Gibo Lantos ‘preys’ on So mone

Musician Gibo Lantos, real name Gift Tchale, has built a reputation for doing covers from his fellow artists.

The Lilongwe-based artist has sampled compositions by artists such as Skeffa Chimoto, gospel music group Great Angels Choir and, recently, he has hogged the limelight with a re-make of Zambian star Yo Maps hit So mone, which features Tay Grin.

Gibo Lantos’ So mone version is titled No Cigarette and in terms of the theme and approach is a complete deviation from the original one. However, the song has gained considerable popularity with its video attracting 43 000 views on YouTube within eight days.

While So mone centred on a love narrative between two former lovers, No Cigarette provides an insight into Gibo Lantos’ strong Rastafarian leanings. The song speaks against ills of smoking cigarettes while exalting the consumption of Indian hemp (chamba) which is considered as a holy leaf among the Rastafari faith.

No Cigarette also wears a strong and distinct dancehall beat as opposed to So mone, which is done in Afro-pop.

In an interview yesterday, Gibo Lantos admitted he has never formally approached any of the artists whose songs he has reworked and he is not sure if the act is a copyright breach because he is not well-versed in copyright laws.

“If I say I am aware of what copyright laws stipulate as regard this, I will be lying. I hardly follow the copyright issues. But if anybody ever came to me to complain that I have injured them in any way, I would stop. No-one has ever come to me so far,” he said.

The artist said his craft has earned him praise and he believes that it allows music lovers to explore other genres.

The 30-year-old artist said: “We have rastas who cannot listen to anything else apart from reggae music. When I sample an Afro song, it gives them an opportunity to peep into the Afro-pop realm. Some even go as far searching for the original version of the song so they can appreciate it as well.”

However, when The Nation approached Tay Grin to ask him about the So mone sampled version, he said he did not know about its existence.

In a separate interview, Great Angels Choir lead singer Ephraim Zonda said their expectation is that Gibo Lantos, as an artist who knows the existence of copyright laws, will approach them to explain his motive behind sampling of the songs.

“If we make the first approach it can be interpreted as if we are being aggressive. As an artist, he was supposed to be the first to come to us and do the right thing. We are surprised that he has never done such a thing,” he said.

Copyright Society of Malawi head of distribution Shadreck Kumitengo said the procedure is that those who feel infringed should approach the body with a formal complaint for them to take action.

He said: “We always wait to be activated into action. We cannot just rush to intervene since we are not sure whether agreements were reached between the artists.”

Kumitengo said it is important for artists to always avoid infringing the moral rights when sampling creative works according to Section 30 of the Copyright Act which talks about changing the meaning of the original song. n