I'm in total agreement about the generally awful state of official World Cup songs (see Saeed Saeed's column here), and have to say that this year's decidedly un-Brazilian effort by the American R&B stars Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez is no exception.
But if you look beyond the official and out to the periphery, you may be surprised to find that some football songs are actually rather good. Here are some favourites.
Black Grape ft Joe Strummer and Keith Allen – England's Irie (1996)
The Mancunian bad boys, born from the ashes of The Happy Mondays, The Ruthless Rap Assassins and The Paris Angels, enlisted the help of the late, great Joe Strummer and the rent-a-mouth actor/comedian Keith Allen for this effort to cheer England on at the England '96 European Championships. Of course, the song everyone remembers from that year's tournament was Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds' insipid lads' anthem Three Lions, but this was what was rocking the dance floors where I was. History has at least been kind in completely forgetting that tournament's official song, We're in This Together – it was by Simply Red, for goodness' sake.
Pop Will Eat Itself – Touched by the Hand of Cicciolina (1990)
Stourbridge’s finest, the Grebo legends Pop Will Eat Itself celebrated Italia ’90 with this number dedicated to the Hungarian-born actress Cicciolina, who was elected to the Italian parliament in 1987. Rather optimistically, the band decided it would be much more fun to have her present the trophy in Italy rather than the usual Fifa suits and every copy of the 12” single came with a petition for buyers to send to Fifa. The campaign was, unsurprisingly, unsuccessful, but at least the single peaked at No 28 and stayed in the UK charts for four weeks.
Fat Les – Vindaloo (1998)
Keith Allen’s 1996 outing with Black Grape obviously got him in the mood for more football songs, and to celebrate France ’98, he teamed up with the artist Damien Hirst and the Blur bassist Alex James for this four-minute stompalong that, by all logical criteria, should be dismissed as rubbish, but somehow comes out as raucous-anthem-meets-cheeky-social-commentary on some of Allen’s native England’s obsessions – primarily football, tea and curry.
Collapsed Lung – Eat My Goal (1996/1998)
A catchy little number from the Harlow hip-hop outfit, featuring possibly the simplest, yet most memorable, one-string guitar hook ever. The single was originally co-opted by Coca-Cola for its Eat Football, Sleep Football, Drink Coca-Cola Euro '96 campaign, but had its greatest chart success when it was re-released to coincide with the 1998 World Cup in France and charted at No 18 in the UK singles charts. It has since been used on numerous football shows and the video game LMA Manager 2001. Although Collapsed Lung split in 1996, the lead rapper Jim Burke is still well known for his work as Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer.
Midfield General – Devil in Sports Casual (1998)
Another France '98 number. This track from Skint Records' owner Damian Harris, aka Midfield General, was originally released in 1997, but as the bandwagon got into motion for the World Cup the following year it found its way on to the big-selling Big Beat Elite Repeat album, which came complete with a tenuous football theme to cash in on the year's events. This tune is actually one of the few on the album that makes any direct reference to any sort of sporting activity, but it's a good one and you can't blame the General if the album's compilers ran out of football-related tunes one track in and left the rest of the linking to the cover artists and the free Extra Time mix CD.
cnewbould@thenational.ae
Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
The biog
Siblings: five brothers and one sister
Education: Bachelors in Political Science at the University of Minnesota
Interests: Swimming, tennis and the gym
Favourite place: UAE
Favourite packet food on the trip: pasta primavera
What he did to pass the time during the trip: listen to audio books
What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate
Final: June 1, Madrid
