There is less than 12 days to go for the kick-off of
greatest footballing event on earth. When the ball starts rolling over the
grass at Sao Paolo every football lover in the world will be glued to their favourite
teams. Every four years of world cup football brings us a lot of memories in
terms of joy or sorrow. However, every year there will be a little something everyone
always takes in their hearts – the music associated with the world cup events.
Be it Europeans, Latinos, Americas, Africans, Asians or Aussies, the music
associated serves as a common language for all football lovers. Even for those
who do not fancy football, the music stays put.
The fact that language is not a barrier for music is substantiated
every four years through football. Isn’t it fascinating that the El Rock del Mundial of Los
Ramblers from Chile 1962 to the Waka Waka from Shakira
still stays with our memories along with the football which has happened? As a
prelude, I am trying to explore this year’s world cup songs for FIFA world cup
in Brazil in a couple of weeks’ time.
Historically there has been an official anthem for every
world cup. Later on since 1998, FIFA had both an official song and an official
anthem. This year, the official anthem is the FIFA single “Dar Um Jeito” (“We Will
Find A Way”) sung by none other than the iconic Latin guitar legend Carlos
Santana. Along with Santana, the Swedish DJ maestro Avicii, Haitian-American
rapper Wyclef Jean and Brazilian grammy winning singer Alexandre Pires will
perform this anthem in Rio de Janiero at July 13th closing match of World Cup. This
song was written by two time grammy nominee Ash Pournouri who is also the
manager and executive producer of Avicii. Pornouri commented about the song "In
Portuguese Dar Um Jeito means to find a way around obstacles and
impossibilities, with this track, we wanted to send a message of optimism and
opportunity with the music and the words."
The official anthem is “We are one (Ole Ola)” performed by Miami
based rapper and grammy winner Pitbull, music diva Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian
singer Claudia Leitte. This song will be performed by
the trio on June 12th in Arena Corinthians, Sao Paulo prior to the
kick off when the host nation Brazil takes on Croatia. FIFA also has an
official mascot song in Portuguese this time by Arlindo Cruz titled “Tatu Bom De Bola”.
Unofficial songs and anthems are also in plenty this time. One
of the notable ones is Shakira’s
“La La La” along with Carlinhos Brown. Shakira’s video features star
power from her husband and Barcelona ‘s Spanish Center back Gerard Pique, his
team mates Neymar, Messi, Fabregas, Abidal, fellow countrymen and AS Monaco stars Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez, Argentinean and Manchester
City’s forward and Diego Maradona’s son in law Kun Aguero and also Shakira and Pique's son Milan. The video is nearing
50 million hits and it is getting more and more popular day by day. Coca Cola’
anthem by David Correy – “The World is Ours” is also gaining popularity and this song is also getting
different versions and remixes by various artists. Aloe Blacc and David Correy’s
version of the same song is one better variant. Another
notable addition to the growing list is that of Puerto Rican pop star Ricky
Martin’s “Vida”.
Written by Ricky, another Peurto Rican-American singer Elijah King and the
famous American hip hop and keyboard artist Salaam Remi, the song mostly
received positive reviews for its energy and was rated higher than the official
anthem by most critics. Ricky has recorded the winning track from this year’s 2014
FIFA World Cup Supersong contest won by Elijah King. Although the music video
was shot at the beaches of Rio de Janiero, the song was criticised zafor its
lack of Portuguese content by many -Brazilian critics.
FIFA has released “One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA
World Cup Official Album” which includes all those above mentioned songs and a
few others like Sérgio Mendes & Carlinhos Brown’s One Nation, Baha Men –
Night & Day (Carnival Mix) etc.
Barring a very few songs, this grand event is notorious for
the quality of music it produces. Every world cup gives us enough memories to
cherish and enough rhythms and beats to hum over for years to come. The anthem
has already received intense criticism from Brazil and was labelled as a
failure. None of the songs were able to capture the majestic voice and passion
in the song by the likes of Ricky Martin’s “La Copa de La Vida (Cup of
Life)” in France 98 or K’naan’s unofficial hit “Waving flag” in South
Africa 2010. Hopefully the football will lift the music and our spirits higher.Let
the samba waves begin!
