The Sunday News
Thobekisiwe Gumede Sunday Leisure Reporter
ONE of Bulawayo’s finest producers, Mncedisi Ndlovu, affectionately known as DJ Cooper Man, who has worked with renowned artistes in South Africa such as DJ Clock, Q-ness, Reloaded, DJ Bhekzin and Groova Lounge, has been accused of stealing songs by Thokozani Hlabangana of Defined House Records.
Cooper Man is said to have stolen a Shona song titled Shanda, which was sung by up and coming songstress Ivy Dutiro who was once under the Defined House Record label.
In an interview with Sunday Leisure, Dutiro said Defined House did not have any rights over the song.
“I recorded Shanda with Defined House two years back when I was 16, so what happened is I could not sign any contract with them then because I was young. Then last year I had a big fight with Thokozani because he said I could not follow what he wanted, which I did not understand because he was saying that I should not sign contracts with any recording company as if he owned me.
“If I was on a payroll it was going to be better but I was not. He even said it was the last time I talked to him,” said Dutiro.
Dutiro said she approached Bulawayo Knights Records because Defined House had failed to release her song something that she did not like.
“It’s funny how he now claims that the song is his because there is no binding contract to say that the song belongs to the recording company really,” she said.
However, Cooper Man denied the accusations.
“I did not steal his songs. Thokozani has been calling me and accusing me of stealing his songs and that I was killing their brand. I don’t know what this guy is talking about really.
“When he continued with his accusations I even called Dj Gibson from Zi FM radio and told him to stop playing the song but he refused because people liked it.
“Ezra Tshisa also called asking me about the same song and I told him my side of the story of which he saw it fair to let the song play on radio because it’s not Defined House’s property.
“What I know is that I recorded, released and published the song, not steal it,” said Cooper Man.
What is of interest, however, is that this is not the first time DJ Cooper Man has been accused of stealing songs from Defined House.
In July Qeqeshiwe Mntambo also a member of Defined House did a song Phumakimi with Defined House, which again was said to had been stolen by Cooper Man after it had hit the top charts on radio although he insists that the version of the song was theirs.
Defined House posted on Bulawayo Knights facebook page saying, “Please note that Phuma Kimi is a Defined House track not a Bulawayo Knights track. We invest so much time and effort in our projects and we do not appreciate people who want to make a name for themselves off other artistes’ hard work.
We are professionals and we’d really appreciate it if people treated us with uttermost respect. We should be working together as Bulawayo artistes to help uplift the music industry and not try to profiteer off other artists’ work. Such perpetrators of this kind of misdemeanor will be dealt with accordingly.”
Cooper Man, however, said Thokozani brought the song for mixing and mastering.
“After some time there are guys that I met at Horizon and I sold them the vocals that I had done because I did not see any problem with that since Defined House had rejected the song.
“Unfortunately I do not know how the track got on air and I was accused of stealing the song. I made it clear to them that I would never steal anyone’s song and to make matters worse, the song was said to have been done by Bulawayo Knights featuring Qeqeshiwe.When I do my songs I do them under my name not the company name,” he said.
Commenting in line with what Cooper Man had to say, Thokozani said it was unprofessional for artistes to be two timing.
“Cooper Man is a liar and an opportunist; he does not respect other people’s works. The two tracks belong to Defined House, no one in their right senses would record their song with two record companies it’s so unethical.
“What surprises me is the fight that Ivy mentions yet we have been working together for some time. We recorded a single titled Matinetsa with her last month I am sure the young lady is confused.
“People in Bulawayo should understand the music industry and how it operates really,” he said.
