Santana, Wyclef, Avicii & Alexandre Pires Selected For The Official Anthem Of The 2014 FIFA World Cup™ Entitled "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)"
NEW YORK, March 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- FIFA and Sony Music Entertainment announce today that the Official Anthem of the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil is entitled "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)," and features a global superstar line-up including music legend Carlos Santana, Wyclef, Avicii and Alexandre Pires. The Anthem will be released late April and was produced by 2-time Grammy-nominated Ash Pournouri (PRMD Music), Carl Falk, Rami Yacoub and Wyclef Jean and recorded at PRMD Studios in Stockholm. "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)" will be performed at the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ Closing Ceremony on July 13 at the legendary Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. More information to be announced soon about the official 2014 FIFA World Cup™ Album.
Earlier this year, FIFA and Sony Music Entertainment announced that "We Are One (Ole Ola)," by global superstar Pitbull, featuring global superstar Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian artist Claudia Leitte, was selected as the Official Song of the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil. The song will be performed by Pitbull, together with Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte, at the FIFA World Cup™ Opening Ceremony on June 12 at the Arena de Sao Paulo.
"Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)" is the brainchild of Arnon Woolfson and Pournouri who began work on the track with Wyclef, Yacoub and Falk earlier this year. Pournouri says, "In Portuguese Dar Um Jeito means to find a way around obstacles and impossibilities. With this track, we wanted to send a message of optimism and opportunity with the music and the words."
Once the track idea was created, Santana, Pires and Avicii each added their own sound to the recording. An international cast of some of the greatest musicians in the world went into the recording; continues Pournouri, "We wanted to create the biggest track in the world for the biggest event in the world."
Carlos Santana says of the project "It is an honor to take part in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and have "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)" selected as the Anthem. Along with my brothers, Wyclef, Avicii and Alexandre Pires, we look forward to performing the song in Rio de Janeiro in July and sharing this message of light and hope on the FIFA World Cup stage."
Adds Wyclef Jean, "Despite the fact that I was born in a place where darkness at times steals the sunshine, where rain often turns to floods and children often cannot be found, I have always found a way to sing with joy.... "Dar um Jeito" is dedicated to all those searching for the light….knowing that they too, shall soon find a way."
Comments Avicii, "To write for the official closing anthem of the FIFA World Cup is a huge honour as it's the biggest event I can remember growing up. I gave it a 'Samba meets my dance music' sound which works perfectly for the positive spirit of the song."
Continues Alexandre Pires,"I am extremely happy to have been selected to be part of the Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Anthem. I love soccer, and singing in the final with so many important international musicians by my side is a great honor. Besides that, I think that the richness of rhythms from our countries will make the World Cup even more beautiful."
About Santana: For forty years and as many albums later, Santana has sold more than 100 million records and reached more than 100 million fans at concerts worldwide. To date, Santana has won ten GRAMMY ® Awards and three Latin GRAMMY ® Awards. He won a record-tying nine GRAMMYs for a single project for 1999's Supernatural (including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Smooth"). He has also received the Billboard Century Award (1996), was ushered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1998), and received the Billboard Latin Music Awards' Lifetime Achievement honor (2009). Among many other honors, Carlos Santana has also been cited by Rolling Stone as #15 on their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." Celebrating the chart debut of Guitar Heaven (Arista) in 2010, Santana joined the ranks of the Rolling Stones as the only musical act in chart history to score at least one Top 10 album in every decade beginning with the 1960s. In 2013, Carlos Santana was the recipient of the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors Award. In spring of 2014, Santana embarks on an 18 show US tour with Rod Stewart as well as announcing stand alone dates for 'The Corazon Tour.' On May 6th, SANTANA will be releasing his first ever Latin Music album entitled CORAZON on RCA/Sony Latin Iberia, featuring superstar collaborative performances with ChocQuibtown, Lila Downs, Gloria Estefan, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Juanes, Ziggy Marley, Miguel, Nina Pastori, Pitbull, Samuel Rosa of Skank, Cindy Blackman Santana, Romeo Santos, Wayne Shorter, Soledad, and Diego Torres.
