Shakira Oral Fixation Tour (DVD)

Shakira is both a highly visual artist and a bilingual one, and her choice of Miami -- the concluding stop on her 397-day world tour supporting the two Oral Fixation albums -- as the performance to be filmed for a concert video was appropriate. During the hour-and-a-half show, she mixed songs and stage remarks in Spanish with some in English (but much more of the former than the latter), and that didn't seem to faze the largely young and female audience filling the auditorium. Bounding across the wide stage and changing clothes frequently, the singer proved to be as much of a dancer as a vocalist, her signature moves, usually executed in costumes baring her midriff, are drawn from belly dancing, whether that meant rolling her hips in an undulating manner or thrusting her chest out forcefully. The sexual bravado of such exertions was accentuated, of course, by the performances of such hit songs as "Underneath Your Clothes" and "Hips Don't Lie." But just as often, Shakira exhibited a frisky, more innocent charm. It really didn't matter much whether she was singing in Spanish or English, since her vocal mannerisms tended to obscure the lyrics except for the repeated choruses. (Given the physical effort involved in the dancing, it was hard not to suppose that some of that singing was pre-recorded anyway.) She was joined by her duet partners Alejandro Sanz on the hit "La Tortura" and Wyclef Jean on "Hips Don't Lie," the triumphant closing number. The DVD adds a few extra performances from other shows as well as short films covering the tour as a whole and Shakira's charity activities in her native Colombia. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide