A number are party to regional bodies such as The African Regional Intellectual Organization and African Organization of Intellectual Property (OAPI), but these are parochial and lack the ability to enforce copyright globally. Second, some African countries have not yet signed up to globally-binding protocols protecting intellectual property rights such as with the World Intellectual Property Organization. Most African creative producers are playing catch up. Copyright is not a historical or universal principle, but represents dominant narratives and exports from colonial powers. The commodification of knowledge and creation is an extension of Eurocentric ideals such as private property, authorship and what intellectual property lawyer Alpana Roy terms вЂњpossessive individualismвЂќ. Historically, many societies in Africa believed in the collective ownership of knowledge and its transference. This is not just out of negligence but a disparity in worldviews. There are a number of factors that have allowed Western artists to вЂњborrowвЂќ from African music without credit or regard for its original creators.ДЇirst, African artists have not effectively maintained copyright to their work. Furthermore, s he does not just curate an album with her interpretations of African sounds.

She does not steal African music, but instead showcases it. On the album, BeyoncГ© does not follow in the tradition of her predecessors by appropriating and exploiting African creativity. Its launch coincided with the release of the live action remake of The Lion King. In July 2019, BeyoncГ© released The Gift, an album entrenched in diverse African sounds, sonic styles and languages. Recently, another world-famous Western musician came across some African artistry that they wanted to use in their own work, except this time the story has a positive twist. Among other things, this phenomenon is enabled by power imbalances in terms of market access and media power as well as Eurocentric intellectual property laws that do not factor in African cultural interpretation of what constitute intellectual property rights. This is a particularly notorious example of global artists ripping off African art and taking credit for it, but there are many more. It was only after media investigations and a public outcry that Sony Music settled with Zangalewa and FIFA credited the chorus to the band. The problem, however, was that World Cup song was credited only to Shakira. The catchy hook and hard-hitting melodic drumbeats are exactly the same. вЂњWaka WakaвЂќ was essentially a remix of the song вЂњ ZaminaminaвЂќ by a 1980s Cameroonian military band called Zangalewa.

FIFA probably expected an original song to celebrate this auspicious occasion, but ShakiraвЂ™s creation was anything but.

There was considerable excitement about the worldвЂ™s biggest sporting event, more so than usual because it was being hosted on the African continent вЂ“ in South Africa вЂ“ for the first time ever. In 2010, the FIFA World Cup organising committee announced that ShakiraвЂ™s вЂњ Waka Waka вЂњ had been selected as the tournamentвЂ™s anthem.

Waka waka shakira music genre