Engineers include: Luis Fernando Ochoa, Gonzalo Vasquez, Camilo Montilla.

Recorded at Sonido Azulado Studio, Bogota, Columbia; Ocean V.U. Studio, Miami, Florida between February & July 1995.

Personnel includes: Shakira (vocals, guitar); Luis Fernando Ochoa (Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, bass, percussion, background vocals); Gonzo Vasquez (programming, percussion); Jose Gaviria, Andrea Pineros (background vocals).

Recorded in Miami, Florida in July 1995.

Shakira's 1996 debut album, Pies Descalzos set the stage for one of the international community's most celebrated and exciting stars. The album took a while to gain momentum, but once it did, the young chanteuse ascended to dizzying commercial heights that were only magnified with her more electrifying later releases. The more tranquil Pies Descalzos, however, finds the young singer/songwriter balancing heartfelt, earnest ballads (such as "Te Necesito") with catchy, jangly pop/rock. The album opens with the infectious and melodic pop/rocker "Estoy Aqui" and continues with the ballad "Antologia" before breaking into the dancehall-lite of "Un Poco de Amor." As can be seen from the diversity of the material, Shakira seems to still be finding her own voice, but the results are nonetheless engaging. Other highlights include the catchy "Se Quiere Se Mata," "Donde Estas Corazon," and the cool, jazzy "Te Espero Sentada," which unfortunately loses momentum during the chorus. All in all, Pies Descalzos is a solid debut from a young artist who was still evolving and would later further fulfill her artistic potential. ~ Jose F. Promis

Colección de Oro consists of a collection of Colombian Shakira's first hits, an album to bring listeners back to a time when the talented singer/songwriter started climbing charts throughout Latin America with her romantic compositions and personal reflections about life. After her worldwide breakthrough as a teen pop sensation with her first English-language record, titled Laundry Service, Colección de Oro comprised 11 songs starting with the Latin pop "Estoy Aqui" ("I'm Here"), including a nostalgic ballad called "Antologia" ("Anthology"), the reggae-inflected "Un Poco de Amor" ("A Little Bit of Love"), a well-produced acoustic love song titled "Quiero" ("I Want"), and the catchy pop/rock "Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos" ("Naked Feet, White Dreams") from her international debut album Pies Descalzos, released in 1996. ~ Drago Bonacich

Born to Lebanese parents in a coastal town in Colombia, Shakira has followed an unlikely path to international stardom. She started making albums at 15, gradually merging her love for American folk-rock with her Latin sensibility, until she crossed over into the mainstream with CIEGO, SORDO, MUDO.

PIES DESCALZOS is the release immediately preceding CIEGO, a purer distillation of the singer before Emilio Estefan got his hands on her. Peforming with standard rock instrumentation and relying on simple riffs, Shakira uses her highly flexible vocal range to infuse her melancholic love songs with an unusual power. If on CIEGO SORDO MUDO she sounded like Alanis Morissette, here she's more like Tracy Chapman. Songs like "Pienso en Ti" and "Te Necesito" have a haunting, elegiac quality. "Un Poco de Amor" is a rollicking celebration of reggae's reach beyond Jamaica, and the title track brings you into the mental state of idealistic Latin youth. "You belong to an ancient race of barefoot people / And now you just want to be happy," she sings, and the kids know they're all right.