The Colombian journalist wrote an emotional letter to the artist, remembering the interview that marked the beginning of her career and the power of dreams fulfilled.
News Colombia.
Shakira’s double concert in Cali not only made thousands of people vibrate as they chanted her hits, but also awakened deep emotions in those who have followed her career since her first steps. Between lights, nostalgia and applause, the Barranquilla native showed that she continues to be an artist capable of uniting generations and moving hearts. But while the stadium was filled with energy and applause, a silent story, woven more than three decades ago, came to life again in the midst of the excitement of Cali.
See: Cali is where you should be: the city that shone again
This is a letter written by Wilson Barco, journalist and founder of the media TuBarco, who recalled with gratitude and admiration the moment when, as a young announcer in Pasto in 1993, he interviewed for the first time a then unknown Shakira before her trip to the Viña del Mar Festival.
It was in February 1993, in the city of Pasto, when the then young announcer and dreamer Wilson Barco He spent his nights among consoles, microphones and romantic melodies on the Nariño Estéreo station. In the middle of her night shift, a different voice caught her attention: that of a 16-year-old teenager from Barranquilla who was beginning to shine in Colombian music. It was Shakira, and although her name was just beginning to be heard, he knew he was facing something extraordinary.
Driven by admiration and intuition, Barco decided to break the rules of programming and play his songs more than once, convinced that “true music is not repeated, it is shared.” He wanted to meet her, and he achieved it. He got the number of his house in Barranquilla and, with the kindness of Mr. William Mebarakthe artist’s father, was able to speak with her. It was then that they agreed to an interview, just before Shakira traveled to Viña del Mar, Chile, to represent Colombia at the prestigious song festival.
That interview, Barco recalls in an emotional letter, was his first great journalistic experience and the beginning of a conviction: believing in talent, authenticity and dreams. “You are going to succeed,” he then told her with his heart. Three decades later, the prophecy was fulfilled. Shakira conquered the world, and he continued sailing through his own sea of dreams: he went from announcer to journalist, from journalist to trainer, and from dreamer to founder of the medium YourBoat.
Today, from Cali, Colombia, Wilson Barco leads TuBarco, a citizen journalism project that was born “from the people and for the people.” The medium seeks to make invisible stories visible, support communities, entrepreneurs and young people who want to transform their environment, and teach them to use communication and artificial intelligence as tools of change. “You,” he says, represent the citizen voice; “Boat”, the journey of dreamers who refuse to shipwreck.
In his letter, the journalist reveals that while Shakira is in Cali, her TuBarco team is recording a report in Barranquilla, in one of the Pies Descalzos Foundation schools, where children learn and dream thanks to the artist’s legacy. For him, this crossing of destinies is not a coincidence, but a sign that true dreams always come together again.
“Tonight, when you take the stage, I will be in the crowd, not as a journalist, but as a fan,” writes Wilson Barco. With humility and gratitude, he remembers that more than thirty years ago a call changed his story, and that the voice he heard on the radio continues to be an inspiration. “You continue to be that: the great one, the authentic one, the pride of Colombia,” he concludes. A letter that is, at the same time, tribute, memory and testimony that dreamers never stop believing.
Here is the video of Wilson Barco reading the emotional letter:
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