Undermining African Intellectual and Artistic Rights: Shakira, Zangalewa & the World Cup Anthem

By Dibussi Tande

During a tour of Cameroon in 1975, James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, met Tala Andre Marie, a budding Cameroonian blind singer and guitarist who had just released a funk number titled  Hot Koki. Tala gave him a copy of the record "to give him an insight into the kind of music being made in Cameroon". According to the Boston Globe, “Two years later, Brown dropped “Hustle!!!’’ –  with the same melody, beat, and arrangements, only with English lyrics.” Tala and his music label, Fiesta Records, gathered a team of lawyers who filed a law suit in the United States. After a drawn out battle that lasted four years, an American court concluded that James Brown had indeed used Tala’s song without authorization. Tala says there was very little financial fallout from the case, with the bulk of the money going to the lawyers. Tala nonetheless contends that it was a huge moral victory and good PR.

Manu and the King of Pop
In 1982, it was turn of Manu Dibango, the King of Soul Makossa, to deal with plagiarism. 10 years earlier, Manu had recorded a hit song called “Soul Makossa” which was nominated for the Grammy awards.  According to The New Yorker, Soul Makossa, which was the B side of Mouvement Ewondo, a single composed for the 1972 African Nations Cup in Cameroon, was 

“a honking, galloping funk track—that was the real hit, in Africa, in Europe, and in America, where it came to be seen as one of the first disco records... A generation of disk jockeys learned to wield the power of the song’s famous introduction: a hard beat, a single guitar chord, and Dibango’s low growl. He named his song after the makossa, a Cameroonian dance, but he stretched the word out, played with it: “Ma-mako, ma-ma-ssa, mako-makossa.”

What happened a decade later to Soul Makossa’s famous refrain is the stuff that legends are made of. Let’s leave it up to The New Yorker to tell the story:

Dibango was in Paris, listening to the radio at his apartment, when he heard something familiar:  those same syllables, more or less, in a very different context. The d.j. was playing “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” the unconventional first song from “Thriller.” It is more than six minutes long, and although the music is exuberant throughout, the lyrics aren’t as silly as they first sound: paranoia (“Still they hate you, you’re a vegetable/You’re just a buffet, you’re a vegetable”) gives way to exhortation (“If you can’t feed your baby, then don’t have a baby”) and, eventually, inspiration (“I believe in me/So you believe in you”). The galloping rhythm sounds a bit like “Soul Makossa,” and near the end Jackson acknowledges the debt by singing words that many listeners mistook for nonsense: “Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa.” Soon, Dibango’s phone started ringing. Friends and relatives were calling to offer their congratulations: Michael Jackson was singing his song! But Dibango’s pride turned to puzzlement when he bought the album, only to find that the song was credited to Michael Jackson and no one else.

Just like James Brown before him, Jackson first argued that the refrain consisted of a string of meaningless words spouted in the heat of the moment. Then later, he insisted that they were words in Swahili. Eventually he conceded that he had indeed borrowed the lines from Manu’s Soul Makossa and reached an out of court settlement.

[In a postscript to this story, Manu again sued Jackson in 2007 after the pop star gave permission to Rihanna to use the famous chorus as a hook for her song Don’t stop the music without contacting Manu.] 

Tim & Forty and Missy Eliot/Timberland
In 1978, a new duo called Tim & Foty appeared on the Cameroonian music scene with a new genre of Makossa spiced with a liberal dose of “Afro Funk / Afro Beat / Afro Jazz Fusion”. The duo’s debut album Eda included a song titled “Douala by Night” described as a “disco beat and funky guitar riff number". Douala by Night, which is available on iTunes on the Tim & Foty Greatest Hits Album, was an instant hit 

Some 25 years later, Jean Marie Tiam aka Tim was in the studio in Paris working on a solo album (The duo had disbanded in 1982 but Tim had continued on a solo career) on which he planned to include a remake of “Douala by Night”. Tim was shocked when the studio musicians informed him that the song was not his and that it belonged to American Hip Hop artist Missy Elliot who had released the song under the title “Dog on Heat” (featuring Method Man et Red Man) in her Timberland-produced 2002 album, “So Addictive”.  Tim took his complaint to the Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (SACEM) "the French professional association collecting payments of artists’ rights and distributing the rights to the original authors, composers and publishers". SACEM confirmed that Missy Elliot had plagiarized Douala by Night’s guitar riff by night by at least 70%. Tim filed a lawsuit against Moses Timberland in 2007 and on January 15, 2010, an out of court settlement was reached between the two, with Tim entitled to royalties beginning from 2009, along with a small monetary compensation. Tim says he was not really interested in the money and simply wanted to “restore the historical truth [and]  let intellectual honesty and intellectual property triumph.”

