoys learning. She would say: “I like this step and that step.” I’ve noticed she really likes to learn.

S.M. & L.M.A.: (Rehearsing the song “Ciega Sordomuda”)
My head’s a mess
Where only you have asylum
You’re not listening to what I’m telling you
Watch what you do with me

 

THE OTHER CAMERA. SHAKIRA.

S.M.: I thought it would also be a creative exercise, you know, to let my imagination go wild and have the songs transform themselves, subject them to a metamorphosis, especially for this.

T.M.: A lot of it was her, but Luis and I wanted to do it, because some material, for instance, “Estoy Aqui” is an older song from a different era, and she… How old was she then?

L.F.O.: About 19.

T.M.: Yeah, three years ago, or whatever, she was at a different space mentally.

S.M.: (Sings the song “Estoy Aqui”)
A thousand years won’t be enough for me
To erase you and forget
And now, here I am

T.M.: It was a matter of updating a song like that to a more current… Where she’s at and a more current sound and at the same time, in a way, bridge into what the American alternative market is doing now. Because I think she’s been very innovative in the Latin market, Luis as well with working on those two records. Very innovative as far as taking elements from American alternative music and bringing it over to the Spanish market.

S.M.: (Sings the song “Estoy Aqui”)
The letters that I wrote
I never sent them
You won’t want to hear from me
I don’t want to think about
What a fool I was
And it’s a matter of time and faith
And faith
A thousand years and a thousand more
Are enough to love

T.M.: Out of the 11 songs we did, probably seven are pretty heavy. There are drastically  different sections that we added to them or drastically different instrumentation that we used.

L.F.O.: Exactly.

S.M.: (Sings the song “Donde Estan Los Ladrones?”)
Where are the thieves?
Where is the murderer?
Maybe he’s there rolling around in the neighbor’s yard
And what if it’s them?
And what if it’s me?
The one playing this guitar
Or the one singing this song?
The one singing this song

L.F.O.: In “Donde Estan Los Ladrones?”, she and I composed half of the album. We did five or six songs, and later I produced them in the studio… with her.

S.M.: To continue…  I want to introduce a great friend… the person… together with whom I’ve shared… many conversations, endless hours of laughter… We’ve also shared missions, thousands of missions, dreams in common, songs… Like the one that we’re going to perform now. A little flower that sprang from a very special place on Earth. He’s Luis Fernando Ochoa, here with me. A round of applause (laughs).

L.F.O.: The process of writing with Shakira is… is… absolutely… unconscious, I mean, we don’t have a system or a specific way of doing it.

S.M.: (Sings the song “Inevitable”)
I think I was unfaithful once
I even play Parcheesi badly
And I never wear a watch

S.M.: Besides, there’s not a strict… pattern for writing songs. I don’t think I own my creative energy. I don’t think I ever could control it. Sometimes I manage to channel it.
 I’ve written with many people, but almost always musicians, and I’m the one in charge of melodies. I’ve written in the shower, I’ve written on airplanes… I’ve written… on the ground as well… leaving church… Hope they don’t excommunicate me for that (laughs). There’s never a definite place or time. And that’s the most wonderful thing about creating. It will always be a… a mystery.

S.M. & B.V.: (Sings the song “Inevitable”)
Without you, everything is boring
The sky is tired of seeing the rain fall
And every day that passes is one more that seems like yesterday
I can’t find a way to forget you because
To keep loving you is
Inevitable
I always knew that it’s better
When you have to speak for two
Start on your own

V: Bravo!

S.M.: With the passing of the days, months, and years, the artist develops an affinity for certain songs. I have a great affinity for “Sombra De Ti.” Besides, it’s one of the more special themes.

