Timor (song)

Song infobox
Name = Timor


Artist = Shakira
Album = Oral Fixation Vol. 2
Released = 2008
Recorded = 2005
Genre = Dance-pop
Length = 3:32
Writer = Shakira
Label = Epic Records
Producer = Shakira
Chart position =
prev = "Hay Amores"

"Timor" is a dance-pop song written, produced and performed by Colombian singer Shakira. It is the eleventh track on her second English language studio album, "Oral Fixation Vol. 2". It is the twelfth track on the re-release of the album.

Song information

"Timor" is described as a protest song for its criticism of the judiciary system ("the system never fails, the good guys are in power and the bad guys are in jail"), the concept of democracy ("it's alright just as long as we can vote, we live in a democracy and that's what we promote"), the mass media ("it's alright if the news says half the truth, hearing what we want is the secret of eternal youth") and teenager alienation ("it's alright if the planets split in three, 'cause I'll keep selling records and you've got your MTV").

ignificance of the title

The name of the song is a reference to East Timor, a developing Portuguese-speaking Asian country which on rare occasionsFact|date=October 2008 received major attention from Western media during the 24 years of Indonesian occupation and genocideFact|date=October 2008 starting in December 7, 1975 when Indonesia launched its invasion of the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, using weapons 90% of which were provided by the United StatesFact|date=October 2008, hours after U.S. President Ford and Henry Kissinger's visit to Jakarta which gave the green light to Suharto, the Indonesian dictator and lasting up to East Timor's vote for independence August 30, 1999. During these years in which it was struggling to become independent, there was brief news coverage in 1979 when the International Red Cross brought back photos of the war and famine (which according to Amnesty International, International Red Cross and Catholic Relief Service reports claimed 250,000 East Timorese lives; see for example Noam Chomsky and Ed Hermann's book Political Economy of Human Rights volumes I and II (1980) which devotes 80 pages to East Timor) and over a decade later in response to the November 12, 1991 Santa Cruz massacre of hundreds of East Timorese civilians which was filmed by western journalists including witnesses such as Allan Nairn and Amy Goodman, again in 1996 when the Nobel peace prize was jointly awarded to East Timor's bishop Carlos Belo and its UN ambassador Jose Ramos Horta, and finally in response to the violence both preceding and after the vote in 1999. Some 50,000 East Timorese homes were burnt to the ground in the months prior to the vote by way of intimidation (in spite of which 99% of the population turned out to vote and 78% voted for independence) and following the vote according to UN estimates, some 75% of the infrastructure nationwide was destroyed in the first three weeks of September 1999. Australian media ran the story that Australian intelligence knew a year ahead of time the violence being planned by the Indonesian military but said nothing(see http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/stories/s293531.htm ). Now that the country needs humanitarian help to develop (it has the lowest per capita GDP in the world and the second worst HDI in Asia), it was "forgotten". Because of this, Shakira describes the East Timorese as "the people who don't matter anymore".

Similar Efforts

Other recording artists have occasionally featured songs about East Timor. Of some note, on the anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre on November 12, 1995 U2's Bono had penned the song/poem Love from a Short Distance recorded on the album Love from a Short Distance (1996) along with many other artists :

"To the good people of East Timor. On behalf of myself, Bono and the band U2, on behalf of most scribes and poets, most music, film and object makers, both here in Ireland and around the world, please be sure that we know of your strife and that even if we are not allowed to see, you know that we hear of you, and that when we don't hear from you we think of you...all the more.

There is no silence deep enough No black out dark enough No corruption thick enough No business deal big enough No politicians bent enough No heart hollow enough No grave wide enough To bury your story And keep it from us.

Love from a short distance. Bono, November 12, 1995."

