Haba Haba
Encyclopedia
"Haba Haba" is a song performed by Norwegian
-Kenya
n singer-songwriter Stella Mwangi
, from her second studio album Kinanda
(2011). It was Norway
's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
. The song was chosen using a mix of televoting
, jury votes and an audience vote at the Oslo Spektrum
during the national Eurovision pre-selection show Melodi Grand Prix
on 12 February 2011. It was made available for digital download
a day before its initial performance in the third semi-final. "Haba Haba" debuted at number nine in its first week of release, before progressing to number one for four consecutive weeks in the Norwegian singles chart
. On 10 May 2011, it competed in the first half of semi-final 1 and performed second on the night.
with afro-fusion
influence, written by Stella and composed by Beyond51
and Big City. The song is bilingual
, with lyrics in English and Swahili, marking the first time Swahili or any other East African language was performed at the contest. The lyrics
describe how "a journey of a million miles starts with one single step". It is a positive, motivational
song about how anyone can be whatever they want to be and tells the story of Mwangi as a young girl listening to her grandmother ("When I’s a little girl my grandma told me/ That I could be just anything that I wanted to"), who teaches her that she should appreciate the smaller things in life ("When I’s a little girl my grandma told me/ That it’s the little things in life that’s gone make me happy"). The song is based upon actual events as Stella once complained to her grandmother that things did not move fast enough, gaining the reply Haba haba, Hujaza Kibaba, which is Swahili for "it’s the little steps in life that’s going to make you happy".
The song was entered by Mwangi into the 2011 Melodi Grand Prix
, the annual selection process for Norway
's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest
. 21 songs were chosen to go through to the semi-finals by the national broadcaster NRK, with "Haba Haba" performing in the third semi-final on 29 January. It came out of the semi-final in first place, advancing to the final on 12 February. "Haba Haba" progressed with three other songs to the Gold Final, following the elimination of the other finalists. Voting was conducted via a mix of the audience vote at the Oslo Spektrum
(where the song beat its nearest rival by more than twice the votes), jury votes split into four different regions (where Stella came second in two regions and first in two, leading to her winning the overall jury vote) and televoting
in two different regions (with "Haba Haba" winning in both). "Haba Haba" was the overall winner of the night with a total of 280,217 votes.
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
In the Eurovision Song Contest semifinal in Düsseldorf
on Tuesday 10 May 2011 "Haba Haba" was not among the ten songs which qualified for entrance in the final on Saturday 14 May 2011, even though it was placed as one of the favourite songs to win the festival.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
-Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
n singer-songwriter Stella Mwangi
Stella Mwangi
Stella Nyambura Mwangi is a Norwegian-Kenyan singer, songwriter and rapper. Mwangi writes a lot of her music about the situation in her home country Kenya, also about discrimination both Stella and her family had to go through after moving to Norway in 1991...
, from her second studio album Kinanda
Kinanda
Kinanda is the second studio album from Norwegian-Kenyan singer Stella Mwangi, it was released on June 10, 2011 in Norway. It peaked to number 15 on the Norwegian Albums Chart-Singles:*"Smile" was released as the first single in 2010....
(2011). It was Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th annual Eurovision Song Contest and was won by Eldar & Nigar performing "Running Scared" for Azerbaijan. The event took place in the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany, following Germany's win in the previous year...
. The song was chosen using a mix of televoting
Televoting
Televoting, telephone voting or phone voting is a method of decision making and opinion polling conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by SMS text message via a mobile cell phone.- Broadcast contest televoting :...
, jury votes and an audience vote at the Oslo Spektrum
Oslo Spektrum
Oslo Spektrum is an indoor multi-purpose arena in east central Oslo, Norway. It opened in December 1990. It is currently owned and operated by Norges Varemesse , who also own and operate the Norges Varemesse conference center in Lillestrøm which is Norway's largest conference center...
during the national Eurovision pre-selection show Melodi Grand Prix
Melodi Grand Prix
Melodi Grand Prix is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting . It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1960.The festival has produced three Eurovision winners and...
on 12 February 2011. It was made available for digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
a day before its initial performance in the third semi-final. "Haba Haba" debuted at number nine in its first week of release, before progressing to number one for four consecutive weeks in the Norwegian singles chart
VG-lista
VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...
