World Music Cup: Groups E&F, Match 3

[Jeff]

Welcome to the final match for groups E and F. After this session ends, the two nations in each group with the highest point total advance to the knockout stage. The others are eliminated.

Listen to all of the songs at least once and select the two in each group that you most prefer.

If there is a problem with any of the links (e.g., region locks, dead links), please mention it in a post below and do not vote for that group until you have heard each of the songs.

Voting for this session ends 16 February at approximately 11:59pm UTC / 6:59pm EST. After votes have been tallied the nation in each group with the most votes receives 3 points, the nation with second-most votes 2 points, third-most votes gets 1 point, and the last-placed nation 0. Nations that finish tied divide the points of their positions.

Note that voting for groups C&D remains open until 13 February.

Group E
ZIMBABWE (4 points)
Mai Charamba – Ndirangarirei
Gospel is hugely popular in Zimbabwe and Mai Charamba is one of the biggest stars of the genre. - DaveC

MEXICO (1 point)
Murcof - Urano
Dummy-team submission by BITUSSR.

INDONESIA (2 points)
Gamelan Gong Kebyar - Gilak
This is traditional gamelan music from Bali. Gamelan uses metallic percussion instruments. In Bali they often add flutes to this. - bonnielaurel

PORTUGAL (5 points)
Adriano Correia de Oliveira - Cantar de Emigraçao
This fado singer combined melancholic poetry with a political message. He made protest songs against the fascist regime of António Salazar. - bonnielaurel

Group F
MALI (4.5 points)
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula

CUBA (5.5 points)
Orquesta América - La Engañadora
This is widely considered to be the first example of cha-cha-chá, a dance music that became wildly popular in Cuba as well as the Cuban expatriate community in New York during the '50s.

NEW ZEALAND (0.5 points)
The Topp Twins - Nga Iwi E (song starts around the 5 minute mark)
This song was written as a song of solidarity for the people of the Pacific. It was adopted by Greenpeace who sung it on board the Rainbow Warrior while protesting French nuclear testing at Muroroa in French Polynesia. Performed here by the Topp Twins - the world's only comedic yodeling, lesbian twin sisters and well known activists and TV personalities. - DaveC

SWEDEN (1.5 points)
Cornelis Vreeswijk - Balladen om herr Fredrik Åkare och den söta fröken Cecilia Lind (The Ballad About Mr. Fredrik Åkare and the sweet miss Cecilia Lind)
I rarely miss the chance to nominate my favorite Swedish (Dutch-Swedish actually) poet. Oh, and skip the awful 0:16 intro that doesn't belong to the song. - Henrik

[Jeff]

Results
In Group A, we had the closest voting session of the tournament so far. Belgium and Brazil share first with five votes each thanks to key late goals. Finishing one vote behind the leaders are Turkey and Nigeria who tie for third.
Belgium 2.5 points, 5 votes
Brazil 2.5 points, 5 votes
Nigeria 0.5 points, 4 votes
Turkey 0.5 points, 4 votes

Obviously, Brazil won the group with aplomb, despite struggling for the first time all tournament in the final group stage match. In an upset, Belgium joins group-winners Brazil in the knockout stage, even though it has the same vote percentage as Turkey and a much lower vote percentage than Nigeria. Nigeria's problem was an inability to finish matches or hold onto leads as they drew in each of their three matches. Thus, the Nigerians place third. Turkey played well but never well enough to garner a high placement which is why they finish at the bottom of the group.
1. Brazil 8 points | 21 votes | 75%
2. Belgium 4.5 | 10 | 36%
3. Nigeria 3.5 | 15 | 54%
4. Turkey 2 | 10 | 36%

In Group B, the United States kept things interesting early on, but could not keep up with co-winners Spain and South Africa as the match progressed. Iran will be thrilled just to get on the score board, drawing the United States for third with three votes.
South Africa 2.5 points, 6 votes
Spain 2.5 points, 6 votes
Iran 0.5 points, 3 votes
United States 0.5 points, 3 votes

Spain wins the group overall thanks to a slightly higher vote percentage than South Africa. How slight? One vote. The United States was unable to recover from its first match and finishes third. Iran performed poorly the entire tournament, but is at least spared the ignominy of going pointless.
1. Spain 6.5 points | 20 votes | 69%
2. South Africa 6.5 | 19 | 66%
3. United States 4.5 | 13 | 45%
4. Iran 0.5 | 6 | 21%

[Honorio]

Spain wins the group (...) The United States (...) finishes third.

So Spain won against the USA? Things like that can only happen in AM Forum...

[Romain]

Group E
Mexico and Indonesia

Group F
Mali and Sweden

[spiritualized]

Spain wins the group (...) The United States (...) finishes third.

So Spain won against the USA? Things like that can only happen in AM Forum...

Well, if this follows the football theme, it isn't actually THAT surprising

[DaveC]

Group E: Zimbabwe & Indonesia
Group F: Mali & New Zealand

[jamieW]

Group E: Portugal and Indonesia

Group F: Sweden and New Zealand

[BITUSSR]

Group E: Mexico & Portugal
Group F: Mali & Sweden

[Jeff]

Group E: Mexico and Indonesia
I really wanted to send Mexico off with a Cafe Tacvba song since that's what Blanco probably would have wanted, but the random number generator didn't cooperate. Honestly though, I much prefer the Murcof track to the Cafe Tacvba that I've heard anyway. Indonesia used gamelan again so. . .

Group F: New Zealand and Sweden
Going with the underdogs here.

