Despedida

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“Despedida”

Song by Shakira
Album	Love in the Time of Cholera EP
Released	November 13, 2007
Format	Digital download
Recorded	2007
Genre	Folk music/Andean music
Length	2:51
Label	Epic Records/New Line Records
Writer	Shakira (lyrics and music) Antonio Pinto (music)
Producer	Antonio Pinto

"Despedida" (English: Farewell) is a Golden Globe Award-nominated song written and performed by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira. It was written alongside Brazilian composer Antonio Pinto for the soundtrack of the film adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez' Love in the Time of Cholera.

[edit] Song information

"Despedida" is one of the two songs Shakira wrote specifically for the film.^[1]^[2] On his own initiative, García Márquez persuaded Shakira to provide two new songs for the film.^[3] The songs were written with Brazilian composer Antonio Pinto. The full score was composed by Pinto, who also scored City of God and Lord of War.

"Despedida" is written in a folkloric style evoking the mournful sound of Andean music, with native instruments such as the bombo, a drum, and the charango, a small guitar. Shakira calls it "the song of her dreams", because she had always wanted to write something that evoked "the lament of the Andes".

Shakira told the Los Angeles Times that she finds it curious "that this is a song of farewell, of death, of loss, but at the same time, it was a pleasure to do". She also commented that entering "this new world of folklore was definitely one of the greatest challenges" for her.^[4]

Shakira has performed the song twice until 27th January 2008, the first one was at the Premiere of the film, and she sang with a little variation compared with the original version, the second one was shown on the American TV program "The Tonight Show".

An EP containing the three songs performed by Shakira featured in the film, as well as the full soundtrack, was released exclusively on the iTunes Music Store on November 13, 2007.