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Umbabarauma by Jorge Ben Posted by on Jun 15, 2010 in Sports

Today Brazil takes on North Korea in both teams’ first matches in the 2010 World Cup hosted by South Africa!   And here in Brazil, everyone’s breathing World Cup season, especially sponsors and anyone who can make any money with “World Cup” specials.  And as usual, Nike has a pretty interesting campaign going on.  They’re putting together a documentary in honor of Jorge Ben’s song, “Ponta de Lança Africano (Umbabarauma)”(1976).  Which is a song about an African point man, but in reality speaks to any Brazilian who’s ever played pick up soccer in the middle of a dusty street.  This song practically predicted the world cup in South Africa over 30 years later perfectly mixing African and Brazilian and European beats.

Here’s a video from the 80’s (i.e., the image isn’t that great) produced by David Byrne and which alludes to everything that is Umbabarauma 🙂

And here’s the Nike remake with Jorge Ben Jor, Mano Brow and a number of other great Brazilian artists:

Umbabarauma homen gol Umbabarauma goal man
Umbabarauma homen gol Umbabarauma goal man
Joga bola joga bola jogador Play ball play ball ball player
Joga bola quero jogar bola jogador Play ball I want to play ball ball player
Pula, pula, cai, levanta, sobe e desce Jump, jump, fall, get up, go up and get down
Corre, chuta, abre espaco, vibra e agradece Run, kick, find a hole, thrill and give thanks
Olha que a cidade toda ficou vazia See how the whole city empties out
Nessa tarde bonita pra te ver jogar On this beautiful afternoon to watch you play
Joga bola jogador Play ball ball player
Joga bola corocondo Play ball corocondo
Favela Pelada Favela Pelada Slum Street Soccer Slum Street Soccer
Futebol Futebol Futebol Futebol… Soccer Soccer Soccer Soccer…
*Eis ai a historia de Umbabarauma *This is the story of Umbabarauma
Um ponta de lanca Africano An African point man
Um ponta de lanca decidido A point man whose mind is made up
Umbabarauma* Umbabarauma*
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Comments:

  1. Paul Redman:

    Another great football song from Jorge Ben Jor is Camisa 10 da Gavea both on the same album Africa Brasil