Tim & Foty's Greatest Hits

South Africa 2010: Enter the Diva
Recently again, in the run up to the eagerly anticipated 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, another Cameroonian song has been in the news, the subject of another plagiarism charge. In 1985 the Golden Sounds, a group composed primarily of members from Cameroon’s Presidential Guards released an album whose title track Zangalewa was based on a parade song which was popular with the rank and file of the Cameroonian army and whose origins could be traced back Cameroonian riflemen who took part in the Second World War. Zangalewa became an international hit which transformed Emile Kojidie, Victor Dooh Belley and group leader Ze Bella into celebrities (to the dismay of the army brass who subsequently created the conditions that led to the disbanding of the group a few years later – but that is another story). The group also included a few members who were not in the military such as Annie Anzouer who with Ze Bella performed some of the group’s most popular tunes such as Maladie difficile à soigner and Un bébé, and who later went on to have the most successful solo career among all Golden Sounds members.

Fast forward to 2010. Ze Bella who had retired from the Presidential Guards in 2002 was enjoying a quiet retirement in his village when he got a call from an acquaintance in France informing him that Shakira had just released a version of Zangalewa. This information was soon confirmed by Emile Kojidy another Golden Sounds alum now living in the United States.  They were both right.

A few days earlier, the Internet had been inundated with buzz about the new song by Columbian pop star Shakira titled “Zaminamina” which was rumoured to be the official anthem for the FIFA 2010 World Cup. To many listeners, the song was eerily familiar and many bloggers and journalist sought to find out the origins of the song [See the blog of WFMU Radio for one of the most exhaustive efforts to track down the origins of the song.]

To Cameroonians and many African, the origins of the song was no mystery as they instantly recognized it as a remix of “Zangalewa”. Thus began a frenzied online campaign to alert the world that this was not a Shakira original but a remix. The task was made all the more easier thanks to videos of the Golden Sounds performing Zangalewa that were available on the web. The campaign picked up steam as the international media began taking an interest in the story. [See for example, this report on the French cable news channel France24 titled "Shakira Used Cameroonian pop song for World Cup anthem… without asking".

In an interview with Cameroon Tribune, which ran a special report on the controversy,  Ze Bella, the leader of the defunct group declared that while they were proud that a “world music icon” had remixed their song as the World Cup anthem, they nonetheless expected to be properly credited and adequately compensated. He however lamented that there was little they could do if Shakira or Sony refused to pay up:

Nous sommes vraiment impuissants pour aller aujourd’hui aux Etats-Unis revendiquer nos droits. Il y a au moins une trentaine de groupes de par le monde qui ont repris les Zangalewa. / We are really powerless to travel to the United States to assert our rights. There are at least 30 groups that have remade Zangalewa...

Zangalewa Update
Faced with the barrage of worldwide negative publicity Sony and Shakira (probably with the prodding of FIFA which did not want anything that could mar the World Cup) quickly settled. They agreed to credit Zangalewa and began working out details for a financial compensation. Thus, when on May 5, Fifa officially confirmed that Zaminamina, which was now called “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)”, was indeed the anthem of the 2010 World cup, it also stressed that  “The song was written by Shakira, the world-famous singer from Latin America...The chorus is similar to that of a popular Cameroon song made famous by Golden Voices in particular”.  [Click here to watch Waka Waka]

On May 11, some members of Zangalewa held a press conference in Douala, Cameroon, to inform the media that negotiations were well  underway with Sony and Shakira who had agreed to an out of court settlement and that Sony mauling over the possibility of including the single on Shakira’s next album scheduled to be released at the end of the year. Didier Edo, the group’s manager conceded that it had not been easy to negotiate with Shakira’s manager, Sony Music, and all other interested parties.

