Copyright in art is as illegal as it is criminal. It infringes upon the creator of the work and derives the same of the right to enjoy the fruit of their creativity. Local musicians have long been accused of violating this legislation.
Gospel musician Rudo Nkukupa-Chakwera tells Watipaso Mzungu Jnr why local artists will not stop the malpractice. Expcerts:
First, would you tell me where you have been hiding yourself and what you are doing now?
I should correct you. I’ve not been hiding. I’ve been around and I’m around. It’s just that I’ve not been able to appear to the public; in gospel shows mainly.
As a human being, life has many facets. As a musician, I’m also a wife, mother and an employee. So, makes it hard for me to shelve some of my activities [and appear in gospel shows].
However, as a wife to a pastor, I’m also involved in church activities such as music and youth.
Where do you work?
I’m a personal assistant to the Minister of Gender, Child and Community Development Theresa Gloria Mwale.
You said you’re also involved in music and youth ministry at your church, what does this ministry aim to achieve?
The aim of the ministry is to reach as many young people as possible with the gospel of the Lord through music of their liking. We also aim at nurturing their skills. We do realize that many young people have talents and skills, but lack the capacity and resources to nurture them. I’m basically manning youth talent programmes.
So far, we’ve just finished working on the first youth album in which there are beats such as ragga, hip-hop, techno and others. These are the types of music youths like listening to and we decided to employ them for attracting young adults to God.
Let us get back to the topic of the day. Should people still consider you a musician or write you completely out of the music industry?
No! I’ve so many albums yet to be released. Actually, I’ve not started my music career. When the time comes, I want to become a full-time musician. As we go forward, I want to embrace music as a career because music is part of me. But now, I’ve to work as well as to earn a living. As a human being, I need to balance my means of survival.
When you released your first album in 1999, many people criticized your music because you seemed to have copied wholesale from South African artists. Were these observations fair to you?
Yes, they were! It’s very true that I copied from a South African artist and I will explain why I did that. I was just getting onto the music scene with a white man producer who had problems to come up with music with local touch.
You may also wish to know that my career in music had not developed yet at that time. So as a starter, I needed a reference point for my music. That’s why I fused in different songs to come up with the first album. However, if you listened to the second and third albums, the touch was very different.
But why do Malawian artists copy foreigners’ tunes? Is it lack of creativity or talent or both?
It’s not only Malawians that copy other people’s music. That’s a wrong observation as it is a baseless conclusion. There is no one in the world who can claim to have composed music that is 100 percent original.
Even the renowned musicians, both local and international, do copy tunes from other artists. The problem is that we, as Malawians, have not had an opportunity to establish where our friends outside Malawi are copying their music from. There is no crime in doing so and I find no offence in copyrighting somebody’s tunes in music. Those who were criticizing me for copyright don’t know about music.
So when should people expect your next album on the market?
I have already composed the songs for my fourth album and wish I had released it August. But because of the busy schedules, I won’t be able. However, I’m optimistic that between September and October, the project will be through for public consumption. People should expect much change from me in this album.
Any closing remark?
I think I should tell people that from now onwards, there will be a change to my music. I would like to ask people to support me—for creativity cannot be kept in a box.
END
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