According to New York-based musician Dominic James, The World-Cup theme song “Waka Waka” by Shakira and Freshlyground, has been incorrectly credited and has benefitted Freshlyground unfairly. He says that all the original guitar parts of the song were recorded by him, and that Freshlyground contributed very little to the worldwide release.

In an email to Weekend Witness James said:

I wrote and recorded ALL [sic] of the guitar parts AND all of the bass lines for Shakira’s official Soccer World Cup song, Waka Waka.

He then said of the band:

They have admitted to me in writing that they did not play a single note on the record. Their singer sang for eight bars in the bridge, but somehow all of them were credited with their respective instruments and they all appeared on the CD cover and official video.

They promised that they would credit me when they talk to the media, but they’re still going around claiming credit for my work.

The only reason I accepted to do this session for a measly $500 [R3 356] was because of all the tremendous follow-up work it would generate with Shakira. Freshlyground are getting rewards and follow-up work for something they didn’t do. Even the eight bars that their singer sang is based on my lead guitar melody.

When James was contacted by Weekend Witness for proof, he forwarded them emails from Sony Music and Freshlyground’s Simon Attwell, who both admit his contribution.

In the mail that Atwell sent to James, he says he is:

sorry if this has caused you some frustration, but short of keeping a watch on the world’s media and following up on every article it’s pretty hard to control.

Atwell then goes on to claim that Freshlyground’s guitarist, Julio Sigauque, played the guitar parts near the end of the song. James says that this is simply not true.

James then quotes Sony as saying that his performance was integral to the appeal of the song and that Sony “had all of Dominic’s guitar parts labeled as such in the [recording] session.