Pickett and Puma
This is probably the place to mention the story of Ngando Pickett the unofficial mascot of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon whose image is currently being used as part of a major publicity campaign in Paris by Puma, the German sportwear giant which is also the official jersey provider for the lndomitable Lions. Ngando’s image graces billboards along the Paris Metro route with the tagline “How deep is your love.”
 
Ngando Picket à Paris (c) Okabol.com

Ngando first heard about the publicity blitz from a friend who called him from Paris. Ngando has written several letters to Puma but the corporation has simply ignored him. And without the means to hire a copyright lawyer in France, Puma is getting away with this violation of “fair use” rules. According to Anjali Nayar, a Canadian journalist who recently interviewed Ngando Picket,

On one hand, the global exposure has made Ngando really happy. His image has united Cameroonians for years and will now unite the world. But at the same time, he felt duped. "Those images belong to me," he explains, in an almost apologetic tone. "And it should be up to me to decide whether my image can be used for a film or advertisement"... Did Puma really put Ngando's half-naked image on posters around Paris without consent, or did Cameroon's Ministry of Sports OK the picture as part of the sponsorship deal for the Indomitable Lions? Finally, now that the publicity is out, what can a poor man like Ngando do to stand up for his rights against the government and a multinational corporation?

Ngando, who always seems to have the right attitude, doesn't seem that fazed. With or without help - he says he'll always be there to support the Lions. His life path is born from passion rather than greed.

But it still bothers me that everyone but he and his family seems to eat from his love for the game, including his managers, his neighbourhood, his government, and now even Puma.

Undermining African Intellectual Property
Since the Zangalewa and Ngando Pickett controversies broke out, there has been a heated debate on Cameroonian and other internet fora where some have argued that Zangalewa and Ngando Pickett should be happy that they are getting a level of international exposure which they would otherwise never have had. What better stage for exposure than the Paris Metro or the World Cup opening ceremony? How much money did the Zangalewa make in their entire career that they now want to feed off the Shakira, and, who outside Cameroon knew about Pickett before Puma turned him into an international celebrity... for free?

In my opinion, these are wrong questions. In fact, it is this kind of cavalier attitude towards intellectual property and indigenous natural resources that have resulted in African regimes auctioning off Africa’s natural resources to Western multinationals, including the ongoing massive land grants being made these days to the Chinese. As Jean Marie Tiam pointed out in the passage on Tim & Foty above, the issue here is first of all about the respect of intellectual property and the right to be acknowledged and credited for one’s work of art. And it is also about being compensated fairly for one’s labor. [As Dolly Parton unequivocally pointed out during her May 21, 2010 appearance on the Oprah Show, “Every time [Whitney Houston’s version of “I will always Love you” ] is played, I receive a check”.  That is how it should be for all artists irrespective of where they come from.

For decades, African artists have had their works plagiarized by the West with little or no compensation or acknowledgement. The most memorable example of the theft of the intellectual rights of an African artist is that of Solomon Popoli Linda who in 1939 wrote the song "Mbube" and received 10 shillings (less than $US 2) for his efforts. The song which later became the pop hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was reinterpreted by dozens of American artists without Linda or his family receiving a dime. In fact he died penniless. In 1995, the Lion Sleeps Tonight earned an estimated $15 million dollars just for its use in the movie Lion King – a movie which has since grossed about 800 million USD worldwide. Linda's descendants sued Walt Disney for 1.5 million dollars with the full backing of the South African government. Disney settled for an undisclosed sum just as the trial was about to begin.

Back to those who believe that the Zangalewa should just enjoy their 15 minutes of fame and shut up, I would like to remind them that Waka Waka is not just any song; it is the official anthem of the FIFA World Cup, the  world's most popular and lucrative sporting event. Not only do the Zangalewa deserve a check from Shakira and Sony each time the song is played, they are also entitled to royalties from all FIFA merchandise that will be tied to the song (video games, action figures, toys, ring tones, etc.). From a career perspective, this is the best time for Zangalewa to make use of the moment. For example, having all of their albums and songs available on itunes, releasing a “Greatest Hits” album along with their old videos, and completing their official website which is “under Construction” would be a good starting point. In the meantime, artists who still believe that they can use songs by African artists without authorization or without crediting them should realize that in this age of the Internet, they will be found out and exposed sooner rather than later...