[Honorio]

Group E: Portugal & Zimbabwe
Group F: Mali & Sweden (but I also liked a lot the New Zealand song)

[BITUSSR]

Murcof is amazing. I was debating whether to go with Urano or Memoria, the latter being more melodic, but the sheer audacity and terror of Urano convinced me to pick it.

[Jeff]

Murcof is amazing. I was debating whether to go with Urano or Memoria, the latter being more melodic, but the sheer audacity and terror of Urano convinced me to pick it.

Yeah, thanks for selecting this. I've been listening to the Utopia album since hearing "Urano" and it's fantastic.

[Dan]

Sorry that I've been so crap at participating in this game. My life is pretty hectic at the moment. I'm looking forward to the knockout stage and will definitely participate again then. Surely France or Brazil are the bookies' favourites to win this, no? In the meantime I'm catching up on everything I've missed, from Japanese techno to yodeling lesbian twins from New Zealand.

1. Spain 6.5 points | 20 votes | 69%
2. South Africa 6.5 | 19 | 66%

Hello Honorio!

[Romain]

I'm looking forward to the knockout stage and will definitely participate again then. Surely France or Brazil are the bookies' favourites to win this, no?

Hello Dan, It's a pleasure to see you again.

I'm not sure at all for France, I I tried to put several music genres in my choices (pop, rock, rap), and I'm not sure it's the best idear, I would see more win an African country in the end... or Brazil

[Honorio]

1. Spain 6.5 points | 20 votes | 69%
2. South Africa 6.5 | 19 | 66%

Hello Honorio!

Hola Dan!
Both of our teams won! Viva España! Hurrah South Africa!

See you at the final!

[Dan]

I'm not sure at all for France, I I tried to put several music genres in my choices (pop, rock, rap), and I'm not sure it's the best idear

I think it's nice that you have selected a variety of genres. When I listened to MC Solaar's "Nouveau Western" earlier today, I couldn't help but do a little dance.

See you at the final!

Bring it on!

[Jeff]

I'm looking forward to the knockout stage and will definitely participate again then. Surely France or Brazil are the bookies' favourites to win this, no?

Hello Dan, It's a pleasure to see you again.

I'm not sure at all for France, I I tried to put several music genres in my choices (pop, rock, rap), and I'm not sure it's the best idear, I would see more win an African country in the end... or Brazil

I agree with France and Brazil, but would add Germany and possibly Jamaica to the favorites list. I assumed Jamaica would win when the tournament started. However, with Jamaica being a dummy team, their next song could either be a reggae classic or an esoteric folk song depending on the number generator. I would love to see an African team win (and not just because I manage one), but I'm not so sure. Maybe Mali. The Spanish-language countries have been doing well too (except Mexico and Colombia). Of course, I have not been listening to the playlists in advance at all beyond checking for dead links, so I could be very wrong on these guesses.

[bonnielaurel]

Group E: Portugal and Zimbabwe
Group F: Mali and Sweden

[Jeff]

Only one day of voting left for these groups.

[Jeff]

As mentioned elsewhere, the results have to be posted in this thread since there is not a match 4 for Groups A and B.

Results
This was easily the closest voting round for Group E of the tournament--probably because a tournament-low seven people voted. Anyway, Indonesia needed a strong finish to advance over Zimbabwe and they certainly started strong. However, Portugal scored several late goals to draw Indonesia for first with four votes. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe needed only to finish within two points of Indonesia and keep a respectable voting margin. Already-eliminated Mexico took up the role of spoiler to Zimbabwe's World Cup dreams early on, but Zimbabwe was able to draw Mexico for third with three votes.
Indonesia 2.5 points, 4 votes
Portugal 2.5 pts., 4 votes
Mexico 0.5 pts., 3 votes
Zimbabwe 0.5 pts., 3 votes

As expected, Portugal won Group E by a comfortable margin thanks to strong finishes in each match. Zimbabwe had reason to feel nervous during the first half of match three, but lucky for them Indonesia's horrid performance in match 2 gave Zimbabwe a decisive edge in vote differential. Thus, Zimbabwe takes second and advances while Indonesia is sent home with the rest of the Asian teams thus far. Mexico, as we already knew, takes last by a wide margin despite finally staying competitive in a match (sorry Blanco).
Portugal 7.5 points | 21 votes | 75%
Zimbabwe 4.5 | 18 | 64%
Indonesia 4.5 | 12 | 43%
Mexico 1.5 | 5 | 18%

Group F leaders Cuba evidently decided to rest their starters this match as the team get shutout, finishing with 0 votes. It does not matter so much for Cuba since they have already advanced; however, as we shall see shortly, this had grave ramifications for a certain other team in the group. The pop powerhouse Sweden at long last shows signs of life and wins the group by a single vote over Mali. New Zealand, already eliminated after match two, equals their vote total in the previous two rounds combined to finish third.
Sweden 3 points, 6 votes
Mali 2 points, 5 votes
New Zealand 1 point, 3 votes
Cuba 0 points, 0 votes

The real loser of Cuba's last place finish was not Cuba, but rather Sweden. To have a chance of advancing, Sweden needed a win in the last group stage (which they got) and a poor performance from Mali (which did not happen). Even New Zealand played a fine match which could have conceivably created the conditions necessary for Sweden to advance had the Cubans put in a better effort and syphoned votes from Mali. As the final whistle blew, Mali was able to steal first place in the group from Cuba, who seemed content to take second. Sweden, despite recovering magnificently from their first match blunder, finish third and are eliminated. New Zealand place last. Group F joins Group C as the only groups to not see a European team advance.
Mali 6.5 points | 20 votes | 71%
Cuba 5.5 | 16 | 57%
Sweden 4.5 | 14 | 50%
New Zealand 1.5 | 6 | 21%