(See http://www.u2wanderer.org/disco/coll44.html )

More issues within the song

Shakira's song raises larger issues. Australian oil company middlemen for the British and American petroleuminterests illegally signed a deal with the Indonesians that cuts to one fourth the share of the $36 billion U.S. dollars of East Timor's offshore oil and natural gas which under international convention should rightfully belongto East Timor, one of the UN's poorest member nations. In 1975 Indonesia was fearful of what the example of anindependent East Timor might mean to other independence movements in its large archipelago. This included the stabilityof Mobil oil's operations in Aceh (where the recent tsunami was epicentered) linked to numerous human rights violations ( see http://acehnet.tripod.com/mobil.htm ) as well as U.S. Louisiana based mining company Freeport-Macmoran's mineral interests in Iryan Jaya, the western half of Papua New-Guinea. Besides these stability concerns, the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor was a convenient way for Ford and Kissinger to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of warplanes left over from the then recently ended Vietnam war and according to reports from East Timorese refugees, included the sale of agent orange defoliant and the horrors of napalm. There has been no real accountability for the violence in East Timor, notruth and reconciliation committee in the United States and other western powers. Including military satellite sales, the U.S. sold some $1.5 billion dollars of weaponry to Indonesia during the 24 year occupation of East Timor. In Great Britain the trial of the ‘Ploughshares Women’ended with these women being acquitted by the Crown Court at Liverpool in 1996, having damaged a Hawkaircraft being sold by the British government to Indonesia. These women argued that Hawk aircraft were being used by Indonesia against East Timor, a country it was illegally occupying, and subjecting to gross human rights abuses. They persuaded the jury that by such aircraft sales toIndonesia the British government was in violation of domestic and international law aswell as ‘simple humanity and love’ (http://ire.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/18/1/125.pdf )The Australian ABC media story of intelligence foreknowledge of the Indonesian invasionmakes it inconceivable to many that U.S. intelligence was not aware, and points to complicity and likely orchestration by the oil interests in Washington and elsewhere. Shakira's lyrics "It's alright, it's alright If the news says half the truthHearing what we want's The secret of eternal youth" points to the western addiction tooil and material comforts. The absence or paucity of media coverage ( see e.g. Chomsky's book Manufacturing Consent)points to the public's not wanting to face the truth and take responsibilityfor its indifference. Indeed, after the Indonesian military and the militias they armed and trained fled in the wake of the 1999 violence they perpetrated in East Timor, the same militaryand militias traveled to Aceh and Iryan Jaya to continue the work they carried out in Timor.

Controversy

"Timor" was retitled "It's Alright" in the Indonesian version of "Oral Fixation Vol. 2", because the East Timorese independence is still a highly controversial issue. The album cover was also changed there, as it was in other Muslim nations. Fact|date=February 2007

Critical response

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic reviewer, stated that "even when the album dives into pulsating neo-disco, it's in the form of a protest song in the closer, "Timor", which isn't exactly by-the-numbers pop. And that's a pretty good description of "Oral Fixation Vol. 2" in general — it's pop, but it's unconventional". [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:vq8m961o0ep6 All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine.] ]

Alexis Petridis, reviewer of "The Guardian", stated in the newspaper that the song "answers the question of what Franz Ferdinand would sound like if they employed a children's choir and antiquated "syn-drums" that bring to mind either Kelly Marie's disco hit "Feels Like I'm in Love", or early 1980s cartoon "Pigeon Street", depending on the listener's age. Admittedly, this isn't a question that anyone other than Shakira has spent much time pondering, but the result is bewildering and exhilarating. And you could happily apply the same adjectives to the whole of "Oral Fixation Vol 2"." [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,1721567,00.html "The Guardian" review by Alexia Petridis.] ]

Michael Paoletta, reviewer of the "Billboard" magaine, stated that "this wonderful disc closes with jagged dance track "Timor", a political call to arms that manages to recall Cyndi Lauper's "She Bop". [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews/album_review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001570553 "Billboard" review by Michael Paoletta.] ]

Personnel

*Lyrics and music: Shakira
*Producer: Shakira
*Executive producer: Rick Rubin
*Co-producer: Lester Mendez for Living Stereo
*Main vocals: Shakira
*Background vocals: Shakira, Mario Inchausti
*Choir: Church of the Epiphany Chamber Choir
*Choir director: Patrick Dupré Quingley
*Bass guitar: Chris Chaney
*Keyboards: Lester Mendez, Pete Davis
*Guitar: Lyle Workman, Tony Reyes
*Programming: Pete Davis, Lester Mendez
*Recording Engineers: Rob Jacobs, Kevin Killen
*Mix Engineer: Gustavo Celis

ee also

* East Timor
** 2006 East Timor crisis
* Indonesia
* Shakira
* "Oral Fixation 2"

References

External links

* [http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=92230012&s=143441&i=92233616 Listen to "Timor" through iTunes Music Store]