World Cup music

It is World Cup time again. It is the only time I take a look at the sports pages and what an exciting year it is turning out to be. Champions are being dethroned. New ones are being hailed and adored. The games played in Japan and Korea are true blue nail-biters. No World Series or NBA championship can compare to the thrills that the World Cup generates worldwide. But the greatest thing about the 2002 edition is the discovery that soccer has acquired an Asian face. The Koreans have successfully invaded what has long been the domain of Europe and Latin America. So I wonder again when we will wake up to the fact that the wiry, tenacious and height-challenged Filipino is better suited to soccer than to basketball.

No other sport in the world is as greatly associated with music as soccer. I don’t see record companies coming out with albums with music you can skate to like Michelle Kwan or themes of famous basketball teams. Muhammad Ali did come up with a theme song The Greatest Love of All but that was for his biopic and not in commemoration of one of his heavyweight crowns. But there seems to have been music associated with soccer in the airlanes these past years and lately even albums devoted to these tunes.

Some are new works like Ricky Martin’s La Copa de Vida. Others are old favorites like We are the Champions by Queen or Nessun Dorma from Turandot. This aria means None Shall Sleep. A DJ chose to play it on the eve of a crucial match for England. They lost the match but the song stuck and has since been an important part of the World Cup. The past three games, 1990, 1994 and 1998 also saw the performance of Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti in a concert on the eve of the final match. I have not read or heard anything about the three tenors doing one this year. Maybe it is because Carreras and Pavarotti have both been ill and have even cancelled some shows. Domingo can do it solo or maybe they can invite some of the new tenors around but it will not be like before and it is certainly hard to imagine a World Cup without the three tenors.

Now, the three tenors may be absent this year and Ricky Martin is not going Ole, ole. I read somewhere that dance artist Anastasia has recorded a World Cup song but I still have to hear it so I don’t think it is doing any good. But there are still lots of World Cup music you might want to get copies of if only to remember this milestone year for Asian football. Two of these albums, which are available locally on a limited edition release are Victory The World Champions and Soccer Party 2002 Around the World.

Victory The World Champions is a compilation produced in Korea. It has an international mix of performers – Canadian Bryan Adams We’re Gonna Win and Scandinavian ABBA’s The Winner Takes It All and of music types, rock Let’s Get Rocked by Def Leppard and classical La Sete Di Vivere by Alessandro Safina and old and new recordings like I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor and Champions by Koreans acts Sumi Jo and Era. What they have in common are the themes of the songs which tell of winning, camaraderie and sportsmanship.

Soccer Party 2002 comes from Netherlands. It is a fun production that captures the excitement of the crowd in the stands watching a soccer game. This is how they will sound if they will also sing aside from cheering their favorites. It is also a party album and I can just imagine how ideally suited it is to the merrymaking that comes after a great match. Among the cuts included are La Copa da Vida, Korea Soccer Song, We Will Rock You, We are the Champions, Ronaldo’s Revenge (Mas Que Mancada), Carnaval de Paris, Aller Nippon, Go West and You’ll Never Walk Alone. It closes with Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, which I believe is meant to console the hearts of whoever loses in the finals.

We only have a few days to go until the championship game on Sunday. Possible contenders are Brazil, Germany, Turkey and Korea. If those guys from the Land of the Morning Calm win the World Cup, then it is definitely about time we learn how to kick, knee and head-butt that ball.