BY FREEMAN MAKOPA
A ZIMBABWEAN music executive based in South Africa, Munya Chanetsa (pictured), who is also the repertoire manager for Africa at Sony/ATV Music Publishing, has come up with the concept of Happy Endings to ensure artistes retire in comfort after a rewarding career in a bid to address the issue of copyright infringement.
Chanetsa told NewsDay Life & Style that he was inspired to do a remake of the late Solomon Linda’s song Mbube after watching a rise in copyright infringement in the industry.
“I came up with the concept of Happy Endings after being inspired from watching the biggest copyright infringement case, which was about South African musician, singer and composer Solomon Linda, while studying at Academy of Sound Engineering. I also watched Netflix’s The Lion’s Share which further motivated me to do the project of remaking the song Mbube 2020 and ensuring that the wrong that was done in the past, is not repeated,” he said.
“Solomon, although he produced quality music, died penniless due to copyright infringement and hence have decided to do a remake of his song, Mbube. The project will not only ensure that the performing artistes in the new version will receive their due, but have intentionally engaged Solomon Linda’s family trust to give them 45% of the new copyright. The other purpose of this project is to heal the industry and educate people to not repeat the mistakes of the past.”
The music executive has roped in top music producers in order to add a new and fresh sound to the remake.
“I got South African DJ/producer Bonginkosi ‘BokkieULT’ Hlongwane, who hails from the south of Gauteng, and SAMA-nominated music producer, mix engineer and club DJ, Cuebur, to add a contemporary and fresh sound to this remake of Mbube,” he said.
Chanetsa said the production also featured the most popular music attractions in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, including the legendary Mahotella Queens Hilda Tloubatla, Nobesuthu Mbadu and Mildred Mangxola.
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“Nobesuthu and Mildred, who are now in retirement, specifically came back together again for this project. After over 50 years in the industry, the Queens are very excited and grateful for this project as they want to see change in the industry,” he said.
Chanetsa has in the past disclosed that his passion was to see creatives in Africa earning significant revenue to make their careers profitable enough not to hold other jobs to sustain their lives and securing deals and collaborations.
Chanetsa was head of operations at Content Connect Africa, a post which entitled him to assume the role of managing director of Content Connect Ghana and Content Connect International. Earlier in his career, he was the Africa head of marketing and promotions for New York-based Putumayo World Music.
The song, scheduled for release today, will be available on all digital music platforms.
