by jorge » Tue Feb 23, 2010 3:34 pm
Leedy2, I agree completely with what you are saying about groups ripping off songs from others and making hits. This kind of injustice happens all the time, from folk blues to rock & roll, and from rumba to salsa. The original creators of rumbas like Gonzalo Ascencio "Tio Ton", and many even less widely known, often got zero credit and zero royalties, while the salsa bands that sold thousands of records at least got paid something. It is often the Cuban rumberos getting ripped off because they have no international lawyers who can defend them in lawsuits outside of Cuba.
That said, "A Nueva York" by Justi Barretto is a completely different song from "Un Verano en Nueva York" by EGC. I think Justi Barretto was a great rumbero and rumba composer, but I don't understand how a court of law could have established his claim that Un Verano en Nueva York was the same song as A Nueva York. I have to listen to it again, it has been a few years, EGC may have used a few of the lyrics, but one of their styles is to make jokes in their songs responding to other bands' songs. For example, after Ruben Blades' "El Telefono" about a groupie stalking him by phone, EGC came out with a song that starts with the phone ringing just like Ruben's song, then "... con quien? con Ruben??? No. Esto no es Ruben, es El Gran Combo". Cracked me up when I first heard it, and definitely not a ripoff of Ruben's song. Using religious rhythms and songs in popular music happens all the time also, although religious songs are generally public domain and there is no copyright involved. You are probably right that the song on the YouTube video, supposedly to Eleggua, sounds like a bomba recorded in the 1950s by Canario. Lots of bombas and rumbas use bits and pieces of religious rhythms and songs and change the words, and it would not surprise me at all if Canario based the melody of his song on a song to Eleggua. Olofi, Eleggua, Chango & crew have a less possessive approach to digital rights management and copyright issues than the commercial music business and besides, Eleggua is older than Canario, so it is unlikely that the Yoruba religion stole the melody from Canario's bomba in the 1950s.