. On 10 May 2011, it competed in the first half of semi-final 1 and performed second on the night.
Production and song selection
"Haba Haba" is a pop songPop Song
Pop Song is the first single by the Drugs. It was released in 2000 and earned the Drugs some positive press. It has been described as "addictive". A live version was released on The Only Way Is Up...
with afro-fusion
Afro-fusion
Afro-fusion is a type of music which blends contemporary music with traditional African rhythms to create a hybrid music style.One of the best known Afro-fusion artists is Freshlyground from South Africa. There are also many Afro-fusion artists in Eastern Africa. Another is Afro Celt Sound System,...
influence, written by Stella and composed by Beyond51
Beyond51
Beyond51 is an Oslo-based Norwegian music production house and record label. Beyond51 was established on 26 June 2008 by producers Kjetil Helgesen, Victor Eugen Forberg-Skogeng, Marcus Ulstad Nilsen and Andreas Sjo Engen....
and Big City. The song is bilingual
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
, with lyrics in English and Swahili, marking the first time Swahili or any other East African language was performed at the contest. The lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
describe how "a journey of a million miles starts with one single step". It is a positive, motivational
Motivation
Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation...
song about how anyone can be whatever they want to be and tells the story of Mwangi as a young girl listening to her grandmother ("When I’s a little girl my grandma told me/ That I could be just anything that I wanted to"), who teaches her that she should appreciate the smaller things in life ("When I’s a little girl my grandma told me/ That it’s the little things in life that’s gone make me happy"). The song is based upon actual events as Stella once complained to her grandmother that things did not move fast enough, gaining the reply Haba haba, Hujaza Kibaba, which is Swahili for "it’s the little steps in life that’s going to make you happy".
The song was entered by Mwangi into the 2011 Melodi Grand Prix
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany, selecting their entry through the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2011, organised by the Norwegian broadcaster, Norsk Rikskringkasting .-Melodi Grand Prix 2011:...
, the annual selection process for Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
. 21 songs were chosen to go through to the semi-finals by the national broadcaster NRK, with "Haba Haba" performing in the third semi-final on 29 January. It came out of the semi-final in first place, advancing to the final on 12 February. "Haba Haba" progressed with three other songs to the Gold Final, following the elimination of the other finalists. Voting was conducted via a mix of the audience vote at the Oslo Spektrum
Oslo Spektrum
Oslo Spektrum is an indoor multi-purpose arena in east central Oslo, Norway. It opened in December 1990. It is currently owned and operated by Norges Varemesse , who also own and operate the Norges Varemesse conference center in Lillestrøm which is Norway's largest conference center...
(where the song beat its nearest rival by more than twice the votes), jury votes split into four different regions (where Stella came second in two regions and first in two, leading to her winning the overall jury vote) and televoting
Televoting
Televoting, telephone voting or phone voting is a method of decision making and opinion polling conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by SMS text message via a mobile cell phone.- Broadcast contest televoting :...
in two different regions (with "Haba Haba" winning in both). "Haba Haba" was the overall winner of the night with a total of 280,217 votes.
Eurovision Song Contest 2011Eurovision Song Contest 2011The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th annual Eurovision Song Contest and was won by Eldar & Nigar performing "Running Scared" for Azerbaijan. The event took place in the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany, following Germany's win in the previous year...
In the Eurovision Song Contest semifinal in DüsseldorfDüsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
on Tuesday 10 May 2011 "Haba Haba" was not among the ten songs which qualified for entrance in the final on Saturday 14 May 2011, even though it was placed as one of the favourite songs to win the festival.
Track listings
Music video
A music video was shot by the director Frederic Esnault. The song is presented by Big City Music.Peak positions
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|