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.

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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.

Well, she did make it pop, and in the process introduced a much larger audience to afrobeat but the stealing is evident, and should never be forgiven.

Even though we were excited about the hit, and about the representation in general, we found it crazy that while the world hyped on these catchy notes in 2010, we Africans had already rinsed them dry like 3 decades earlier!

What was crazier was Shakira claiming in an interview that the song was an original composition. That it came to her… As though the creators of the tune were not still alive and would not hear it and recognise their original composition. It’s as though all Africans and Caribbeans who had danced to and been entertained by the song for decades had been deaf. As though all the visitors to Africa and the Caribbean who had heard it before were music deaf.

Shakira had the audacity to attempt to gaslight billions of people globally!

Of course, this theft did not go unnoticed and the originators of the song were eventually awarded for their composition’s incorporation into the Shakira 2010 song.

In a statement to the public, the creators said “There is no question of plagiarism as some have thought, but the international singer has simply readapted the song".

They also said that they had come up with an agreement with Shakira’s management and Sony Music.”

Probably just PR. And of course the “borrowing" part.

I do hope though that they got writing credits and would be receiving royalties for their great tune as per their rights.

The song has been excelling on YouTube since with over 3 billion views so far. I can only imagine how well it’s been doing on other streaming platforms.

Here’s a link to the original. And a video of guests rocking to it in a Lusaka hotel in 1991. Proof that the song existed waaaaay before Shakira’s 2010’s Waka Waka!

You can also stream it on your favourite platform and give credit where it’s due! The song is called Zamina mina Zangalewa by Makossa.

Also, as you keep on enjoying the catchy tune, always remember what Shakira did.