A CULTURAL TEACHING MOMENT
There’s significance to Shakira’s cry during the Super Bowl halftime show
The head-turning moment came minutes into Sunday’s Super Bowl LIV halftime show.
Grammy Award-winning singer Shakira had just launched into her hit song Hips Don’t Lie when she leaned down toward one of the cameras at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., stuck out her tongue and let out a high-pitched, warbling cry.
The internet instantly exploded with reactions to the unexpected ululation and its accompanying tongue action. Some viewers were perplexed. Others ridiculed the 43-year-old singer, creating countless memes that likened her to a gleeful turkey and a petulant toddler, among a host of other unflattering comparisons.
It didn’t take long, however, for many to point out that the mocking images and commentary were in poor taste. Like much of Shakira’s widely heralded performance, which was full of nods to her Colombian and Lebanese heritage, the seemingly random trill actually carried deep cultural significance. To those familiar with Middle Eastern culture, the sound was akin to a traditional Arabic expression of joy and celebration called a zaghrouta.
Beyond the spectacle of costumes, lights and dancing, the show was a powerful homage to the singers’ roots. Shakira peppered her performance with Middle Eastern music, belly dancing and elements of Latin American culture.
The night’s other performer, Jennifer Lopez, who was born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents, sang her anthem Jenny From the Block and later donned the American territory’s flag as a reversible cape. But as the night went on, it appeared that many had become obsessed with one moment from the halftime show: Shakira’s “tongue thing,” as a number of viewers described it.
“Omg Shakira what the heck was that tongue thing,” one person asked. Another tweeted, “Alright Shakira I really need to know what that tongue thing was.” Soon, the reactions took on another form: derision.
People with knowledge of Arabic and Colombian culture rushed to provide context to Shakira’s performance and by late Sunday, their explanations had become a trending moment on Twitter.
Hatem Bazian, a senior lecturer in Near Eastern and ethnic studies at the University of California at Berkeley, told The Washington Post that he immediately recognized the unusual noise as a zaghrouta.
The expression has a “long-standing cultural presence” in countries such as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, Bazian said. It is most commonly used by women at weddings in calland-response form, but has a number of variations that make appearances at graduations and birthdays. “It definitely has a long history without putting a particular date to it,” he said.
“So much so that no wedding or celebration would be complete without having a zaghrouta expression taking place.”
Various interpretations aside, Bazian praised Shakira’s decision to feature the expression in her performance.
“It’s a very significant nod to the cultural diversity, to see the mix of Latina and Middle Eastern culture being represented at a time where there are heavy discourse and public exclusions that are there in the atmosphere,” he said, later adding, “I’m hoping that these conversations will result in a better opportunity to understand and relate to the diversities of cultures that have made America what it is and continue to shape the diversity that we have in our society.”
The Washington Post