Musicians fight over ‘Munotidako’

By Tawanda Marwizi

A dispute has erupted between Mutare-based musician Brian Samaita and Jacob Moyana over the song “Munotidako”. Samaita claimed he recorded the song last year in April though his album “Murodzi Wepfungwa” was released early this year while Moyana’s song hogged the limelight late last year.

Samaita suspects Moyana heard his “cleaner” version of the song and capitalised on the word “munotidako” to come up with a controversial song.

“I recorded the song before Moyana and because of mischief he decided to adjust the lyrics to give emphasis on some phrases which led people to conclude it is vulgar. I think he deliberately went on to play around with the phrases because of their multiple meanings. It sounds vulgar because of the emphasis he puts on some words. My song does not sound vulgar because I had no sinister intentions when I did it,” said Samaita.

He said he would be approaching Zimbabwe Music Rights Association with a complaint over the issue.

“I am going to Zimura with the issue because it becomes a problem when a mischievous someone twists a song to make it dirty,” he said.

However Moyana denied copying Samaita and counter-accused him of copyright infringement.

“Who is Samaita and is there anyone who blocked him from playing his song? Where is the problem here. I think he is the one who took the song from me,” said Moyana.

Moyana said he got the song through a dream.

The controversial song put Moyana on limelight and he relocated from Beitbridge to Harare to start live performances. The Herald