Andre-Marie Tala Today

Comments

[Dzekashu MacViban]

Very enlightening. It is so annoying that we are exploited time and again and in most cases we are powerless.Nevertheless, we will continue to fight back.

[faison]

We used to sing that song, and pronounced it as "Zankariwa", as boy scouts in the 1960s. Its origins we thought was from the "Royal West African Frontier Force" in WW2 and probably before. At that time, we thought it was a Hausa song, because there were lots of Hausa chaps in the RWAFF and the lyrics of that song do sound vaguely Hausa. Someone familiar with Hausa could confirm.

[faison]

African lawyers in the US should broaden their portfolios to pursuing these kinds of intellectual property lawsuits instead of chicken feed immigration law. The only way to discourage this practice is through punitive multimillion dollar settlements.

When artists like Tim say stuff like: "Tim says he was not really interested in the money and simply wanted to “restore the historical truth [and] let intellectual honesty and intellectual property triumph.”" I think, these guys have no clue how the West, particularly America works. When you play noble like that, they think you are an idiot, and they will rip you off again or rip off the next guy after you.

[Fatou A. Minah]

Africa, constant "donor" to the West.

[On Africa]

Thanks for that Dibussi!
Very thourough and informative! I has picked on the story of the song as chronicled by WFMU radio and made a post about it in Spanish but didn't know about the settlement reached with Zangelewa.
And couldn't agree more with your final points that it's not only about the money and exposure, but about intellectual rights and recognition!

[MacBright]

FIFA should be ashamed to hand-pick an latino-american SHAKIRA with an African BEAT/song ZANGALEWA to come to Africa and make noise. Why not give it to the Zangalewa team to do it them selves.
let Shakira come and pretend - we will listern, just as every western decisions are being honored in Afrca - by African leaders

[Epey]

Oh macbright, stop being xenophobic! During the 1998 world cup in France, the anthem was a song by Youssou N'dour & Axelle Red (belgian) titled “La cour des grands”. I didn't hear complaints that an African had no place singing the WC anthem in a European country.

Shakira has every right to sing the anthem for a "World" / global competition. Our problem is that she must pay royalties. Nothing more. No double standards please!

[Facter]

I downloaded the Tim and Foty tunes from your link in the article. Only $8, very good. These are Very nice tunes, but many of the beats and rhythms borrowed HEAVILY from 1970s American funk and R&B. With a little work, I can even tag them directly to the specific records from which they borrowed. Just listen to "Funky Bafoussam". Back then, it could have caused them a lot of trouble, but for the fact that their audience was a small and mostly in Africa.

What is fair is fair. They borrowed and somebody borrowed from them. All music is derivative; very seldom do we encounter a totally new invention.

[R. Ekosso]

Really, Facter?

Which song does "Funky Bafoussam" borrow from? I think if you're going to make a statement like that, you might as well tell us where the borrowing is. Otherwise it just sounds like pushing back for the sake of pushing back.

[Dr A A Agbormbai]

This is a powerful article that deals with a real problem concerning the exploitation of Cameroonian and African creativity without due credit or reward.

To Westerners, Africans are subhumans who do not deserve to benefit by the works of their intellects. They are slaves whose job is to do free work for Westerners.

As such when they create music, art, or other works of the mind they are merely providing free food for Westerners to use as they like.

If the African has a low self-image today at least 90% of this is due to the West... its perpetual dehumanisation and exploitation of Africans in every domain possible.

From slavery through colonisation to the post-colonial era of racism and double standards, the West has trampled on the African psyche like a man tramples upon sand or mud... objects beneath his consideration!

Africans must fight back, and continue to fight back!

[Dr A A Agbormbai]

"Back to those who believe that the Zangalewa should just enjoy their 15 minutes of fame and shut up..."

These are people who themselves pirate musical productions rather than pay for it. When they hear a good song they think the artist slept overnight and dreamed it up.

They don't know the hard work and commitment that goes into thinking up and creating anything because they have never created anything in their lives.

