'It's not a turkey call': The cultural significance behind Shakira's meme-worthy 'tongue thing'

[IronLionZion]

‘It’s not a turkey call’: The cultural significance behind Shakira’s meme-worthy ‘tongue thing’ at the Super Bowl

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/03/shakira-tongue-superbowl/

The head-turning moment came minutes into Sunday’s Super Bowl LIV halftime show.

Grammy Award-winning singer Shakira had just launched into her hit song “Hips Don’t Lie” when she abruptly leaned down toward one of the cameras at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., stuck out her tongue and let out a high-pitched, warbling cry.

Link to tweet

The Internet instantly exploded with reactions to the unexpected ululation and its accompanying tongue action. Some viewers were perplexed. Others ridiculed the 43-year-old singer, creating countless memes that likened her to a gleeful turkey, a petulant toddler and characters from Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants” cartoon, among a host of other unflattering comparisons.

It didn’t take long, however, for many to point out that the mocking images and commentary were in poor taste.

Like much of Shakira’s widely heralded performance, which was full of nods to her Colombian and Lebanese heritage, the seemingly random trill actually carried deep cultural significance. To those familiar with Middle Eastern culture, the sound was akin to a traditional Arabic expression of joy and celebration called a zaghrouta. It was also interpreted as a reference to the world-famous Carnaval de Barranquilla, which is held in Shakira’s hometown in Colombia.

In case anyone was wondering how a Latina got an Arabic name, her father is Lebanese-American born in NYC.

More info and tweets at the link.

[Maru Kitteh]

1. I guess I didn't realize it was a great mystery to anyone. I found it fairly obvious.

I LOVED that the entire halftime show was a gigantic, not-subtle-at-all middle finger to this administration and neo-nazi misogynist white power in general.

[MicaelS]

2. Learned something new.

I always wondered what that was and the name of it.

Thanks.

[IronLionZion]

3. I didn't even watch the show but I saw many memes online

and got curious to check it out. There were lots of diversity and multicultural references that some may see as digs against a racist administration.

[not_the_one]

4. I didn't see it, but...

I think labeling it a "Turkey Call" would fall under the "dismissive insult" category.

Says much more about the speaker, than the performer.

[crickets]

5. +1

[IronLionZion]

7. I first saw it in a video with a goat flicking it's tongue

and figured that was dismissive and insulting enough to investigate what happened.

[GoCubsGo]

6. Wasn't that also the Xena, Warrior Princess call?

[Paladin]

8. It's not as if that "turkey call" is something unknown.

I can think of a couple of famous movies---"Lawrence Of Arabia" and "Patton"---which contain scenes of female groups engaged in zaghrouta-enhanced celebrations, and those films are each around 50 years old.

[krissey]

9. I didn't watch the Super Bowl, didn't know about the significance but when I saw it just now

I had no odd reaction. I have seen it in the past and knew it was part of culture. I didn't know joy and celebration, but there you go. Looked perfectly cool to me. Interesting. Thanks.

[MineralMan]

10. Its called "ululation," and it's not uncommon at all in many cultures.

I'm not sure what people are worked up about. It's one of the sounds humans can make. Learn more about it here. Educate yourself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ululation

And here's a video with people doing all sorts of variation on it:

Maybe objections to it have some sort of racist or culturalist elements?

[calimary]

11. K&R!

[MineralMan]

12. My word, we're culturally ignorant sometimes.

How can anyone not have heard that before? Why is it even a question? Ugh!

[CloudWatcher]

14. Americans have no clue.

I've traveled a little bit and didn't know this!

Passports should be free, international travel should be subsidized! Else we have a nation full of navel gazers that think we're #1.

[IronLionZion]

15. Liberals have a healthy curiosity about the world and like to learn new things

conservatives, not so much

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Yes, therein lies the explanation.

Although I would add "especially about other types of people".

[calimary]

21. Well, my friend, I didn't watch the Super Bowl. Nor did I catch

the halftime show.

So I had no idea what was on that video clip. Either the halftime show OR your clip. I have, however, heard that ululation many times before. In pop culture and World culture. And in exclamation as well as in song.

[MineralMan]

22. Yes, so have I, hundreds of times.

That's what was so odd about people ridiculing, mocking or objecting to Shakira's use of it.

[lunatica]

13. I didn't watch the game but did just watch this video and

it’s obvious it’s a cultural ululating from the Arabic world. I’ve only heard it as a sound of profound grief, but I’ve always interpreted it as a bridging farewell between worlds. Someone of importance has left us so we need to let the world of death know this important person is coming.

Now I learn it is also joy and celebration.

But maybe there is a cultural mixture of grief and joy in the Arab world. There is a mixture of these in the Latino world, where I grew up.

[IronLionZion]

17. Someone dying can be a cause of joy and celebration

if they are expected to go to heaven and be remembered by their descendants. I think Latino culture also has something where ancestors live forever in the afterlife as long as someone living remembers them.

The flip side is when weddings can be a sad occasion in some cultures because a daughter would leave to go live with her husband's family.

[KYBlue]

16. It's a sound of celebration in the middle east

My husband is Egyptian and I remember his female relatives made this sound when we got married. I think it's called ululation. It's used during celebrations.

[eppur_se_muova]

18. What, nobody remembers this movie ?

(begins about 1:50)

[cwydro]

20. Jeez, we learned about that in elementary school.

I remember National Geographic movies.

[MineralMan]

23. There's a related sound that is used similarly in some cultures.

The "tongue trill," made by the tongue vibrating against the back of the teeth or the front of the palate. It's a much faster variation, and can be made at any pitch the voice can sing.

Tongue trills are also used in voice training, to help teach relaxation of certain throat muscles. I had one vocal teacher who thought it was very important and had me singing scales and arpeggios while doing a tongue trill. I felt silly doing it, but it did help open my throat and improve the quality of my voice.

[IronLionZion]

24. Why it isn't surprising that no one knew what Shakira's 'tongue thing' was

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/03/no-one-knew-what-shakiras-super-bowl-zaghrouta-was-no-wonder/