The West Indies players created quite a stir after they paraded the Gangnam style dance during their victorious 2012 ICC Champions League campaign in Sri Lanka. Now they are doing the Champion dance with the hope that they will carry the performance into the finals as they did two years ago.
Back then the rave was the Gangnam style dance which was piloted by Korean artist singer PSY. The West Indies adopted that song. The song became synonymous with West Indies T20 cricket.
Now the “Champion” is closer to home as the song is being rendered by West Indies cricketer Dwayne Bravo. The all rounder who is part of the West Indies team at this year’s ICC World T20 in India launched the song and accompanying dance earlier this week in Los Angeles. He took along the ‘World boss’ Chris Gayle with him to launch the video and so far it has been a great success.
The track, which makes reference to Gayle as well as other sporting and political icons, is called Champion. In the song Bravo, who has had success with other musical ventures including a single called Chalo Chalo, declares that 'everybody knows Chris Gayle is a champion'.
Aside from himself, the other people he deems worthy of a mention in the song include West Indian legend Brian Lara, NBA star Michael Jordan, US President Barack Obama, former South African president Nelson Mandela, tennis star Serena Williams and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
The cricketer, who goes by DJ Bravo launched “Champion” in partnership with India’s leading digital agency VEGA Entertainment. The song which is written by Cornelius Daley and directed by Joseph Fernando is already making waves in India.
During the West Indies opening match of the World T20 in Mumbai on Wednesday, Gayle provided the entertainment for the crowd to get into the “Champion” with his masterful batting display. While the big man was striking sixes into the stands, the fans which numbered around 18,000 were doing the Champion dance. On the field, Bravo had earlier marketed the song when he took his two wickets and Gayle on reaching his century did the same.
The Mumbai fans were captivated and even after the match they continued the dance until baton wielding police removed them from the players’ entrance as the West Indies team was driving out the venue. Bravo and Gayle though would have been pleased to see their subjects doing the Champion.