Ghanaian gospel minstrel, Ohemaa Mercy, has asked music producer Kwame Mickey, to lay to rest, the issue regarding Team Eternity Ghana’s use of ‘Defe Defe’ lyrics in their new song.
Speaking to DJ Slim on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM, Ohemma Mercy expressed her doubt about a possible copyright infringement of the case.
“Team Eternity has done well so Kwame Mickey should forgive them. There is no copyright here,” she said.
She further noted that the words used in Team Eternity’s song are general expressions used in the Twi language.
“When you go to our hometown in Kumasi, we say ‘defe defe’ everyday. For ‘monnyae me’, I have even used it in my songs before. So there are some of the words, you might feel they took it but they are words we use,” she noted.
Kwame Mickey, the executive producer for Hallelujah Voices’ ‘Defe Defe’, alleged a few weeks ago that Team Eternity Ghana had infringed on his copyright by using the ‘defe defe’ line for their new hit song.
He wrote: “Who is that Defe Defe singer? If I start right now them go say I am ‘mansonia’. What is the difference between the two songs? Somebody tell her to report and do the needful. That’s all.”
He went ahead to write to Facebook to disable the visibility of Team Eternity’s ‘Defe Defe’ on the view platform until they sorted out copyright issues with him.
This generated debates on social media. While some assert that ‘Defe Defe’ is not an expression created by Hallelujah Voices, for which reason they cannot lay claim to it, others say there are similarities in the lyrics. Hallelujah Voices sing “manhyia Nyame a anka ɔbonsam ayɛ me defe defe,” and Team Eternity sing “manhyia Nyame a anka y’ayɛ me defe defe.”
‘Defe defe’ in Twi, is an adverb used to describe the gravity of an unpleasant situation. Other synonyms for ‘defe defe’ are ‘pasa pasa’, and ‘basa basa’.
Although structurally, the rhythmic patterns and melodic phrases of the two lines are different, Kwame Mickey is making a case for the similarities in the lyrical content.
‘Defe Defe’ song performed by Hallelujah
Voices, was written by Osuani Afrifa and executively produced by Kwame Mickey for Kaakyire Music Productions. It was released in 2004.
Source: myjoyonline.com
