On 27 May 2010, a fortnight before the first World Cup on African soil kicked off, Coca-Cola announced that K'naan's remix of Wavin' Flag had reached number one in seven countries, from Germany and Austria to China, Mexico and Canada. “It's great to have a hit song in all four corners of the world,” the Somali-Canadian rapper said.
That was the moment a refugee's song became the sound of South Africa 2010.
| Wavin' Flag | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Artist | K'naan (Keinan Abdi Warsame), born in Mogadishu, raised in Toronto |
| Original release | 2009, on the album Troubadour |
| Producers | Kerry Brothers Jr. and Bruno Mars |
| World Cup version | Coca-Cola Celebration Mix, the brand's campaign anthem |
| FIFA's official song | Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), Shakira featuring Freshlyground |
| Charity version | Young Artists for Haiti, March 2010, number one in Canada |
| Nigerian version | Naija remix with Banky W. and M.I |
From Mogadishu to Troubadour
K'naan was born in Mogadishu on 1 February 1978. He was 13 when he left Somalia with his mother and two siblings. After about six months in New York, the family settled in Toronto's Rexdale neighbourhood.
The song he would be known for came out of that journey. The first Wavin' Flag, released on his second album, Troubadour, in 2009, was written about people displaced by war. It names Somalia. K'naan told BBC News it was “about facing the odds and coming out of darkness”.
It reached number two on the Canadian Hot 100.
Few outside Canada had heard it by then, and nobody would have guessed that a hip hop record about war, co-produced by a then little-known Bruno Mars, would soundtrack soft drink adverts in more than 160 countries.
How Coca-Cola remade it
Coca-Cola picked the track for its 2010 World Cup campaign, announced in Nairobi in October 2009. Joe Belliotti, the company's head of entertainment marketing, said it had been chosen from hundreds of candidates. The Celebration Mix kept the melody but added a new pre-chorus, football lyrics and the brand's jingle. The darker lines were reportedly toned down. It worked.
“We took something like 50 drums and did this crazy mix for it,” K'naan said. He called the new version “more open, more inviting, more celebratory”.
He carried it around the continent. K'naan sang it at more than 20 stops of the Trophy Tour, which visited 86 countries, every African nation among them. On 10 June 2010 he played the Kick-off Celebration Concert at Orlando Stadium in Soweto. Shakira and Alicia Keys shared the bill. So did Angélique Kidjo.
The distinction many fans still blur is simple. Wavin' Flag was a sponsor's anthem. Not FIFA's. FIFA announced on 26 April 2010 that Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), recorded by Shakira with the South African band Freshlyground and their singer Zolani Mahola, would be the tournament's official song. Shakira sang it again at Soccer City before the final on 11 July. Our guide to the official World Cup songs of every edition sets the two side by side, and the story of Shakira's Waka Waka has its own page.
One song, many languages
Coca-Cola wanted local versions, and K'naan made about a dozen of them. With David Bisbal it became Bandera de Libertad, sung in English and Spanish for Spain and Latin America. With Nancy Ajram it went into Arabic. Jacky Cheung and Jane Zhang took a Chinese version to the top of the China Music Chart. Thailand, Brazil, France, Japan, Indonesia, Haiti and Somalia got theirs too.
Nigeria got its own. In March 2010, BellaNaija published a naija makeover featuring Banky W. and M.I, produced by the two of them with eLDee and commissioned by Coca-Cola to back the Super Eagles on the road to South Africa.
The charts followed. The Celebration Mix went to number one in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It reached number two in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain. America shrugged: 82 on the Billboard Hot 100. A separate version had already been recorded for a very different reason. After the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, producer Bob Ezrin brought together Young Artists for Haiti, a group of Canadian musicians including Drake, Nelly Furtado, Avril Lavigne and Justin Bieber, for a charity single released on 12 March 2010. It debuted at number one in Canada, with proceeds going to Free the Children, War Child Canada and World Vision Canada. Awards followed. A year later, Wavin' Flag won Single of the Year at the 2011 Juno Awards.
Where to listen legally
Old MP3 download links still circulate. They are not licensed.
The official Celebration Mix video sits on K'naan's official KnaanVEVO channel on YouTube. The Coca-Cola Celebration Mix is on Spotify and Deezer, and Deezer also carries the original Troubadour version and the German and Spanish Celebration Mixes. Streams there pay the songwriters. A pirated file never does. Simple.
What it means for Nigeria
For Nigerian supporters, Wavin' Flag is tied to a tournament that promised more than it gave. South Africa 2010 was the first World Cup held in Africa. Six African teams took part. The Super Eagles, coached by Lars Lagerbäck, left Group B with one point from three games, a campaign that is still remembered, painfully, for Yakubu's miss against South Korea in Durban. The song outlived that disappointment. Sixteen years on, it is still the record that brings 2010 back. A refugee's hymn to hope, turned into a stadium chant by a drinks company, and briefly made our own by Banky W. and M.I.
This article was most recently revised and updated 10 seconds ago