All they've ever done is consume. It is not surprising for some (even many) Cameroonians to make such comments. They live in a society of consumers. People who consume, consume, and consume yet again. They never think about producing!

[Joan Awung Foretia]

Mola:

Thank you for this great post and public awareness on the plight of our artists. In matters of this nature we have to absolutely be our brothers’ keepers. I am glad that Manu, Tala and the other artists have fought for their rights to recognition and royalties etc. We can’t sit back and watch our art work, music etc. being stolen in broad daylight. Thank God for the internet, artists out there could trace who's stealing from who. We have to hold strongly on to what we have left and fight back to get what is ours.

Your post is worthy of an online campaign to solicit funds for Ngando Picket to go after PUMA. We can’t let him throw his hands in the air; we need to support him knowing full well that if we don’t, PUMA will get away with this exploitation. It is ridiculous for any one to insinuate that our artists should take their fame and run with it (so to speak). They deserve their share of the pie. Western artists can not use their works to make tons of money and refuse them recognition and royalty. PUMA can not use Ngando’s face for free; he needs to be compensated. This is a fight I am very willing to be a part of.

This guy deserves recognition on many levels and a hefty financial compensation for that matter. First, the guy is a breathing work of art; it is not easy for anyone to sit and have their entire body plastered with “God knows what chemicals.” He’s the indomitable Lion’s mascot. Here in the US, the mascots wear a costume but ours is natural; his whole physique is a natural mascot and as the face for the indomitable lions’ fans, the energy he brings in the games is incredible. Although I was told that MTN Cameroon is his current sponsor, I agree with you that these artists deserve recognition for their work, permission to use their work and royalties from proceeds that is accrued from their works.

We have been taken advantage of for far too long. Fighting back is our only resolve at this point. We can certainly find some lawyers to take on this case. It is contemptuous and a violation to have some one’s picture out there on BILLBOARDS without his permission.

Joan Foretia.

[Elton Elis]

I don’t think this is necessarily" undermining African intellectual and artistic rights" as it is undermining artistic rights in general. This sort of thing happens all the time especially now with the ease of access to music worldwide and from different eras. it goes both ways Busta Rhymes has sampled Manu Dibango as the late Kotto Bass sampled Chuck Mangione a US artist. I don’t think Mangione was credited on the Kotto Bass album either, I could be wrong. I think this should be encouraged as long as the original artist is credited. It opens new avenues for music of different culture to be appreciated and that can only be a good thing for both artist and cultures. Bye the way, the worst case of such abuse is the “Lion sleeps tonight” written by Solomon Linda who never got credit for it even as it became on of the most popular songs in this our great country

[Ras Tuge]

Mola Tande,

where can i buy Tim and Foty's CD? Do you know?

Tuge.

[Dibussi]

Hi Ras Tuge,

Do a Google search for "Tim and Forty Greatest Hits" and you will find numerous sites that sell the CDs. However, as someone pointed out on postnewsline, it is cheaper to buy the digital versions on amazon or itunes and then burn them onto a CD.

[Don]

Very enlightening article indeed. Thanks.
It's rather unfortunate that copyright laws are being broken with such disdain and by the very Western world who claim to be head above the rest in civility.
As for those who are trying to put down 'Zangalewa' and Ngando Picket for demanding what is rightfully theirs in terms of royalties etc, shame on you!!!
Please if you can, go to www.songsfromabove.com and listen to a song by Cameroonian brothers for the World Cup. It could be the fans African World Cup song' done by our countrymen. Enjoy it and please spread the word if you like it.

[Ajong Stanislaus]

Hi Folks!
We will remain enslaved 2 the West if we fail 2 assert oueselves when the need arises.
PUMA has a contract with the Indominable Lions which was signed in Y'de.They carryon bsness in Cameroon.
Musicians sell their music allover the world, use the statistics of the sale 4 their popularity , awards & are entitled 2 royalties from the globe.
Plse, any aggrieved Party can sue in cameroon.
I am afraid we might have lost confidence in our system or in our Lawyers.
Dibussi keep up.

