The Folded Wing World Cup Sweepstake

13 June 2014, Posted in: Folded Wing Recommends

After months of anticipation, the World Cup is finally here! Everything kicked off last night, where Pitbull and J.Lo regaled a 60,000-strong crowd at the opening ceremony before the home team beat Croatia 3-1 in a nerve-wracking game that saw Brazil's defender Marcelo score an own goal in the first half - the first goal of the tournament!

To mark the occasion in the Folded Wing office, we're running a sweepstake. Everyone has picked a team out of the hat with the chance of pocketing the BIG jackpot. As this is truly the World Cup of not just football, but music as well, we've each picked a song from our sweepstake country - we hope you enjoy our choices.

Also don't forget to catch Just Like Hearing Brazil with Gilles Peterson and Jonathan Overend this weekend - after featuring on 5 live this week it will be broadcast on BBC 6 Music this Sunday at 1pm. And directly before that, the presenter of our Brasil Music Exchange show, Jody Gillett, is going to be a special guest on Cerys Matthews' show on 6 Music from 10am til 1pm. She'll be talking about all things Brazil and picking some of her favourite tracks from the country. We're looking forward to hearing her choices.

Karen

Brazil: Caetano Veloso - 'Alfomega'

"I'm pretty happy to have picked the home team - they're as good at football as they are at making music! This is one of those tracks that just feels like summer to me and it's one of my favourite Tropicalia tracks. It's from his 1969 record Album Branco, which means 'The White Album' in Portuguese."

Jim

Germany: Round Two - 'New Day'

"Never underestimate the Germans. The dark horses of World Cup history... and kings of the comeback. I'm a big Rhythm & Sound/Basic Channel fan so was very happy with my sweepstake pick. This 1995 classic from the legendary German crew is probably my all-time favourite house tune. Deepness!"

Andrea

Columbia: Shakira - 'Hips Don't Lie'

"Seeing people attempt to dance to this track in clubs could potentially be more entertaining than watching the World Cup. All depends on how my team Columbia does..."

Lucy

Belgium: 2manyDJs - As Heard On Radio Soulwax

"While not much of a football expert myself, I've been reliably informed that Belgium are the dark horse in this year's tournament so I'm crossing my fingers that this is true! As far as I'm concerned, Soulwax are one of Belgium's greatest musical exports - their 2manyDJs compilations As Heard On Radio Soulwax were the soundtrack to my early twenties."

Pete

Argentina: Chas & Dave - 'Ossie's Dream'

"I'm very happy with picking Argentina, as they have a strong chance of winning. For the song I wasn't sure what to pick and then I remembered 'Ossie's Dream'. The song was performed by Tottenham Hotspur and Chas & Dave and went to Number 5. It was released in the lead up to the 1981 cup final. The song was titled in homage to the club's Argentine legend Ossie Ardiles, I ended up discovering it a fair few years later, but I love it, I wish they still did cup final songs! Ossie actually ended up managing the team I support, Newcastle, and despite the fact he was perhaps not our best manager I love him; after watching a documentary about his time at Spurs, I just fell in love with the guy."

Sandie

Spain: Julio Iglesias - 'To All The Girls I've Loved Before'

"When I found out I'd got Spain I had to pick Julio! He's a Spanish singer and songwriter who has sold more than 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages and released more than 80 albums."

John

Italy: Luciano Pavarotti - 'Nessun Dorma'

"The classic theme to Italia 90... and credited with achieving the improbable and bringing opera to football fans!"

Micky

France: Christine and The Queens - 'Saint Claude'

“Some would say that drawing France in the sweepstake is a bad thing. I disagree: this is about music not football. Just as well, because I know very little about the beautiful game. For real advice on the best music coming out of France I turned to a colleague @SportOnRadio who is probably the most French of all the French. He came back with a list containing the usual suspects like Daft Punk, C2C and Phoenix… but in there was this incredible clip: Héloïse Letissier’s project inspired by the drag scene in London."