Colombian mega-star Shakira went on a shopping spree after performing in India, buying cotton saris, books on Indian spirituality and a good luck charm meant to ward off the evil eye, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Shakira performed to a packed house in Mumbai, the country’s entertainment and financial center, on Sunday. Before heading out a day later, her staff tore through the city’s shopping districts, the Times of India reported, and also had hotel staff download hundreds of Indian songs for her.

“Shakira was very curious about desi (Indian) books and music,” Illan Weill, the manager of the Grand Hyatt hotel where she stayed, was quoted as saying by the Times. “She ensured that we packed her books and music CDs, among other things.”

Shakira’s India concert was part of her tour for the album Oral Fixation. According to the Latino sensation “my mouth is my biggest source of pleasure, my most accessible vehicle to discover and enjoy the world.”

Keen to get a taste of Indian cuisine, she was left “teary-eyed ” after a restaurant at Kala Ghoda served up a spicy spread of leg ‘burra’ (chunks of lamb barbecued in tandoor), chicken ‘reshmi kabab’, ‘prawn kabab’, ‘fish tikka’, ‘vegetable sheekh kabab’ and ‘vegetable shammi kabab’ for starters.

Those present at the restaurant said all the mirchi soon turned her eyes so moist that her brother Tony and her secretary promptly went up to the restaurant manager and asked him to give her “only moderately spicy food” for the main course.

“Shakira’s brother and secretary asked me to cut down on the chilly,” restaurant manager Sheikh revealed, adding though that “Shakira later confessed she loved our Indian cuisine. She particularly relished the Afghani chicken.”

On March 23rd, 2007 Dubai came to a stand still - literally - as more than 25,000 fans made their way towards Dubai Autodrome for a sold out mega concert!

In a city with more construction cranes than anywhere else in the world, and a road system struggling to cope with everyday traffic, the biggest concert ever certainly challenged the infrastructure. But the many “Shakira Shakira” cries were drowned out by a gigantic roar from the capacity crowd when Shakira kicked off her concert with a rendition of a song made famous by Lebanese diva, Fairuz.

Several hits and many a belly and hip shake later, Shakira had achieved what no other western artist has ever done in this region.

Shakira, the Colombian singer, will sing on Wednesday at the Guiza Pyramids on her first concert in Egypt, in her world tour to present her record Fijacion Oral II.

The “barefoot” singer who arrived the day before to El Cairo airport expressed her happiness because she has wished to sing in Egypt since she was a child, the local newspaper Al Ahram published.

Shakira said she hopes to gain “the trust and love of the Egyptians, a country that appreciates art and music”, the newspaper added.

The first Shakira concert in the African country is sponsored by the Egyptian company Mobinil, leader in mobile telephony, to celebrate its ten millionth subscriber.

Latino superstar Shakira took the country’s entertainment capital by storm with her live performance.

The concert, held at the MMRDA grounds in Mumbai Sunday evening, was to start at around 1830 hrs but started well after 2000 hrs, making the audience impatient.

However, she made up for the delay by belting out some English chartbusters like ‘Hips Don’t Lie’, ‘Whenever Wherever’ and ’Illegal’. Before that, she had the audience swaying by singing to a host of Latino numbers.

Some of the celebrities present at the concert were musician Leslie Lewis, rapper Bali Brahmbhatt, former Bollywood actress Kimi Katkar, producer Ritesh Sidhwani and Shah Rukh Khan wife Gauri with their kids.

Speaking on the occasion, Shakira said, “This is my first concert in Mumbai. Thank you for making it so special.’’

Shakira’s Mumbai exchange was complete when she left for Cairo on Monday with henna cones along with CDs of Indian folk and classical music, featuring ragas, raas and Rajasthani.

The diminutive Columbian had performed at the MMRDA in Mumbai on Sunday. The Latina sensation retired to her hotel post the concert, giving the after-party, hosted by Nokia and Vikram Phadnis, a miss.

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The party not only felt the singer’s absence but also an ill-turn out of Phadnis’ usual celeb favourites. Until midnight the party had far more empty corners than people crowding the room. Madhur Bhandrakar, Anurag Kashyap, Neetu Chandra, Poonam Dhillon and Sanjay Suri were among the few attendees who made it in anticipation of meeting the talented artist.

A possibly mortified Phadnis made a disappearing act in the party’s early stages too.

After setting the stage on fire, Colombian singing and “belly-dancing” sensation Shakira today bid adieu to India, flying to Cairo, the next stop in her world tour.

The Latino performer left Mumbai at around 1.30 pm by a private jet, accompanied by her parents.

Apart from Sunday evening’s gyration-filled memories, Shakira also left behind a handful of air-kisses and a gracious “Namaste” to her fans and the media at the Chhattrapati Shivaji International Airport just before leaving.

She arrived here on Saturday as part of a tour to promote her album “Oral Fixation” and made thousands of her fans swoon at the MMRDA Ground at the suburban Bandra-Kurla Complex on yesterday night.

Flirting with the crowd and changing costumes frequently the petite songstress drove the audience wild, rendering hit numbers like “Whenever Whatever”, “Underneath Your Clothes”, and “Hips Don’t Lie”.

It was the night that Mumbaikas were waiting for — and Shakira did not disappoint! The Latino songstress left the audience gasping for more with what was quite a ‘hip’notising experience.

The high-energy, saucy Shakira gyrating to some sexy tunes on Sunday night was more than enough to drive a crowd into a frenzy of adrenalin and excitement. The Latin diva’s sensational moves on left the crowds begging for more.

It was the Latina diva’s first concert in India and did not disappoint. The Mumbai concert was a part of Shakira’s ‘Oral Fixation’ world tour, with performances in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. After entertaining the Mumbai crowds, the multiple Grammy Award winner flies to Egypt and then to Spain.

Colombian pop star Shakira Sunday left thousands of fans in this megapolis spellbound by her amazing intensity and boundless energy as she performed her maiden concert in India.

The three-hour concert all but left the fans hypnotised with the belly dancing moves of the Latino singing sensation at the MMRDA grounds in the Bandra-Kurla Complex in suburban Mumbai.

The Mumbai stopover is part of Shakira’s ‘Oral Fixation’ tour.

The concert, which was a huge sell-out, had several ‘firsts’ for music concerts in India with a giant LED (liquid electronic displays) wall installed instead of the ordinary LCD (liquid crystal display) wall and superior lighting effects.

In another first in India, Shakira was carried by an Austin crane into the audience, there were ramps that came into the arena so that even crowds farthest from the stage got a close-up glimpse of her.

Lebanese-Colombian pop sensation, Shakira, set the stage on fire with a string of high-energy performances last evening as she performed for over two hours in front of a ‘live’ audience of 25,000 fans at the Dubai Autodrome as part of her ‘Oral Fixation’ world tour.

The diva made sure that her fans got to see enough of her as she swayed her hips and belted out some of her top English and Spanish hits.
Shakira began her performance by playing her guitar and singing one of her Spanish hits. She performed a mix of slow songs like Illegal and even some racy Spanish numbers, but the crowd went wild when she belly danced in true Shakira style, letting her hips do all the talking!

Addressing the crowd, the two-time Grammy Award and eight-time Latin Grammy Award-winning singer, said, “For me, this is a very satisfying tour because this gives me an opportunity to get in touch with my Arabic roots of which I am really proud.”