Before becoming one of the most recognizable voices of world music, Shakira was excluded from the choir of his school.
He was only seven years old and lived in Barranquilla, Colombia.
For her, that audition was a little dream. He wanted to sing with the other children, but the music teacher took little time to decide that his voice was not suitable.
The problem was the vibration, too intense and particular to harmonize with the rest of the choir.
Then there came an even harder sentence.
They told her she was singing like a goat.
Those words were not confined to the music room. Some comrades also began to repeat them, transforming a characteristic of his voice into a reason for derision.
Shakira could have tried to change her. He could have made his way of singing more like that of others.
He chose instead to continue.
Years later he reported that episode during an interview with 60 Minutes, explaining that refusal had not destroyed confidence in his talent. On the contrary, he pushed her to work even more.
The detail that as a child seemed to prevent her from entering a choir became, with time, the trait able to distinguish it from millions of other voices.
A few notes are enough today to recognize it.
Not because he erased what made it different, but because he learned to transform it into his own artistic identity.
Sometimes talent does not appear immediately perfect in the eyes of others.
Sometimes it has an unusual form, a voice out of the choir and only need someone willing not to give up.