Bartamaha (Nairobi):-A song by Colombian pop star Shakira and South African band Freshlyground has been chosen as the official anthem of this summer’s World Cup.
The song, Time for Africa, is expected to be released to radio stations from next week and will be available for download from 26 April.
Shakira and Freshlyground will perform the song at the pre-tournament Kick-Off concert in Soweto on 10 June.
It will also be sung at the opening ceremony and at the final on 11 July.
The Football Association announced in January that, for the first time since 1966, there will be no official song to mark England’s campaign in South Africa.
According to an FA spokesman, the England management “want to be fully focused on the football”.
Several unofficial anthems are in the pipeline, including a reprisal by John Barnes of his infamous rap from the 1990 England World Cup anthem World in Motion by New Order.
Former Liverpool and England forward Barnes will feature in a re-recording of the song for a TV advertisement.
England’s last official World Cup song, World At Your Feet by Embrace, charted at number three in 2006, while there were also efforts the same year from Tony Christie and Crazy Frog.
The previous effort, We’re on the ball, in 2002 was recorded by TV presenters Ant and Dec.
In 1998, The Spice Girls sang (How Does It Feel To Be) On Top Of The World, written by Echo and the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch.
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Source:-BBC
Is the title ‘Shakira to Sing World Cup Anthem” misleading? I thought the World Cup Anthem was ‘Waving Flag’ by K’naan Abdi Warsame. After reading the article through, I realized what Shakira will sing is really – and I may misunderstood this – just FA’s England ‘world cup’ Campaign, and not the FIFA World Cup anthem. Please correct me if I am wrong! because this is certainly confused me a bit. I hope they haven’t cancelled the K’naan’s Waving Flag Anthem because people all over the world love that song!
You gotta be kidding me “waka waka” is the official world cup anthem? This song is weak…”WAVING FLAG” by K’naan is one of the greatest songs ever. Hands down the official world cup song should be and is to billions of people including myself “WAVING FLAG” by K’naan. This song is inspiring and motivational. The only reason they chose “waka waka” is due to the South African band performing with Shakira “POLITICS”. The people that chose this song must be suffering from tone deafness. I and the billions of people around the world are very disappointed.
shakira will sing at the opening ceremony of the tournament, while K’naan’s WAVIN FLAG will be played after and the opening of every single game. Get it now.
Awesome, keep up the great posts