What Was That Noise Shakira Made During Halftime Show
During last night's "big game" championship event staged by the National Football League, they took a break from the drama on the field for the halftime show. From all indications, most people were moderately enthused by the performance of Jennifer Lopez. However, there was a moment during Shakira's performance that seemed to stop the Internet cold.
That was it. That high pitched screech was what all the fuss was about.
Technically it's called an ululation. Which is described by Vocabulary.com thusly.
Ululation is a howling or wailing sound. In many cultures, the sound of ululation is common at a funeral, while in others the mourners only sniffle quietly. Ululation is often mournful and it's always full of emotion.
I guess if I had to sing at a Super Bowl that didn't involve the New Orleans Saints because of yet another season full of shady bad calls I would be ululating too.
However, I think Shakira's ululation was more in keeping with her cultural ties than it was an attempt to imitate SpongeBob Square Pants as one twitter user suggested. Shakira's paternal grandparents were Lebanese, so it is possible she was performing a traditional Arabic ululation called the zaghrouta.
Other speculations about Shakira's ululation is that the sound she was replicating is a tongue movement done at the Carnaval in her hometown of Barranquilla. That makes a lot of sense too.
One thing is for certain, Shakira's performance and that high pitched tongue-wagging noise have inspired a whole new set of memes on the Internet. Just watch your newsfeed on Facebook today, I promise you they will be making the rounds and as people sober up, they'll realize that we really should have better things to do with our time and technology.