As I am typing this, I am listening to the local Cape Town radio stations reporting on the vibe in Cape Town ahead of the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup (Football World Cup for the rest of you) Official Draw taking place at the city’s International Convention Centre (CTICC).

Sport24.co.za reports on the happenings as follows:

(Cape Town, South Africa, Friday 4 December 2009)

The World Cup will resonate to a distinctly African beat for the first time here on Friday when the final draw is made for next year’s sporting spectacular.

Eighty years and 18 tournaments since the first World Cup was held in Uruguay, when only 13 teams took part, none of them African, an African nation will host the event for the first time with 32 countries vying for the biggest prize in sport.

Commenting on the significance of the occasion, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said: “This is a very important event for football and Africa as the Final Draw comes to Cape Town where an unprecedented six teams from the host continent will be represented.

“We expect a record global audience which I hope will be glued to their screens for the duration of the show.”

That show has taken a year of preparations to put together and includes performances by Grammy award-winners Soweto Gospel Choir, Beninese singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo and one of South Africa’s favourite solo musicians Johnny Clegg.

The grand finale will feature 80 artists including the internationally acclaimed musical ensemble Africa Umoja.

African beats will echo throughout the show which will reach a fitting climax at the moment when the 32 teams discover who they will be playing and when during the June 11-July 11 tournament.

The guest presenter to assist FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke make the draw at the Cape Town International Convention Centre will be South Africa’s Academy Award winner Charlize Theron.

South Africa’s Hollywood actress, Charlize Theron will assist in the FIFA Draw

They will be joined on stage by a line-up of sports celebrities, including football star David Beckham, who is hugely popular in South Africa, marathon champion Haile Gebrselassie, the first black player in the South African cricket team Makhaya Ntini and John Smit, the captain of rugby world champions South Africa.

Among dignitories attending will be South African President Jacob Zuma, Nobel Peace Prize winners FW. de Klerk and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as well as former football icons such as Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Eusebio and Roger Milla.

Former president Nelson Mandela, who played a leading role in winning South Africa the right to host the World Cup seven years ago, will address the audience by video message.

And then there will be most of the 32 coaches of the qualified teams eager to learn what their opposition will be in six months time when the action gets underway in the month-long showpiece.

The draw itself sees the 32 teams divided into four pots of eight from which the eight groups that will contest the first round will be drawn.

The first pot will consist of hosts South Africa, and the seven top-ranking world teams – holders Italy, five-times winners Brazil, former champions Argentina, Germany and England and two teams yet to hoist the World Cup in Spain and the Netherlands.

Pot 2 will have the four Asian qualifiers, the three from North and Central America and rank outsiders New Zealand representing Oceania.

Pot 3 sees the remaining five African sides grouped with the remaining three South American, while the final pot consists of the remaining European qualifiers.

Among the latter will be 1998 champions France and semi-finalists four years ago Portugal, and where they end up will likely go a long way to designating the inevitable Group of Death.

It will all take 90 minutes and when it is over the talking will begin and is unlikely to stop until South Africa fittingly plays the opening game of the first World Cup on African soil in Johannesburg on June 11.

Today is Heritage Day in South Africa.  Wikipedia defines it as follows:

Heritage Day, September 24, is a Public Holiday on which South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their cultural heritage and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions, in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people.

Here in my apartment in Hong Kong, as things go in Asia, my kids are swamped daily with studies and other school-related issues.  However, as it is Heritage Day, I had them finish their homework early and right now, they are enjoying the David Kramer DVD called SongBook. 

You may remember that David was part of the most dynamic and internationally recognised duo of David Kramer & Taliep Petersen.  Together they produced the much-acclaimed musicals District Six and Ghoema, to name only two. 

On a recent trip home, this DVD became one of my most cherished purchases.  As a committed follower of Cape Town music (especially the unique genres known as Cape Jazz and Ghoema) it is one of a set of treasured items also because it helps me to explain to my kids, who basically grew up in Asia, where their forefathers came from what our culture is all about.

If you know anything about the Kramer/Petersen musicals, you will remember that it talks, through the music, about the people who arrived at the Dutch halfway station (as Cape Town was known back in the days) from as far afield as Malaysia/Java, Madagascar, Batavia, India and yes… even China.  They know about these places because of the songs in the musical.  In this unique way, SongBook is aiding the Missus and I to explain to our 2 little ones our equally unique cultural issues in a clearer and more fun way.  What makes this task all the more easy is the fact that our kids naturally took to this kind of music like ducks to water.  It is, after all… in their genes!  Right now my 9-year old son is spraying furniture polish on the lounge tiles so that he “can jive better!” (his words, not mine)

On this Heritage Day, I can just say thank you to David Kramer and (even after your sad passing) Shukran to Taliep Petersen.  Not only for making my job as an expatriate father so much easier, but also for what you have done to keep the Cape Town and by extension, the South African culture alive. 

Happy Heritage Day.