Welcome song to depict Bangladesh's history in WC opening

"Hey the world, now is the time to know Bangladesh" -- the mesmerising 'welcome song' is expected to set the stand on fire.

The welcome song is the inaugural item of the grand gala opening ceremony of the first ever World Cup Cricket, which kicks off on February 17, and it will depict the history of Bangladesh at Bangabandhu National Stadium in the capital, reports BSS.

This will be followed by the official 'theme song' -'De Ghumma Ke" to be sung in four languages.

The welcome song begins with "O Prithibi. Ebar eshey Banglake nao chiney.. O prithibi,. Ebar eshey Banglake nao chiney. (Hey the world. now is the time to know Bangladesh.).

The 5.40-minute-long 'welcome song' written by Zulfiqar Russell will be directed by famous music director and singer Ebrar Tipu. It is not yet finalised who will sing the song in Bangla but it is expected to be presented by Habib or Hridoy Khan while the English version will be sung by Mila and Elita.

The song is superbly composed asking the world that this is the time to know Bangladesh, its culture and heritage. Then the song depicts the 23-year arduous movement led by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman starting from 1952 Language Movement to War of Liberation in 1971.

In the concluding part, the song urges the visitors to come and witness the beauty of Bangladesh and its chanting mangrove forest and world famous sprawling coastline and people's mad desire to win.

Talking to the agency, music director Ebrar Tipu said, "Since the wording of the welcome song is about Bangladesh I have selected local music and instruments to complete this song."

"The music will include all local instruments starting from dotara to shehnai while the song will be composed with the mingling of classical, folk and modern tunes."

Bollywood's famous team of music directors Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy has composed the official theme song of World Cup 2011. They have composed the three versions of the song titled 'De Ghumaa Ke' in Bangla, Hindi and Sinhalese. The tournament, which will start on February 19, will be held in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The theme song 'De Ghumaa Ke' is a very passionate number aimed to create the fierce sense of competition and the strong desire to win. The term literally means 'Hit It Hard' and it is one word used by all the cricket fanatics for their favourite player and team.

S-E-L to compose ICC Cricket World Cup 2011's official theme song

The coming year 2011 promises to be a treat for all cricket lovers as the mother of all tournaments - The ICC Cricket World Cup- is scheduled to take place from Feb 19 to April 2nd. This time the World Cup is being hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The countdown to cricket's biggest tournament has already kicked off with just 50 days to go. When you talk about cricket, can Bollywood be far behind? Well, not really, and this time Bollywood would be making its presence felt through the musical trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. The trio have composed the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011's official theme song.

The song is titled 'De Ghuma Ke' which in itself is a passionate expression that creatively captures the fierce sense of competition and the desire to win. The song has been composed in 3 different versions namely Hindi, Bangla and Sinhalese that will feature in the build-up to and during the tournament in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

For all of you who can't wait to hear this pulsating number, there's good news. The song will be released on December 31st via various radio networks in India and also on ESPN STAR Sports, ICC's global production and broadcast rights holder.

Writing World Cup song was an emotional moment: Manoj Yadav

Lyricist Manoj Yadav, who has penned the popular ICC Cricket World Cup anthem De Ghuma Ke, says he initially struggled to write the lyrics for the song that is replete with fun Hindi phrases. His brief was that the song should strike a chord with the rural and urban cricket lover. Yadav was told that the song has to have a strong fun element. "I got a call from O&M (Ogilvy & Mather) that we need to make a song for the ICC World Cup and gave me the brief. The brief was that it should not sound like just another anthem, which is motivational and inspirational; it should have a fun element too," Yadav told IANS.

De Ghuma Ke has been composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and crooned by Shankar along with Divya Kumar for the world event that kickstarts Feb 19 and will be held in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. "I was told that a farmer should also like it and even a multiplex goer enjoy it. It was quite tricky for me initially because I didn't know what way to pick. It was challenging. Then I sat with Shankar and we came up with De Ghuma Ke," he added. It took Yadav two weeks to write the entire song, which is peppy and upbeat. He also revealed that Shankar was quite a guiding force when he was penning the lyrics. "In the beginning I was quite confused what to write. So I asked Shankar. He briefed me and his guidance was always there. He said, 'Forget that you're writing a song for cricket. Just write what you like and go beyond your imagination.' Luckily, what I wrote was liked by everyone," said Yadav, who has also written the Lux soap jingle for Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

He also said that working on the song was an emotional moment for him. "A writer lives for these opportunities and so is the case with me. First of all it's a World Cup song, secondly it's with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, one of the top music directors, and third it's about cricket, which is my favourite game - what else does one want?" "I love playing cricket, used to play it a lot. I can't express how I felt when I got this song. Never thought I'll be chosen to write this. I'm thankful to god and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy that they considered me for this track. It's an emotional moment for me," he added.

De Ghuma Ke has commonly used Hindi terms like, aare paare (this way or that), guthi gutham (fisticuffs), juta hausla badla faisla (buck up and change the game) and jiyo khiladi wah re wah re. However, all was not easy for Yadav; while writing the song the fear of criticism always lurked. "As a writer you do wonder whether people will like it or not. This thought is always there, but when you make people hear it and they like it, then you get the positivity," he said.

"Yes, there was a fear of being criticised. The CWG (Commonwealth Games) song was so nice but people compared it to other songs of A.R. Rahman and criticised it. If it had been seen as a stand alone song I'm sure people would have liked it," he said referring to the CWG song Jiyo Utho Badho Jeeto, which was panned. "So I do have that fear too, but I will still hope that people like my song and take it in its right spirit," he said.