Did You Know Shakira Stole the Waka Waka Song?
Art is about originality. It’s about inspiration and borrowing. It’s also about combining these elements and more to produce a masterpiece.
“Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” Pablo Picasso
“Great artists steal” is a phrase heard a lot in the creative community.
And even the greatest of the greatest have done so. Michael Jackson’s melody for his 1993 hit song Will You Be There is the same as the 1939 song Bless You For Being An Angel by The Ink Spots. There is no doubt that this is where he stole (excuse me) borrowed the tune from.
There are two songs that greatly defined growing up in Africa in the 90s. Zamina mina Zangalewa by Makossa and Ndombolo by General Defao.
The first was not just a fun one to dance to, it also made you laugh. The costumes in the music video were naughty-funny, unique and were copied every time the moves were recreated. The song itself was so good that it travelled all the way to the Caribbean as most great African music does.
That’s where Shakira must have heard it growing up. And when making her 2010 world cup song Waka Waka(This Time for Africa) she decided to plagiarise it almost note for note, and word for word in some lines.
