Knaan - Waving Flag - Essay Example

Annotation-Music K’naan is a Somali national who grew up in Canada. He composed the song wavin’ Flag song. The song portrays poor living conditions that various people face in life. Besides, K’naan narrates that his grandfather’s wise teachings assisted him overcome various challenges like staying in a country constantly at war, moving to a new country, studying a new language, and facing all forms of intimidation. The song has not only concentrated in his personal history, but also the world history.

It reflects Africa and some of the challenges in the content. The song talks about coming together in sporting events and being proud. People have to unite and love each other regardless of race, ethnic background and culture. The artist gives an example using sporting activities because people from different background come and celebrate together. Repetition has been portrayed in various stances right from the start. For instance, “And then it goes back” has been repeated many times the chorus section of the song.

The artist uses a symbol “Just like a waving flag” as he associates freedom to the waving flag (Metro Lyrics 1). During normal circumstance, the flag has to change directions. It can be deduced that the artist used the flag to symbolize that people can change their fortune within a short period. This means that the situation of both the poor and the rich can easily change. The waving nature of the flag also represents freedom of movement, expression, personality, and uniqueness. Exaggeration has been used in the verse, “Born to a throne, stronger than Rome” (Metro Lyrics 1).

This is because the present generations come from wealthy families, who are also privileged. Imagery has been used in the lines which states that, “poor people zone, but its my home” (Metro Lyrics 1). The stanza makes the audience imagine of poor people, their homes and clothing. Poor people are always associated with poor living conditions, suffering, and hunger as brought out in the stanza. Theme of fantasy has also been portrayed in the same verse when Knaan refers to his home as a concrete object.

An individual would have an emotional feeling after listening to the song (Metro Lyrics 1). It starts with portraying the poor living conditions experienced by Knaan while still in a war-torn nation of Somali and ends with an inspiration of living together regardless of race and ethnic background. Most people would love the song because it is educative. For instance, people would realize that freedom could only be achieved in the world by changing unconstructive ways. K’naan led a miserable life during his teenage life and experienced different challenges after leaving his homeland to a different environment.

Through his song, it is clear that that he managed to overcome the challenges. It is evident that everything is possible with belief and determination. Even though K’naan went to a different country without having knowledge about their language, he managed to learn and understand how to leave with them peacefully. The song is a form of encouragement for individuals to provide financial assistance in case there is a crisis. The song is important because it can help promote peace as witnessed during FIFA 2010 World Cup held in South Africa.

The artist should be recognized for providing a productive message across the world and publishing the song at the right time since with the 2010 World Cup, many individuals had to listen to the information. Works Cited Metro Lyrics. Wavin’ Flag Lyrics. 2014. Web. January 28, 2015. http://www.metrolyrics.com/wavin-flag-lyrics-knaan.html