The person who claims to know Shakira intimately finally granted an interview to the Las 2 Orillas portal, taking advantage of the Barranquilla’s visit to Colombia, and this is what he answered when asked about the singer’s life.
Edgar Garcia Ochoa ‘Flash’is the journalist who launched Shakira to stardom, the one who discovered her many years ago, decided not to talk to anyone about the singer.
But the communicator, after so much insistence, received us at his home in Barranquilla and broke his silence to recount never-before-seen episodes of the personality of one of the world’s number one pop artists.
How did you meet Shakira?
When Shakira bursts into music, it was not usual in Colombia nor in America children singers. At that time she was ten years old. Her father, whose name is William Mebarak, took her to the stations, to the newspapers, and nobody paid any attention to her. “The old man is coming again with that girl”, were the exclamations of the communicators.
I know the little girl because at that time I was the most widely read columnist. She had a column in El Heraldo that she published three times a week and she had a lot of power. Then the desperate old man sent me a letter where he told me: «Help me or I’m not going to continue with this.» I then decide to meet the girl. When he introduced me to her, her personality caught my attention, the way she spoke.
Shakira the girl, what was she like?
She wasn’t very pretty and she was chubby, but she had a commanding personality, like directing. Damn, I would like to tell you an anecdote so you know what Shakira is like. One day we were in Bogotá. She invited me to lunch with her dad. I was staying with a mentalist who reads her luck, and suddenly she got up from the table and asked me to take her to her. The father and mother were upset and told him not to believe in such things. And yet, she was driving the car, despite her parents’ warnings, she came with me. The mentalist read her palm and predicted everything that is happening to her.
Another anecdote that I remember has to do with Shakira’s invitation to me and my wife to go to Miami. While there, a friend, Mirna Martínez, began to cry in the middle of the meal. Shakira asked her what was wrong and she replied that her husband had cancer. Then she Shakira touched his head and swore that her husband was going to heal from her. And her husband was cured. Those are anecdotes that nobody knows about the personality of this girl.
Why did you believe in her? What did she see in that unattractive little girl?
First of all, I have to say that I am not a celebrity journalist, nor a music collector. I’m a topic commenter. However, those who should discover the stars are those who are involved in music and they do not discover anyone. Before discovering Shakira I removed Juan Carlos Coronel from ostracism, he says: ‘Flash was the one who shook my hand’. Rodolfo Aycardi, I also discovered that one. And now I’m with Daniela Mass, another girl I’m helping and who recently sang with Andrea Bocelli. The Italian was impressed with her and they recorded together. She has green eyes and sings like Celine Dion. She is a phenomenon.
Returning to the subject of Shakira, I can tell you that before she appeared in my life, I was a very popular person in Cartagena. He was a friend of Julio Iglesias, not taking a picture of me, no, a friend of partying; I walked with him up and down. I was also a friend of Dominguín, I brought him here to Colombia. I toured all the plazas in Spain with Palomo Linares, number one at that time. With Spain I have many ties. When Shakira arrived it was not by chance, I was never an apparition. She had a name at the time.
What relationship do you have now with the singer?
I haven’t seen her in years. Now it’s not the same.
Has she turned away from you or you from her?
As he comes to the city for a while. Besides, I also have my occupations and I’m not going to chase after her. That doesn’t suit me. At some point she has called me and asked me to come see her. My relationship is cordial.
Why are there people who want to upset that relationship? There are people who say that you speak ill of Shakira…
Never. I have never spoken ill of her. It’s just that I’m an analytical journalist. I write about all topics. When there is something bad, I comment on it, but I haven’t spoken badly about Shakira. What happens is that there will always be the envious, the scoundrel who will speak ill. It’s true that I don’t have access to her like before because she hangs out with her husband, with her relatives, that’s logical.
You have said on many occasions that Shakira has turned her back on her city…
There are a series of attitudes and that people are seeing. The fans are there, even at dawn and he doesn’t look at them. The next day she appears embracing with those from Haiti. That’s what people see. Besides, I say that in the book I wrote about her. That is not speaking ill of anyone.
Do you think Shakira has been grateful to ‘Flash’?
I have been the only journalist who has been invited to the United States with all expenses paid. He gave me two limousines. He invited me to two events: the Billboard awards and the Lo Nuestro awards. Outside of that we made a library together, for the prisoners. She came to the opening here. I have done many civic campaigns and it has collaborated with me. What happens is that now in the situation that he has now, that he does not live here, that he has a number of foreign people, he no longer has the same affinity with me or with anyone. That is very clear.
Barranquilla before this new Shakira, how do you see her?
I see one thing, they don’t mess with it here. Because if you see here there are no such crowds at the airport. I don’t know why this scandal. That day, when he was not seen, there were twenty people at the doors of his house. There was no one else. Here there has been no such thing that people go crazy. She can go outside and no one messes with her. I don’t know why she makes these enclosures, that she hides, if people here adore her.
She is no longer the humble girl of before…
It is that he is 40 years old. It must also be said that when you travel for many hours you end up exhausted. You imagine, no matter how many comforts the plane has, a different country at every moment. That woman ends up exhausted. And if you add to that the rehearsals, the album and the public, the situation becomes worse. It is logical that she wants to rest here and be with her parents. And many do not understand that.
Do you think then that fame has changed it?
Caramba! She has a personality that only stars like Sinatra, like Marlon Brando, like Madonna have, who don’t express her emotions, they live in secrecy. I tell you, Marlon Brando never gave an interview, ever. Sinatra, a guy had to make up an interview because he didn’t give interviews. Shakira is the same. She says what she wants, but she has a mystery side to her; lifetime.
Shakira is not seen in Barranquilla because she has a grudge…
It’s true. A long time ago he said in the French magazine Paris Match: ‘I don’t like Barranquilla society because they didn’t help my parents and now they’re after them.’ Those words are harsh and are clear evidence of the resentment that she harbors for those who once despised her.
Some time ago there was news that Shakira did not help some uncles as it should be on the father’s side…
It is also true. Jorge Cura, who is the most serious journalist here, surprised everyone with a story in which he talked about some of her uncles who were in misery and to whom he gave 150,000 pesos (55 euros) a month. I do not agree with that because she does not have to assume the responsibility of supporting all her relatives. But that has hit hard here.
What have you achieved on a personal level with Shakira? Because there is a before and after in his life…
Very good question. You know how many times a day I have to talk about Shakira wherever I go. I go in the taxi: ‘Hey, were you the one who discovered Shakira? I have to tell the story; I go to a wedding, and the same. At all times I have to talk about that topic because they already relate to me. That’s good, it’s wonderful, but it ended my career a bit. of a hundred I have done charity work, but everything I do is worthless. All my life I will have to live with that shadow.
Taken from The 2 Shores