EL OASIS

shakira played the role of luisa maria in the soap el oasis in 1993-94 wich is loosely based on the armero tragedy in 1985 she said she was a bad actress but she had a lot of fun

In San Isidro, the town of sharp differences, where things are black or white, where there is rain or sun, where the rich are rich and the poor are poor... two families: the RICOS and the PERDIGONS debate between love and hate. The two heads of the family: SEVERO RICO and MISAEL PERDIGON (PEDRO MOGOLLON), although they have different last names, they are twin brothers. Physically you could say that they are like two drops of water, but they are and they consider themselves different in every respect. SEVERO RICO, powerful landowner, is of bitter temperament, and like his name indicates, severe and implacable in the face of the deep love that his daughter LUISA MARIA (SHAKIRA) feels for SALOMON PERDIGON (PEDRO RENDON), son of his worst enemy. To finish this romance, SEVERO, counseled by his embittered wife AGRIPINA (MARIELA RIVAS), forces LUISA MARIA to marry ANTURIO (MAURO URQUIJO), he son of the mayor, although he knows that he is a vagrant, womanizer, scoundrel, and good for nothing. His very submissive sister-in-law TERESA (TITA DUARTE) opposes it unsuccessfully, since SEVERO doesn't count only on the support of his sister-in-law, but also on the support of BRIJIDA (XILENA AYCARDI), his older sister. In truth she does it, not for the well-being of her sister, but because she is lost in love with SALOMON. So the poor TERESA and LUISA MARIA only count on FAUSTINA (YOLANDA GARCIA), their old and faithful employee. MISAEL PERDIGON, on the contrary, is a good natured guy. He has a good sense of humor, although mixed with irony and sarcasm. He also furiously opposes his son SALOMON'S relationship with LUISA MARIA or with anyone with the last name RICO. He is the town's carpenter. He dedicated himself to that profession after his tepbrother stripped him of the family inheritance. e knows that SEVERO will never ever forgive him for having stolen the only woman that he has ever loved, MAGDALENA (MARIA MARGARITA GIRALDO), the one that today is his wife and mother of SALOMON.

                                                              Characters:

                                                     Luisa María - Shakira
                                                     Salomón Perdigon - Pedro Rendon
                                                     Misiel Perdigon - Pedro Rendon
                                                     Agripina - Mariela Rivas
                                                     Anturio - Mauro Urquijo
                                                     Teresa - Tita Duarte
                                                     Brijida - Xilena Aycardi
                                                     Faustina - Yolanda García
                                                     Magdalena - María Giraldo

Revista TV y Novelas, No. 099, januari 30 1995

Escena final en donde todos quedan felices

In El Oasis, which aired Monday through Friday, Shakira played Luisa María Rico, a modest, noble girl from a well-to-do family, hope lessly in love with the wrong man. Like a Shakespearean tragedy, Luisa María and Salomón Perdigón (Pedro Rendón) loved each other intensely, but their fathers, who were twin brothers, had hated each other ever since her father took sole control of the family fortune, leaving his brother in dire poverty. Against all odds, Luisa María and Salomón prove that love is stronger than all the hate in the world and end up getting married. The soap opera did not get high ratings, but it was enough to put Shakira's image in the homes of hundreds of thousands of people who followed the adventures of Luisa María and Salomón. Shakira took advantage of her lead role and started accepting invitations to various events and functions. She also rode the TV role onto the pages of a lot of fashion magazines Even though during the months of the soap's taping Shakira stayed far from the music scene, she never stopped writing. And she did not write only at night. The set was four or five hours outside Bogotá, practically in the middle of the desert-an ideal place to retreat and find inspiration. That was exactly what the young poet would do when she managed to escape. One of her fellow cast members, the actress Xilena Sicardi, remembers that during her breaks Shakira would disappear. She withdrew from the noise in order to write in peace. "She was always thinking about composing some song or fix ing another one she'd already written," Xilena told TV y Novelas.

But her television adventure was short. Her life on the small screen ended with the last episode of El Oasis. After a year of studying lines and taping scenes, Shakira decided to kill her acting career abruptly. She had tasted what it meant to be an actress and to work in TV She had learned how to give fake kisses, to cry for an unrequited love, even to marry. Though she was not fond of the kissing scenes, Shakira was a professional and fulfilled her role. But at the moment of truth, her desire to sing and compose was greater than the security of a good salary at the end of the month. El Oasis had allowed her to widen her network of contacts and cre ate a buzz. In that year she met a lot of people in the entertainment industry and, especially important, in television, the medium that would become a great ally on her road to fame.