Shakira's Controversial Opening of World Cup Soccer Championships

JOHANNESBURG/SOUTH AFRICA – Yesterday, Thursday June 10, 2010, the announcer in Johannesburg's Orlando Stadium yelled “It's time for Africa,” during the climax of the star spangled kick-off concert  of soccer's World Cup. “It's time for Shakira!” The announcement had a sour taste for a large portion of the crowd and the rest of Africa having a problem with Shakira's version of “Waka Waka”.

The song, which is the official anthem of the football tournament, is a cover of the Cameroonian song “Waka Waka”. This reporter wrote about this controversy surrounding this song in the description of the videoclip.

He wrote, “Clip of the Song 'Waka Waka' sung by Shakira and the South African band FreshlyGround. This is the official song of the Soccer World Cup planned to be held in South Africa during the summer of 2010. This song has had a lot of controversy in Africa: thousands of Africans accuse Shakira of Copyright Violation. The original song is a military march of the group Zangalewa from Cameroon. Shakira alledgedly used a sample of this song without paying copyrights fee to the authors. This is a different situation compared to the all woman Merengue Band 'La Chicas Del Can': they did pay Zangalewa for using a sample for their Merengue Song 'El Negro No Puede Dormir' ('The Negro Can't Sleep'), which became a big hit in the Caribbean and Latin America in the '80's.”

He also wrote, “The Africans also accuse Shakira of not knowing what she is singing. The lyrics in the Fango Language should be: "Django hé ..Django hé ..Zaminamina Zaminamina zangalewa Ana wam a a ..." The meaning should be something like this: "I awake yeah ..I awake yeah ... Shine Shine Strong Army it is mine yes.”

The videoclip of Shakira's version of “Waka Waka” is one of the most viewed videos on the  OnlineSalsa.com website. To top it all: many have protested against Colombian Pop star Shakira being a 'non-African' but still chosen to be the World Cup's musical voice. Her concert took place in the wake of the debate and staged it won argument about where the original African music resides in the world.

ESPN2 telecasted the event, and it was streamed on Vevo.com, but it had more African artists than the  visitors, spanning generations, national borders, and styles. The first artist to appear on stage  was the veteran Hugh Masakela, playing his flugelhorn, while the young South African star Lira accompanied him. Other stars making a grand appearance included the desert rock band Tinariwen, Malians Amadou & Mariam and Vieux Farka Toure, Angelique Kidjo from Benin, and South African folk hero Vusi Mahlasela.  

The artist 'Taboo', who made many cameo appearances with other stars, had his moment during an heart throbbing set of Colombian singer Juanes. Juanes' lines, rolling rhythms, and his Soukous-flavored guitar play showed to the world why Latin Music belongs in the African musical tradition.
Will.i.am joined K'Naan grabbed whatever flag he could find and waved to the boisterous singalong song “Wavin' Flag”, which was the African's favorite song to become the World Cup's anthem. But the Shakira appeared in an an outfit that resembled one of the costumes from “Lion King”. She was clearly ill-advised by the designer Roberto Cavalli. Shakira did a strong performance despite of her “fashion suicide”. Her set focused on the heavy beats in her own music. Not only “Waka Waka”, but also the contemporary electro beats of “She Wolf” and the Samba-flavored “Hips Don't Lie” .

One would think that Shakira's choice – or the choice of the organizing committee FIFA -  of  filling the stage with African musicians, singers, and dancers who almost overshadowed her while she was performing “Waka Waka” was done in order to get the African crowd and her millions of critics on her side, but it could be just a symbolic gesture from the latin artist soaring high on top of the world.