While listening to NPR’s Weekend Edition, I caught a segment on the official anthem of the World Cup 2010 and was overjoyed to hear that it is mostly the song we’ve been singing and enjoying for several years that we got from In Harmony’s Way called Jongo. I ran to the computer and started looking for it by it’s title on NPR, Waka Waka and found many videos, mostly by Shakira (who added the English lyrics) with Freshly Ground, a South African pop group interviewed on NPR this morning. One of the videos is the original song. If you’d like to check it out it is listed by the title Zamina Original Version.
If you scroll down through the comments you’ll find a translation of the words. It’s a song used by soldiers, youth groups and scouts and sung widely all over Africa. It is from Cameroon.