Tags: World Cup, Spain, Shakira, music
Picture the scene, it’s summer of 2010, World Cup fever is well and truly alive. On the pitch there were iconic moments either good or bad, from ‘Goal Bafana Bafana, goal for South Africa, goal for all of Africa’, to Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal.
From Diego Forlan and his mastery with the Jabulani ball, to Luis Suarez’s misdemeanours against Ghana making him public enemy number one in the country even to this day.
The South African World Cup had it all. However, where it stands alone compared to every World Cup that has ever occurred is its iconic music, from Shakira to vuvuzelas in the crowd, we take a look back at the parts that made it incredible.
Shakira “Waka Waka” – Official song of the 2010 World Cup:
It would be wrong to start anywhere else than the official song of the tournament. Released on April 26, 2010 worldwide, FIFA announced that Waka Waka would be the official World Cup song for the tournament.
It became an instant success as it topped the charts in fifteen countries. In America it placed 39th in the billboard top 100 for a country that, at the time especially, wasn’t into ‘soccer’, which is incredible. In the United Kingdom it peaked at 22nd. It’s easy to remember as a kid the tune playing at every game of the tournament and on the radio for most of that summer.
The Spanish version was incredibly popular as well, in Spain it remained at Number 1 for 16 weeks in a row and in South American countries such as Argentina, Chile and Shakira’s native Colombia it also remained at number 1 for a very long time. The song is one of Shakira’s most successful songs ever and remains in the top 20 of YouTube’s most viewed videos with 3.9 billion views.
However, the song didn’t have all the shining lights as in Africa it wasn’t taken well as most people wanted the official song to be one written and produced by an African artist, especially a song that features in this article. Especially that the opening ceremony heavily featured Shakira and The Black Eyed Peas performing and not African artists even though K’NAAN did perform.
Nonetheless, it is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, World Cup anthems ever by many football fans and helped make the South African World Cup even more special.
K’NAAN “Wavin’ Flag” Coca Cola Celebration Mix – The African Song for the African Tournament
Although Waka Waka may be one of the greatest tunes for a World Cup, but this one might even top it. Coca Cola, one of the main sponsors for FIFA even to this day, asked K’NAAN, originally from Somalia but resides in Canada to do a remix of his song Wavin’ Flag for the World Cup so that there was an African tune to coincide with the tournament, it became an instant classic. Coca-Cola said the song is “inspired by the joyous dance celebrations familiar to Africa.”
Charting at Number 1 in many countries including Germany and South Africa, as well as number 2 in the UK and Italy.
One part that makes this song so iconic is the music video that is even recorded at the Estadio Centenario which was where the first ever World Cup final was held in 1930. The video featured on Coca Cola’s worldwide campaign for the World Cup. The video has over 500 million views on Youtube.
The Vuvuzela – The Crowds Instrument
It wasn’t just the songs that came out by artists that dominated the World Cup in South Africa. Crowds found their own unique way to get involved in the party fever. The vuvuzela is a plastic instrument that creates a booming noise even if it’s just one person, let alone a whole stadium.
Every time the camera’s panned over to the crowd, there wasn’t a person that wasn’t playing let alone holding a vuvuzela, they instantly became an iconic fan memorabilia from that competition. The players may have found them annoying when they were on the pitch but for the fans they were just incredible. Even at home, I can remember playing them in class to annoy the teachers at school, and trust me I know I wasn’t just the only one that did!
We may never get a tournament like the South African World Cup, when it comes to the on pitch action there is a debate, but off it there isn’t. Nothing will ever top the music from the South African World Cup of 2010.