Global music icon, Shakira, has stunned the international community with a powerful revelation about her ancestral roots, declaring that “the world will hear the Igbo story through me.”
Speaking in an emotional disclosure, the Grammy award-winning superstar revealed that her great-grandfather and grandmother were from the Igbo tribe of Nigeria, while her father was a survivor of the Biafra War before migrating to the United States, where she was eventually born.
According to Shakira, her mother constantly reminded her to stay connected to her roots because within them lies her true identity, strength, and happiness as a Black woman.
The global star also drew a historic connection to the Igbo Landing tragedy, a 19th-century event in which enslaved Igbo men and women, bound in chains, drowned in defiance rather than submit to slavery. She disclosed that her great-grandfather was among those who perished in that act of resistance, describing it as a story that has shaped her spirit, her music, and her resilience.
The singer further described the Igbo people as “a people of resilience, rhythm, and unshakable pride,” stressing that she is now making plans to reconnect fully with her Igbo heritage.
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