Rarely do culturally different CDs just up and grab for my attention the way Donde Están Los Ladrones? did. Right away I will say this album seems to have a greater share of trite moments than I would like it to have. But I speak from an American voice, and cannot fully understand Shakira’s voice and meanings. Cultural and ethnic barriers are always difficult to cross, but ten times so when dealing with an entity as highly personal as music.

Although I do enjoy Shakira’s more rock-influenced moments, it is her ballad - which she fills with beautiful, albeit unusual vocal meanderings - that truly moves me. And that is saying a lot, for me. I’m normally one to shy away from ballads, as so many end up being insincere - often completely slathered with unfelt feelings and silly clichés. But this is not so with the romantic fare found on Donde Están Los Ladrones?. If a man can endure the hauntingly beautiful, delightfully latin guitar styling that opens “Mis Días Sin Ti,” and walk away not feeling any emotion at all, I would say he should check for a pulse. This song is decidedly emotional, with Shakira almost caressing your face with soft vocals that weave in and out of her own tapestry of vocal nuances.

“Ojos Así” will have you wanting to hop from your seat at your office. You’ve been forewarned. Taking you away to cold mountain ranges, sweltering deserts, and all around the world in three minutes and fifty-six seconds, “Ojos Así” is an intriguing foray into something decidedly un-American. We are given a dance-beat driven romp that takes us away to another time, another place far from here, yet not too far.

Can you speak Spanish? No? Give this CD a try anyway. Truly effective music crosses all cultural and ethnic boundaries, able to move the listener no matter what his cultural background may be. Trust me when I say that this is extremely effective music.