World-renowned jazz musicians Hugh Masekela, aka Bra Hugh, and fellow South African Jimmy Dludlu are instrumentalists on the track produced by Arthur Baker from the United States of America. The song calls for commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals — a set of eight internationally agreed UN goals to reduce poverty, hunger, disease and maternal and child deaths by 2015.
The video of the song will be screened throughout the World Cup across all the fan parks and public viewing areas in South Africa.
"There can be no spectators in the fight against poverty," said Helen Clark at the launch.
"Everyone has a role to play in scoring the eight Millennium Development Goals, which if reached would improve the quality of life for many hundreds of millions of people across developing countries."
Music composer Dludlu added: "I was inspired by this initiative. We want to help promote the Millennium Development Goals and I am optimistic that the song will convey a message of peace, hope and promise of a better future," said Dludlu.
The song was composed by Dludlu and the lyrics written by Eric Wainaina, and is copyrighted to the United Nations.
The song and all related materials, including the music video, ring tone, logo and wallpaper, are available for free download at www.8goalsforafrica.org http://pr-usa.net/www.8goalsforafrica.org. The music video of the song is also available on YouTube and on Vimeo.com.