Somali-born hip-hop star to feature at World Cup

<div><p>Somali-born hip-hop artist K'naan, who fled the war-torn country for a new life in Canada and turned to rap to learn English, will be one of the stars of this summer's 2010 FIFA World Cup.</p><p>The 31-year-old musician and political campaigner on African issues has signed up to be the face for giant drinks company Coca-Cola at June and July event in South Africa.</p><p>Emmanuel Seuge of Coca-Cola said at the annual MIDEM music industry fest that the company had set out to find an African-born musician and chose K'naan because of his background and musical journey.</p><p>"The match and shared values have to be very strong and the artist is critical to what you want say through the campaign," Seuge said.</p><p>K'naan's career took off when in 1999 he performed a spoken piece criticising the United Nations for failed aid missions to Somalia.</p><p>It caught the attention of Senegalese star Youssou N'Dour, who invited him to contribute to an album.</p><p>"K'naan's journey and music reflect the strong riches of Africa," Seuge said.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=67831693&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>


Copyright 2010  <a href="http://www.afp.com/english/links/?pid=copyright">AFP Global Edition</a></div></div>


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