Helmut Lotti stole South African songs
A Belgian court has ruled that star singer Helmut Lotti stole South African songs according to reports in The Sunday Times. Experts appointed by the court found that he infringed copyright on two songs - 'The Click Song' and 'Tula Tula' on his Out Of Africa album four years ago.

The court action was instituted by Gallo Music Publishers, saying that they represent the original owners of the songs: Joe Magotsi and Bertha Egnos way back in 2001 at a Pretoria court. Lotti and his crew (arranger Wim Bohets and album producer and publisher Piet Roelen) though went to a Belgian court with a counter claim stating that the songs were 'traditional' and in the public domain - therefore they felt they didn't infringe upon any copyright.

One of the experts appointed by the court - International Library of African Music at Rhodes University, Professor Andrew Tracey found that Gallo had a legit claim. 'Lotti used material which infringed on Gallo's copyright without obtaining the necessary permission. While some songs may have originally been in the public domain, Lotti took his material from copyright arrangements of these songs.'

Clearly disappointed Roelen responded thus; 'If a mistake has been made, it was made by me,' the producer said, exonerating Lotti and Bohets in any shenanigans.

Gallo's managing director Geoff Paynter was ecstatic at the court ruling. 'Foreigners visited this country and plundered our intellectual property and folklore with impunity,' he explained. 'This flies wholly in the face of the minister of Arts and Culture and the government's position on protecting and safeguarding our culture and folklore,' Payter continued.

This decision will hopefully stem the tide where artist rights are trampled upon and we have to hope that the lessons learnt at Moshito 05 are implemented. – Channel O