About Wyclef Jean: Jean is a multi-Grammy Award winner, singer, distinguished songwriter and producer who has sold over 16 million albums as a founding member of the legendary hip-hop group the Fugees (Blunted on Reality and The Score) in the early 90's. Since then, he has established himself as an international solo artist whose impact and explosive influence on world music continues to grow. Albums like the two volumes of The Carnival (released in 1997 and 2007), The Ecleftic, Masquerade and The Preacher's Son combine conceptual ambition, irresistible grooves and impeccable song-craft. His recent mix-tape EP April Showers, Toussaint St.Jean: From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion, reconnected Wyclef to his hip-hop roots. His musical touchstones also include R&B, jazz, acoustic folk, reggae, rock & roll and electronica while having worked with artists as diverse as Beyonce Knowles, Destiny's Child, Carlos Santana, Shakira, Bono, Whitney Houston, Tom Jones, Lil Wayne and Akon who have sought him out as both producer and collaborator. In addition, he continues to venture far beyond the realms of music, as an actor, author and in film scoring while utilizing his stature as an artist and philanthropist to help build a better world through the Wyclef Jean Foundation a humanitarian organization. At present, Jean is currently working on his forthcoming record with Tim Berg a.k.a Avicii, Wyclef Jean:Untitled, which is set for release during 2014.
About Avicii: 2x-Grammy-nominated DJ/producer Avicii, aka Tim Bergling, is renowned for his spectacular live shows, bringing audiences to ecstatic moments of party bliss and "driving the crowd bonkers" (Rolling Stone). After just three years of performing, Avicii rocketed to the #3 position on DJ Mag's yearly poll of the Top 100 DJs and appeared on Forbes Most Powerful Artists Under 30 in 2013 and 2014. His first album, last year's TRUE, was named Album of the Year by Elektro and the New York Times called Avicii "savvy and timely," and "an artist carrying today – and tomorrow – on his shoulders." Dancing Astronaut wrote, "...timeless...an hour of excellence." "Wake Me Up," the first single from the album, was #1 in 83 countries, is triple platinum in the U.S., and the video for the track has been watched over 275 million times on YouTube alone. "Hey Brother," his current single, is exploding at radio and the new video for "Addicted to You" is getting raves around the world. Avicii broke out with his international mega-hit "Le7els" which conquered club charts worldwide, garnered over 83 million YouTube views and sold over 4 million singles; and "Silhouettes," which netted over 40 million views. 24-year old Avicii leads the next generation of electronic music producers to explode, propelling him into the ranks of superstar DJs who are able to perform to massive crowds. He is the face of Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren which has been a true creative partnership between Avicii and the brand. Avicii and manager Ash Pournouri have donated over $2.5 million to hunger initiatives through their House for Hunger charity, including royalties from Avicii X You, the first ever worldwide music collaboration.
About Alexandre Pires: Alexandre Pires is a Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter and musician that has established himself as one of the hottest and biggest artists in Brazil and Latin America. His career exceeds 10 million albums sold. Alexandre has won several Brazilian and international awards including "The Best Selling Artist" on the World Music Awards and has achieved Gold and Platinum stats in the United States, Spain, Portugal and Latin America. His career began on "So Para Contrariar" (SPC), the biggest samba / pagode group of all-time in Brazil. In 2003, he left SPC and started his very successful solo career winning the "Artist of the Year" on Billboard Latin Music Awards. After 11 years, on March 2013, Alexandre recorded a new CD and DVD with SPC to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the group. Also in 2013, Alexandre won a Latin Grammy Award: "Best Samba Album" for his solo project "Eletrosamba."
The Federation Internationale de Football Association is the world governing body of football, comprising 209 football associations grouped into six confederations. Based in Zurich, Switzerland, FIFA's mission is to develop the game of football at all levels, to touch the world through competitions such as the FIFA World Cup™ and to use the power and popularity of football to build a better future for the underprivileged. For the Game. For the World.