MC Villa Convicted of Piracy
Urban grooves artiste Tendai Murukutira, better known as MC Villa, is doing 105 hours of community service at St Peter’s Catholic Church primary and secondary school in Mbare after being convicted of pirating Alick Macheso’s new album, Ndezvashe-eh.
According to Section 2(a) of Chapter 26:01 of the Copyrights and Patents Act, it is an offence for any person to sell, let hire, trade or distribute any article to such an extent that prejudices the owner of the copyright in question. Strangely, though, MC Villa has labelled Macheso “big-headed” for getting him arrested and has threatened that the sungura maestro has started a “war he cannot win”.
The 24-year-old rapper, who came into the spotlight with the hit single, Unodzoka Here? in 2004, was arrested early this month at his house in Mbare after Macheso’s band member, Zacharia Zakaria, along with an unnamed member of Orchestra Mberikwazvo, reported the matter to the police.
He spent three days in police custody at Harare Central Police Station before appearing at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts where he was convicted on his own plea of guilt. MC Villa, who is expected to finish his community service on November 18, also admitted to the crime in an exclusive interview with city.com this week. “Zacharia Zakaria came with two detectives from the CID who arrested me for possessing Macheso’s new album before it was released. They pretended they wanted me to make some copies of the album, and arrested me as soon as I agreed to their request.
“I spent three nights in police custody and pleaded guilty to the charges when I appeared in court. That is why I am doing community service here,” MC Villa said. According to Macheso’s manager, William Tsandukwa, MC Villa produced hundreds of pirated copies of Alick Macheso’s new album that were being sold countrywide. “We first arrested a guy who was selling DVDs and CDs of Ndezvashe-eh in Chitungwiza before the album was released. The guy said he had bought them from MC Villa and we then set a trap for him.
“We sent two band members in the company of two detectives to MC Villa’s residence. They made an order of several DVDs and CDs and MC Villa was subsequently arrested,” Tsandukwa said.
But MC Villa was unrepentant and felt hard done by Macheso’s decision to have him arrested. “Macheso munhu mukuru, anga asingafanire kudaro. Is he the only one whose music is being pirated?
“Madhara chaiwo vanaTuku vakanyarara saka iye ndiye anogona kusungisa mamwe maartiste (Legendary artistes like Oliver Mtukudzi’s music is also being pirated but they are turning a blind eye to it)?” If he has failed to make the grade in music, Tsandukwa said, MC Villa should try something else other than pirating music by other artistes whose work is popular. “He has failed in music but then he should not earn money at the expense of other artistes. There are better things to do apart from music piracy,” he said. MC Villa, however, said Macheso had started a battle he will not win.
“Well, what I did was wrong but I think Macheso overreacted. It seems he is growing big-headed such that he feels he is the godfather of Zimbabwean music. “I have since renamed my third album that I am going to release in December - Handidi Madhuve Wako - in what appears to be a case of sour grapes
“The album consists of six urban grooves tracks and one sungura song that happens to be the title track. I teamed up with four other urban groovers and in this song, I am trying to denounce the song that he thinks is the best at the moment. Not everyone is crazy about his music,” MC Villa added.
[Via The Herald]