[a. hammagaadji]

Thank you so much for this article. Can you please give me permission to add a link to it on my next newsletter? Click the link below to see my latest newsletter which is published weekly. Please reply by e-mail if possible. Thanks.
http://community.icontact.com/p/firstworldmusic/newsletters/weeklynewsletter/posts/first-world-music-newsletter-ali-toumani-layori-rachid-taha

[Dibussi]

Hi a. hammagaadji,

Feel free to link to the article

[Anita Etta]

Great article Dibussi, very informative and thought provoking. As a recording artist, I think it is alright to borrow ideas from whatever source one gets the inspiration from at that time, but they key is that credit must be given where it is due. The source must be acknowledged and should benefit from the proceeds arising from this. My big question is do you know what the Cameroon music association is saying about this, or what role they may have played or not played in assisting with this and other cases in the past? This is just one more reason why we as Cameroonians or Africans need to get better organized in order to minimize the chances of being taken advantage of like this.

[Rachel M]

Great informative and exhaustive article!
Well done on the research and facts. People who say that these artists should simply be happy that their songs were used have never had anything of value stolen from them. This is really a naive view which allows Africa to continue to be looted by the West.

[Dayo Ogunyemi]

As an African who ran an entertainment law practice in NY, I'm very happy to see this detailed and well-reasoned account. I agree completely with you that we really do have to raise awareness within Africa about the value of IP, and remedies that are available to counter culture vultures.

In an article written 7 years ago, I argued that "Africans must lose any naïveté about how IP rights are managed and exploited in developed economies. Historically, African content creators have had a lack of awareness about the international market value of their IP creations as well as the complexities of copyright and contract law that govern their trade. This has meant that more sophisticated international operators have been able to cheaply or surreptitiously acquire and control critical rights in areas as diverse as medicinal formulas and music. Other African IP assets like folklore, traditional medical remedies and traditional symbols and designs are regularly “discovered” by western visitors who then assert that the communities that created these knowledge assets have no property claims to them, only to turn around and introduce them into western markets as proprietary IP assets."

The full article is available at http://musicwars.blogspot.com/2006/02/selling-african-knowledge-developing.html but I really hope that another 7 years from now, we're not preaching the same sermon.

[Azofainfa A.]

I think you want to steal a popular song which has been in the Cameroonian tradition for who know how long and which should stay in the public domain and seal it under your God "The Copyright".
If there has been so many versions of the song is because it was in the public domain and no one has the right to stop anyone from creating a new version.
That's the same reason why Shakira has no right over the song (Except the right over the exact version she made).
Like Wilfrido Vargas said about sueing Shakira: "Why would I sue her about a song which is not mine".

The song is a song of the people, it should stay in the public domain.

The second comment in this post points out that they used to sing the song back in the 60s. Should they sue Golden Sounds? If your argument about Shakira's version was valid, then the answer should be yes!

Besides, I don't think Shakira's song is a plagiarism of Zangalewa. If I didn't know about all this stuff and had listened both songs I wouldn't had been able to find a link between them, aside from the fact that both take the chorus of a popular song and add their own lyrics and music to it. They are two completely different versions.

About the other cases you could be right, to me it looks like that's the case. But if you were a bit honest you should change the title of the post. It sounds like you want to draw attention to yourself and not to the real problem.

[Nina Mayers]

Well said!!! Lets stop the mediocrity and settling for less.

[JP]

Azofainfa writes:

"Besides, I don't think Shakira's song is a plagiarism of Zangalewa. If I didn't know about all this stuff and had listened both songs I wouldn't had been able to find a link between them, aside from the fact that both take the chorus of a popular song and add their own lyrics and music to it. They are two completely different versions."

Well, the first time I heard the very beginning of Shakira's Waka Waka, I knew instantly that it was a remix of the Zangalewa tune. And I was not the only one...

So while it can be argued that the chorus is in the public domain (who made that determination? Cameroonian law or the Western backers of Shakira?) the rest of the song is a Zangalewa creation. Shakira and Sony refused to acknowledge this when the first version of the song called Zaminamina was released. And it was only after the uproar that the Golden Sounds were credited. So however we dice it, Shakira used a Golden Sound beat - again forget about the chorus - and therefore should credit and compensate them.

The bullying of the West has gone on for far too long. It is time for the rest of the World, Africa in particular, to fight back.