1. Nur Ain Yek
Music Influence Essay
Waka Waka By Shakira
Music Element of African music
Music is a very important part or essential to our everyday life. You can
notice its influence on everybody’s movement and behavior just by listening to
the different types of music. Their appeal is not all-embracing though, people
hear them at special certain moments and the or the text captures them. Some
music has difference influence wheter by the composer of the music or the song.
For me, that song that gives a unique influence is “Waka Waka” by Shakira. The
song has an interesting influence that attracts people to listen to it and made it
into their favorite playlist. Which by
“Waka Waka” in African means “Do it”.
“Waka Waka” Shakira Album Cover
Flickr, On. “Yahoo! Image Detail for - Http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/
thumb/7/70/Shakirasinglewc.jpg/220px-Shakirasinglewc.jpg.” Yahoo! Image Search.
Web. 10 Mar. 2011.

2. “Waka Waka” is the anthem song for the FIFA World Cup in 2009. The
song represent the country and player for the world cup and also merge different
people from different culture and that whats makes it interesting. “Waka Waka”
is listed under this following genre Tribal house, World, Afro-fusion, and
Synthpop. The following genre represents the African Music which is from
FreshlyGround. FreshlyGround is a group that combines together with Shakira to
sing the song.
The song consists of rhythmical African sounds, and represents the
dynamism and energy of the song. The difference between Western and African
rhythm are Western rhythms are classified as ‘additive’ characterized by, relating
to or produced by addition. African rhythms are usually ‘divisive‘ which means as
a noun denoting something that divides or separates .
From my research, African music is known as percussive. Drums, rattles,
bells and gongs be most prominent, and even important melodic instruments
such as xylophones and plucked strings are played with percussive techniques.
For example the part from the song where the instrument that plays from 0:59
to 1:15, and again from 2:45 to 3:22, which the instrument is African guitar. We
can hear the beat that rhymes with the sounds of the song.
You can listen to the song using this link
http://dc110.4shared.com/img/314705056/6b4229a2/
dlink__2Fdownload_2Fc1cz7iAk_3Ftsid_3D20110309-193413-94d33f81/
preview.mp3
(www.musicdumper.com)
I understand that African music has the power in our minds where the
songs feels alive.
“Waka Waka” was originally come from the origin of the African soldiers
named Zangalewa. I thas a unique history where the song was originally based
upon.

3. “Waka Waka” is written by Shakira and John Hill including the other
composers in creating this songs. Shakira and John Hill collaborate together to
create the song. Shakira was a Spanish Columbian singer where she sings both
Spanish and English songs.
The music features Afro-Columbian instrumentation, Soca beat and South
African guitars which makes the song interesting with collaborative music that
had
been added. “Soca is a calypso music with elements of soul, originally from
Trinidad”.
Here is an example of soca musical pattern showing the drum, bass guitar and
marimba beats for a soca music piece.
Soca Music Notes
Soca is defined as a modern form of calypso with an up-tempo beat.
Although there is a misjudgment that Soca is a combination of American soul
music and traditional calypso around the world. Hence the name “so-ca,” which

4. means soul or calypso. But it is definitely not true. Soca music has been
originated as a combination of calypso with Indian rhythms, thus combining the
musical
traditions to the
two major ethnic groups of Trinidad and Tobago which by the way is a country in
the Caribbean Sea comprising two islands off the northeastern coast of
Venezuela.

5. Example of “waka waka “music sheet
“Waka Waka Music Sheet” Web.09 Mar. 2011 <http://www.musicnotes.com>

6. The music sheet shows that “Waka Waka” has a pentatonic scales which
we can see where the notes rhythm goes and the pitch is up and down to match
with the African rhythm.
The track in the song is based on the chorus from the 1986 Cameroonian
popular hit song during that time called Zangalewa, featuring an Afro-Columbian
instrumentation with Southern African guitar beats. The interesting fact about
this song it was based on the Surinam-Ducth group Trafassi. Trafassi is a group
from Dutch.
This song represent the mix nationality with African music, traditions and
music from their culture. It shows that African music is a special influence for
“Waka Waka”. By combining and gaining music influences from different cultures
and countries will create an amazing song.
Bibliography
“Caribbean Music 101 - Soca, Soul of Calypso, Origin, Lord Shorty - Father of
Soca.”CaribPlanet - Your Portal to the Best in Caribbean Music. Reggae, Soca, ... Web. 09
Mar. 2011. <http://caribplanet.homestead.com/101_Soca.html>.
“African Rhythm.” Notz.com. The Award-winning Jazz and African Music Site. Featuring
Midi, Real Audio, Transcriptions, Books, CDs and Links. Lots of Hard-to-Find Information.
Web. 09 Mar. 2011. <http://www.notz.com/africa_lec/sld005.htm>.
“African Percussion, African Rhythm.” World Drum Percussion Rhythms International
Music Rhythm Web Percussionist Drums Drumming Drummer. Web. 09 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.rhythmweb.com/africa/>.

7. “The Influence Of Gospel Music - Term Paper - Sanise07.” Free Term Papers, Research
Papers, Essays, Book Reports | OPPapers.com. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. <http://
www.oppapers.com/essays/Influence-Gospel-Music/105480?topic>.
“Waka Waka - Stop Press Top Headlines 2010 - Happy New Year 2011.” IN Offers E Mail,
News, Music, Videos, Games, Books , Shopping, Search Online “Get IN.com” Web. 09 Mar.
2011. <http://www.in.com/happy-new-year-2011/stop-press-waka-waka-58.html>.
“Waka Waka (This Time for Africa).” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 09 Mar. 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waka_Waka_(This_Time_For_Africa)>.
“Waka Waka Music Sheet” Web.09 Mar. 2011 <http://www.musicnotes.com>
Flickr, On. “Yahoo! Image Detail for - Http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/
thumb/7/70/Shakirasinglewc.jpg/220px-Shakirasinglewc.jpg.” Yahoo! Image
Search. Web. 10 Mar. 2011.