Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)

[bubudi]

with the soccer world cup kicking off in south africa the djembe was bound to pop up somewhere, and where better than the official fifa song for 2010... can anybody name the djembe players in this video?

[snargle]

You would think that they might have been able to find an African to sing this? (Shakira is Columbian). The use of the djembes was also pretty interesting...particularly since I never heard a single note from them in the entire song. They might as well have shown some guys playing banjos.

[bops]

Yay, "world" music... complete with Auto-tune!

Looks like Youssouf Traoré, but it's hard to tell. Sidiki Camara had a nice solo in the spotlight during the kickoff concert. Kinda funny that the dancers were dancing sabar, though...

[guedom]

yes the 1st impresion looks Youssouf and Lavia, but isn't them

here argetinian tv spot (djembe used like symbol/sign for Africa)

[bubudi]

yea, there was a lot of mixed reception re the song. a lot of africans disappointed that a non-african was chosen to sing the official song of the first fifa world cup to ever be held in africa. having an african may have potentially exposed the chosen artist (and african music in general) to greater popularity. on the other hand, an established pop singer is more likely to get a mainstream audience to enjoy african music. yes, it's 'world music', but based on a folk tune from cameroon with some south african guitar work and plenty of africans in the video. it is a shame there wasn't even 5 secs of djembe playing in the song.

too bad mama africa isn't alive, she would have been the obvious choice for this world cup. i heard the live acts in the opening were dope though.