The Charamba’s and the Fishers of Men have broken their silence following the removal of Jah Signal’s two hit songs from YouTube.
Copyright infringement violations led to the removal of Jah Signal’s songs, “Shinga Muroora” (Sweetie) and “Tengai Mafuta,” from YouTube.
In 2018, Jah Signal released “Shinga Muroora,” which was a rendition of the Charamba’s own song, “Kana vanhu vangu,” released in 2001. In 2023, Jah Signal also released “Tengai Mafuta,” which was a remix of the song “Tengai Mafuta” by Mai Charamba.
The Charamba’s and the Fishers of Men did not approve the release of both songs.
Taking to their Facebook account, the Charamba’s issued a statement to address and clarify the copyright infringement situation with Jah Signal.
In the statement, the Charamba’s emphasized that they had no intention of filing a copyright infringement claim or requesting the removal of Jah Signal’s song “Shinga Muroora” from YouTube.
“We had no plans to act after six (6) years. A few months ago, (September
2023), Jah Signal released another song called “Tengai Mafuta”. The song is a remix of “Tengai Mafuta” by Mai Charamba. Just like “Shinga Muroora”, it’s about romantic overtones.
They stated that they had spared Jah Signal’s hit song “Shinga Muroora-Sweetie” from being removed from YouTube due to the number of views it had amassed.
However, upon observing Jah Signal’s repeated copyright violation through the remix of Mai Charamba’s gospel song “Tengai Mafuta,” they decided to take action and file a violation claim
“Though we had been doing the clean-up on our music for the past three years, we had spared “Shinga Muroora “on the basis that it had made too many views. The further infringement on “Tengai Mafuta” prompted us to act on both songs and other “infringing songs” which had been spared for a long time.”
The Charamba’s emphasized that Jah Signal did not seek consent or approval for both songs before he released them.
“No consent was sought, no consent was granted and for us this was a very clear infringement of copyright laws. For both songs, he did not acknowledge the original composer which is the norm. There’s also a breach of moral rights.”
The Charamba’s expressed their displeasure with Jah Signal’s copyright violations. Despite this, they clarified that they have no interest in claiming a share of royalties or damages from him. Additionally, they revealed that they do not intend to pursue legal action, considering him as one of their own.
We were naturally not pleased, but chose not to raise issue with this. We accepted the reality and moved on. We did not even wish to get any payment for this. This remains our position to date, we do not want any share of royalties or damages. We also communicated to ZIMURA that we were not interested with sharing monies with the artist. Furthermore, have no desire to sue Jah Signal, he’s our son, just like many other young artists.
Despite the fallout, the Charamba’s conveyed well wishes to Jah Signal. Additionally, they disclosed ongoing efforts to prevent his YouTube channel from receiving a third strike and being shut down. This comes after they noticed that his channel still has the infringed songs.
As elders we wish Jah Signal well in his life and in his career. We have no desire to see him fail. We have never declined engagement with him. We are currently making efforts to avoid a third strike even afters we noticed his channel still has the infringed songs. We are keen to communicate or engage him so that we can together protect his channel from being closed.
In response to criticism and condemnation from those who questioned their decision to file a violation claim, resulting in the removal of Jah Signal’s songs from YouTube, the Charamba’s asserted that they are the victims of copyright infringement.
We have not been cruel to Jah Signal. We have actually been victim to copyright infringement. As mentioned, we are working to avoid another pending strike which may cause his channel to be deleted.
Here is the statement in it’s entirety
Source iHarare
