Waka Waka

I don't know about you--but I keep a count down timer for South Africa 2010--World Cup. I am more than excited for opening day and the ensuing drama. (There are currently 39 days, 1 hour, 21 minutes and 9 sec left until opening day!) As part of the fan-fare, Shakira's "new" song, 'Waka Waka,' has been chosen as the official song for the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

As much as I love Shakira and enjoy shaking my booty 'whenever, wherever,' I'm a bit ticked-off that an African, let alone a South African's song was not chosen as the official song. South Africa has _many_ great artists, including the Mahotella Queens, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Simphiwe Dana, the ever-popular DJ Cleo, just to name a few! Maybe the officials wanted a more familiar household name...OK...there are several Africans who could have been chosen--Akon...K'naan...etc.

To add insult to injury, Shakira's song blares a line "This time for Africa." Really? If it was Africa's time, the official song should have featured an African artist (the whole time, rather than a snippet--which, by the way, credit is not attributed). Furthermore, the song is not original. A group from Cameroon recorded the song first: Zangalewa (I recommend skipping to 7'40--it will sound even more familiar...). Maybe these Cameroonian men were not as sexy as Shakira, I'll admit that, but it does not make up for the lack of Africans stepping up to claim South Africa 2010 with an African artist's song as the official song.

I am not sure what the South African officials were doing, but I believe if they had made a case to FIFA, the outcome would have been different...it would have been Africa's time. But who knows...there may still be time for Africa to step up to the plate--39 days, 1 hour, 1 minute and 10 seconds.

The deal

OK, here's the deal. We love music. It brings joy, tears (the positive ones...although we would never admit to crying), comfort and so forth. It's always there--in the up-beat form, smooth mellow tunes that caress you just right, party jams that get you started, old favorites that make you smile and let you know "everythin' gon' be alright", and new tunes that excite you, even if you don't speak/understand the language.

I think you see what I'm getting at--music has all the qualities of a great boyfriend...or for those adventurous folk out there 'boyfriendSSSS.' We'd like to share and discuss the different music that we come across and hope you'll share, too!

Music, this one's for you, complements of Cansei de Ser Sexy (and youtube).