San B reworked on Matafale’s song without consent—Toza
Musician Toza Matafale has cried foul claiming Honjo star San Bennet Msokera better known as San B reworked on late Evison Matafale’s song ‘Chauta Wamphamvu,’ without consent.
Toza, who is currently performing with Wailing Brothers, has since reported the issue to Musicians Union of Malawi (Mum) and Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma).
“I have been in touch with San B trying to discuss the issue. Actually we started meeting before he even released the song but then he was not forthcoming and the next thing the song was on air,” said Toza.
He said it was wrong for San B to release the song without consent from Matafale’s relatives.
“Artists do rework on songs but there is a proper channel that you follow in doing that and in this case San B never followed this channel,” said Toza, who performs some of late Matafale’s songs during his performances.
Mum Southern Chapter chairperson Papa Mtume confirmed yesterday that they received the complaint from Toza and that they forwarded the issue to their president Reverend Chimwemwe Mhango.
“We received this complaint a long time ago and actually Toza Matafale first brought this issue to Cosoma but after not receiving a response for some time he decided to bring it to our attention,” said Mtume.
Mhango also confirmed receiving the complaint yesterday but was quick to say that the issue would be sorted out.
“We discussed the issue with Cosoma today (yesterday) and it will be sorted out. Cosoma will check as to who was the next of kin and then they will register the song whose royalties will go to the relatives while San B would only get for performance and arrangement,” he said.
He added that the song would only be stopped if the relatives still do not want the track to continue playing.
Cosoma Senior Licensing Officer Rosario Kamanga said they received the complaint and that they contacted the two parties to settle it amicably.
“It’s true we received the complaint only that we were preoccupied with other duties that is why we have delayed. But we will talk with both parties and map the way forward,” said Kamanga.
He said they would meet the two parties whose dates he said they would determine adding that San B did not refuse the issue.
San B could not be reached yesterday for his comment.
The musician collaborated with ‘Nalelo,’ star Nepman and Young Kay in the song which has been rebranded.
‘Chauta Wamphamvu,’ is the song which Matafale composed exalting God as the creator of everything including human beings.
Just as he has done in the past, re-visiting some songs originally done by other artists, San B decided to rework on Matafale’s song.
“I decided to redo the song because of the message therein. The message in the song is rich,” he told The Daily Times.
The song which is currently enjoying airplay was recorded at Poly Vibes Studio in Ndirande, Blantyre.
San B plays the main vocals in the song with Nepman moving in swiftly with his part while Young K colours the song with rap.
The musician, who has been out of the picture for some time, came back to the limelight mid last year announcing his new album Acceptability.
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