"Wavin´ Flag"

I guess that if you ask people which the Official World Cup song is, most of them will say “Waka Waka! By Shakira!”. If you gave me that answer, let me tell you it isn´t right. Though that song is really boosting and energetic, the official one is sung by “K´naan,” a South African singer, and it´s called “Wavin´Flag”.

The song lyrics are really insightful and quite loaded with meaning. The singer has managed to explain how the rest of the world has usually considered the African continent and how the Africans see themselves. It expresses quite clearly that many Africans have been forced to work and to serve the rest of the world under promises which have never become true. Africa is portrayed as a hard working country which has suffered (and still suffers) a lot, where people starve to death and where hundreds of battles have taken place. It seems sort of paradoxical that the word “freedom” is mentioned so many times in the song, since most slaves in history have been Africans. It seems the African continent cannot forget about its past.

Then, it appears to me that there is a shared thirst for revenge among all Africans for everything they´ve suffered and for the way the rest of the world has always referred to them as if they were the last butt of the planet. It seems (and in fact it is stated) that they are all patiently waiting for the day things change for them.
Finally, I believe that this song doesn´t only represent all Africans´ thoughts and feelings but it clearly represents a whole continent´s suffering and struggle to live. Maybe it is time to stop being arms crossed and star doing something so that no one feels an E.T. in his own world, don´t you agree?

After my long, unsolicited speech, you can see the lyrics in this web page.

And of you want to see K´naan´s face and listen to the song, then watch this video: