Shakira Remixes African Hit for World CupAs my colleague Celia Dugger reports, some South Africans were annoyed that a song by the Colombian singer Shakira was chosen as the official anthem of the 2010 World Cup, which begins in Johannesburg on June 11.
To fend off criticism, the organizers have pointed to the fact that the song, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” is a collaboration between the Latin star and a South African band, Freshlyground.
For her part, Shakira Mebarak Ripoll has not invoked her credentials as a representative of the global meting pot — a Latina of Lebanese ancestry, she sings in both Spanish and English — but instead stressed the global nature of her effort to try to teach the world to dance the Waka Waka. She has a YouTube channel that encourages fans from every part of the planet to submit clips of themselves dancing to the song. Her official Web site points to video of recent “Waka Waka flash mobs” in Colombia and Venezuela and kids at a school she founded in her hometown performing their version.
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