Colombian singer, Shakira, posted a dance clip, apparently shot in Bali and Indonesia’s tourism minster seems thrilled.
The international superstar shared the video to Instagram two days ago, which was a repost from fellow Colombian, Beto Perez, the founder of the hit dance exercise, Zumba.
In the video, Perez and four other backup dancers dressed in traditional Balinese dance attire, show Zumba choreography to Shakira’s new song, “Perro Fiel.” Featuring Nicky Jam, the song is off Shakira’s new album El Dorado and is set for release as a single on Sept .8. The backdrop looks like the clip could have been shot around Bali’s Sanur area.
If this were the US, perhaps Perez would get slammed for cultural appropriation, dressing up in Balinese costume to promote his own style of dance—as is the ‘witch-hunt’ trend these days—but Indonesian Tourism Miniser Arief Yahya praised Shakira for showcasing Balinese culture.
“Thank you Shakira, for showing Bali to the world and that Wonderful Indonesia is worthy of an international celebrity visit,” Yahya said in a statement, released on Sunday, as quoted by Antara.
While we’re guessing Shakira just reposted the video to promote her new song, the clip is a great promotion for Bali to Shakira’s 41.9 million followers, says the tourism minister, adding that 40 percent of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia enter the country through Bali.
The tourism minister also took the opportunity to talk about how great Indonesia’s tourism industry is doing.
“Before, we lost to Malaysia Truly Asia and Amazing Thailand,” says Yahya, referring to Indonesia’s two big Southeast Asia competitors for tourism.
“But that was before. Now we have overtaken our two rivals since 2015. We have climbed up to a fantastic number 47 world ranking while Malaysia is ranked 96 and Thailand is 83,” Yahya said.
