In an interview one of Ethiopian’s most acclaimed musician, Muluken Melese, gave recently to a radio in the US he spoke emotionally about his resentment to the recent reproduction of his songs made by Bizuayehu Demisse.He complained that he was not asked to give his permission and that he performed the songs so perfectly that they could not be reproduced better.
He said that he considered the work as a theft, and the musician a thief. “My music belongs to the people and should have to be kept in a museum as a treasure.”
On his part, Bizuayehu formally apologized to Muluken after the interview was broadcast on FM 97.1.
Responding to the question whether he would permit if he was asked at first, Muluken responded that he would never.
The fact that the original owner of the songs, Muluken, should be asked for permission by Bizuayehu before embarking on the process of reproduction is legitimate, fitting and undoubtable. And what Bizuayehu did (reproducing the songs without permission) is indeed lamentable.
Many agree that Muluken Melese is an icon in the modern Ethiopian music era. As such he to be should have been given due respect and asked to give his consent. It is not surprising that he was incensed by the reproduction of his songs without his acknowledgement. To make matters worse, Muluken was not even given a written credit as the owner of the songs on the CD and cassettes produced. “The songs are labeled as ‘oldies’ on the CD,” said Muluken.
I agree with all these points. However, my reservation lies in Muluken’s claim which alluded that what he did is beyond the test of time and is an ultimate production. “I did the songs in the way they can not be produced better again,” says Muluken.
The trend of music reproduction by an artist other than the original one is not a new experience to the world music industry. Whitney Houston did a reproduction of Dolly Parton’s “I will always love you,” by Patron’s permission, with an interesting beat and was very much liked and accepted. Michael Bolton made a number of songs originally made by others. These have garnered him increased acceptance and popularity. The original singers have also expressed appreciation of his music.
Now the question is not whether the reproduction is better than the original. A work of art, especially music, has got its quality in its success and acceptance at the time it is produced. Time is the touchstone by which music is gauged. And the musics that stand the test of time are the classical ones.
Every era and its generation has got its manifestation of the popular culture in the works of art and musics of the time. Every generation has its taste and style of music, according to the musical order of the time.
When coming to our current music trend, there are opinions that note the decline of music quality in contrast to the former. Though this opinion is partly true, there are music productions that are worth appreciating and could stand out to spare the current musical trend from being described “totally unmusical.” Egigayehu Shibabaw, Teddy Afro, Zeritu Tadesse and other young musicians have shown their musical stature and are typical representatives of their time.
However successful and entertaining the music of the time may be, there would still be nostalgia for the old music and songs. So, old songs will be heard along side the current ones and be remembered, though not widely. And when there is a wide demand to hear the excellent songs of the renowned musicians like Muluken Melese, there comes a work of reproduction with the current musical style, while maintaining their original identity. This is supposed to present the same old music with rich musical composition. That is why even Muluken’s, Tilahun Gessese’s and recently Kuku Sebsibie’s old songs were reproduced by the original musicians with more interesting composition.
Therefore, the art of music is always in progress and is never made to be the ultimate, as if it would never ever be made or be reproduced again, regardless of the popular culture and technology.
Filed under: music
Just read this article also, very nice again.
Its good to see someone writing to raise the profile of Ethiopian music.
Best Wishes
T
i like the explanation on this issue.please try to publish such kind of updated arrguments with suggestion & lets work for the best of ethiopian music.
Is Muluqen realy the sole owner of all the songs reproduced? Did he ever asked permission or paid royalty to the original singers of some of the songs? If I’m not mistaken, the constitution dectates that the singer has the right for only six months from the date the music is published or registered, but the music producer(s) and lyrics writter(s) preserve a life time ownership of the material. Are all the songs on the reproduced album written by Muluqen? I’ll leave that upto the individual(s) reading my comment.
I do agree with Muluken. He is one of the well known musician in Ethiopia and he did his best to satisfy his people’s needs by providing such an amazing albums. He did it for desire/instnict not for money as this so called ‘bizuayehu’ guy did. He has to apologize for millions of times to Muluken for his horrible reactions. He even doesn’t complain if Muluken insulted him.
I totally disagree with Muluken’s claim and assertion that the songs in Bizuayehu’s CD are solely his. That is absolutely untrue and ludicrous. Tizita, che belew and ebwa zebidr were there before he even existed. Bizuayehu has nothing to apologize for other than having a similar voice to Muluken’s. If Muluken is lableling Bizuayehu a ‘thief’, he should be reminded that he is the original sinner.
Muluken: your original recording of these songs is withering away in Vinyl and Cassette Tapes. Those products are not Museum items. If you want to be generous to the people, rerecord these songs in a digital format.
Otherwise, as far as some of us are concerned, you yourself have resigned to be a museum piece in the history of Ethiopian music.
Neftegna
he has already departed from music world what make him dissappiont stupid+nonsenese idea .
amharic “hulet aywodum kmenrkosu aywoldum”
he has already departed from music world what make him dissappiont stupid+nonsenese idea .
amharic “hulet aywodum kmenkosu aywoldum”
he can join and deal with
Neftegna, you said it all. Thank you. If i remember correctly the late Yeshewlul Mengistu said something about the lyrics of CHE BELEW (it was not suppse to be a love song). not only he stole it, he destroy it.
MAO
Are you guys kidding me! This is not different from bank robbery of the worst kind! You steal his intellectual property–not consent, no credit and make money of it instead of going to prison? Look no apology is enough or genuine unless he makes a restitution and abandon the project. That is shameful and disgraceful and we should in no way justify theft. The article is also shameful in that it minimizes the gravity of the crime and nit picks on the minor staff. And for some of you–Idiots–there is a different from what is in public domain as a communal property like Tizita and private copy righted property like Muluken’s songs!
Zazu,
You are mixing up issues to make a point. You make Tizita a communal property and not Nanu Nanu Neye or Imbua Zebider, che belew …etc. Just because Muluken modified some of these songs does not entitle him to owen them. You are either ignorant with Ethiopian music history or you simply lack the knowlege to objectivly judge issues on their on merit.