In 1992, my girlfriend and I went to the Comores for a week of cocktails, food, fornication and scuba diving. The resident band at the La Galawa Beach Hotel was called Karibou, and they did a fantastically funky song called "Waka Waka". I still have the cassette tape, and this is a scan of the cover...
Flash forward 18 years. Tonight I was watching the concert hosted in the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, South Africa on the night before the opening of the 2010 World Cup of Football. Colombian artist Shakira was one of the performers. To my surprise, she did the "Waka Waka" and , by all accounts "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)" is the official anthem and dance of the World Cup!
This got me thinking about the origins of the song, and I found an article called Waka Waka For Africa in the Kenyan newspaper The Standard:
The vuvuzela and makarapa mad nation is all jiggy to Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) World Cup — a chorus borrowed from the Cameroonian 1986 hit military song Zangaléwa (Zamina mina), which means "who asked you to come", performed by the group Golden Sounds.
It is interesting that the _original song was such a hit for Golden Sounds that they eventually changed their name to Zangaléwa. They released four albums — the one that included Zangaléwa was awarded Record of the Year in Cameroon. The group was formed in 1984 by a group of presidential guards who wrote the song for the troops. They even sung part of the song in Beti and Fang, dialects from Cameroon.
Soldiers used the tune as a motivational anthem. Critics have it that the song mocked African soldiers back then and does not glorify Africa.
The original lyrics, which are in Fang goes like this:
Za mina mina eh eh
Waka waka eh eh
Za mina mina zangalewa
Ana wam ah ah
Zambo eh eh
Zambo eh eh
Za mina mina zangalewa
Wana wa ah ah
But only hours after two new versions of the up-tempo track, Waka Waka which means "Do It", was released on YouTube over 400,000 viewers had already been hooked to the video by Tuesday — and local Kenyan stations were cashing on the hit.
Shakira shakes
The song is infectiously groovy and has an African touch from traditional African beats fused with modern instrumentation as Shakira’s lead vocals does wonders. And that’s not all as the Africanness of the song is brought out by Freshly Ground back-up vocals. The South African group creates the South African melodic feel recognisable in African music scene.
One of the videos, which come with spectacular sights and sounds of savannah with wild animals celebrating the soccer spirit, brings the feeling even closer home. A cameo appearance of South African popular group Ladysmith Black Mambazo is inspiring".
Fantastic!! I'm proud to have been grooving to this song almost two decades ago :-)
Cheers, MAlfaRK ©