S.M.: (Sings the song “Sombra De Ti”)
I’m going to let
My guitar say everything that I
Don’t know how to say for myself
Or maybe I should wait until the offensive clock
Stops planning my demise
Smiles hurt so much
It takes everything just to breathe
Because not having you here is already bad for me
I’m still surrounded
By your shadow
And still hanging around
Are all the words that we said
And the kisses we gave each other
As always
Today I am
Thinking of you
All the words that we said
And the kisses
we gave each other
As always
Today I am
Thinking of
You

S.M.: There’s really something about it that I can’t explain. I can’t tell what it is. It’s what idealists call magic, you know? It’s a magical essence.

(Fragment “Ojos Asi” on screen).

S.M.: I come from a family…  from the Atlantic Coast of my country. I was born and raised in Barranquilla, but I’m 50% Lebanese by blood.

 And, anyway, we were raised, and I think that we grew up eating a little kibbeh also mixed with fried patacones. A fresh water Turk, as they say in my country (laughs).

S.M.: (Sings the song “Ojos Asi”)
Yesterday I saw a sky with no sun
And a man with no land
A saint in prison
And a sad song with no owner

S.M.: There are many settlements on the Atlantic Coast of my country. There is a large Arab community, many families that came from Lebanon years ago. And my family, my paternal family, is one of them.

S.M.: (Sings the song “Ojas Asi”)
I ask Heaven for one wish
To live in your eyes
I’ve traveled the world over
And I tell you one thing
I’ve traveled from Bahrain to Beirut
From the north to the South Pole
And I haven’t found eyes like yours

S.M.: In this album especially, I saw the perfect opportunity to unleash all the passion that I feel for the music of my ancestors.

S.M.: (Sings the song “Ojas Asi”)
And I haven’t found eyes like yours

S.M.: It was my idea, because I’m always so obsessed with Arabic music, in fact, my introduction to the… to the artistic world was through dance, and I also wanted to use the chance to work with such a… a… competent team. We dedicated ourselves to creating a song with these characteristics, that would be a merging of music from the East and West.

S.M. & B.V.: (Sings the song “Ojas Asi”)
I ask Heaven for one wish
To live in your eyes
I’ve traveled the world over
And I tell you one thing
I’ve traveled from Bahrain to Beirut
From the north to the South Pole
And I haven’t found eyes like yours
I’ve traveled from Bahrain to Beirut
From the north to the South Pole
And I haven’t found eyes like yours

S.M.: No one taught me to dance Arabic-style. It’s proof that genetic memory really exists, because ever since I can remember, as soon as I hear a derbeque, my hips begin to move instantaneously.

(She is dancing belly dance).

S.M.: I already knew most of the guys in the band. We had worked together. Luis Fernando Ochoa, for example, had been… producer with me on “Pies Descalzos” and on “Donde Estan Los Ladrones?” but most musicians were contacted through my production team. The people that work with me found them, but also, based a little bit on what I was looking for musically. I wanted people who spoke a little of my language.

S.M.: (Sings the song “Ojas Asi”)
I ask Heaven for one wish
To live in your eyes
I’ve traveled the world over
And I tell you one thing
I haven’t found eyes like yours
I ask Heaven for one wish
To live in your eyes
I’ve traveled the world over
And I tell you one thing
I’ve traveled from Bahrain to Beirut
From the north to the South Pole
And I haven’t found eyes like yours
I ask Heaven for one wish
To live in your eyes
I’ve traveled the world over
And I tell you one thing
I’ve traveled from Bahrain to Beirut
From the north to the South Pole
And I haven’t found eyes like yours

S.M.: Thank you.

 

THE OTHER CAMERA. SHAKIRA.

T.M.: With an artist like Shakira, she’s very intuitive and needs to connect with the musicians in her band.

L.F.O.: True.

T.M.:  It’s important to her.
 Much of it is relating to the artist. Luckily, everybody relates to her. She relates to them. That’s most important. And probably the greatest accomplishment.

E.E.: She represents women in the year 2000: Women who are very creative, who control their careers, and who have the intelligence to know what they have to do.

S.M.: Thank you for a wonderful evening, really. Until next time.

 

Text by Shmanich.