Sunday 27 June 2010

Jabulani!

 

If you grew up in Southern Africa in the late 80s you prolly know the original of this song. Who in the countries of this region grew up without PJ Powers, Brenda Fassie and Yvonne Chaka Chaka, huh? I used to love this song and praises to youchoob for bringing back so many childhood memories!
This is the remix with HHP and I'm feelin' it too.
Jabulani is a boy's name (the unisex is Jabulile) in Zulu, Ndebele and Xhosa from the word jabula meaning happy and Jabulani means happiness, so you see where FIFA was going with the ball name...ubuntu, joy and all dat. More to the point, this was the first song I thought of after watching Ghana beat USA - yet again. I was jabula-ring as we say in Ndenglish (Ndebele + English) and so were the millions of others cheering for the BlackStars, yes Africans, 'We Are All Ghanaians now'. I betchu Sally Mugabe's name will be mentioned in the Zim papers this week trying to resurrect some special Ghanaian connection, trust!

Anyway, them GH boys showed discipline and skill on the pitch and they're always so happy to play. (Watch and learn Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire, watch and learn!) Even in the Australia match that they drew, they were smiling at the end, the Germany match - although they lost, Jonathan Mensah, ran a lap of honour with the GH flag because the Black Stars had qualified for the final 16 and now they have made it to the last 8. I say maaad props, Jabulani bantwa beAfrica, rejoice children of Africa whereas my overnite soccer pundit, Shakira-infected friends in South Africa say, 'this time for Africa, waka waka!' (sigh). If Ghana make it to the final 4, I will be jabula-ring even more, others waka waka-ring (sigh), but we all know they face a very tough opponent.
KANYE MOMENT: And can I just say to all the dismissive comments and scoffs of English superiority by commentators & fans at the possibility of England playing Ghana had GH won against Germany, The Three Lions could have been mauled by the Black Stars.
'We could defeat you, make no mistake about that', said in that famous threatening voice of Barack Obama. 

OFFSIDE: Who else thinks the Portugal v Brazil match on Friday, was fixed? 0 - 0 c'mon, we know y'all threw that match coz we know you can do beta than kick a ball around for +90 mins goalless. I'm still rooting for Brazil to win the Cup and in the event that they make history for the 6th time, 'We Shall All Become Brazilians'. I mean there's Afro in Brazilian, they played against Zim & Tanzania  in WC friendlies (for a hefty fee) and history allows African-me to r-e-a-c-h-h-h and make this diasporic claim. Don't let me down Samba Kings, otherwise I shall grieve for days or I shall suddenly be possessed by some Orisha spirit of the diaspora which lays claim to all things African, so I shall be found reluctantly, yet shamelessly squatting at the Altar of Messi singing, Jabulani...Well, till I come back to my senses and realise the invisible status, I could share with a diminished African population in Argentina, by fickly declaring 'We Are All Argentinians Now', but that is an issue for another blogpost.

For now I'm talking soccer/football/futbol/bhora and in all fickleness and sincerity, 'We Are All Ghanaians Now' soooo for Friday's match to be victorious, let the prayers, ancestral invocations and finger crossing begin in earnest.

            
 pics jacked from The Guardian


YesWeGyan!!!

1 comment:

Jay said...

This one, tomorrow.