Since its launch on December 23, the song "Al-Ghazala Raika" has achieved more than 47 million views within 3 weeks, as well as being in the top five positions on YouTube's list of the most popular music videos, and is still gaining more views on YouTube.
But during these 18 days, a number of social media users accused the composer Ehab Abdel Wahed of stealing the tune from a song released in 2019 by Russian singers Alex and Ross.
These accusations, which Abdul Wahed replied in the negative.
melody theft
"Al-Ghazala Ra'ika" is not the first song accused of artistic theft, as it pursued accusations of theft, quotation and resemblance to many Arabic melodies, but what is musical theft?
What is the difference between it and the melodic quotation?
Stealing musical sentences is different from quoting and redistributing them.
The citation status appears in the melody of the song “The Coupable” by the French singer Jean-François Michel, who adapted the melody in 1973 from the song “Habeitak Bissaif” by the Rahbani brothers after it was sung by Fairuz in 1971 in the play “Yish Ya’ish”.
As for theft of melodies, it is by adopting the musical rhythm used in a song without referring to or mentioning the owner of the work.
The musical phrases are often repeated in cases of theft, with minor changes and an arrangement that attempts to cover the original melody.
According to the criterion set by the Musicians’ Association for estimating theft cases, proof of theft was considered after transferring 4 complete instruments (the mazura is the musical sentence).
Arab and foreign artists copied entire melodies or musical clips, without reference or reference to the original work, and the following are some of the famous musical works stolen from other works in the Arab world.
Composed by Amr Mostafa
Contemporary Egyptian composer Amr Mostafa has never acknowledged his clear quotes throughout his artistic career, and no one searches for the source of these melodies except for some vigilant followers, despite the quotes he made to the point of complete transmission of famous Western and international tunes.
Mustafa presented many successful songs that achieved great fame throughout his artistic career, but he set a record for quoting tunes. He presented the melody of the song “Sahruni Al-Layl” by the Lebanese singer Ragheb Alama in 2001, but it is the same tune as the song “Army Al-Mandeel” sung by Mustafa. Moon in 1994.
He also presented Samira Said with the melody of the song "All the Times", which was adapted from the preface from Jessica Simpson's song "Irresistible", as well as the song "Alamouni Einik" by Egyptian singer Mohamed Mounir.
The accusations of melodic theft also pursued the composer Mustafa in his most famous song recently, "Bishrah Khair" by Hussein Al Jasmi, which some saw as being completely extracted from an Indian song called "Mundian To Bach Ke" or "Beware of Youth" by the British singer of Indian origin "Punjabi MC". ".
Diab's stolen melodies
Mostafa also quoted a number of tunes that he presented to Amr Diab, the most famous of which is the melody of the song “Sadakni Khalas” which was taken from the famous West Life song “My Love”, as well as the musical introduction to the song “Ya Habibi La” from the musical introduction to Craig’s song “7 Days”. David, and "D Tonight" from Michel Buble's "Sway".
The stolen melodies that Diab sang were not limited to Western music only, but also extended to Arab music, when he quoted Ziad Rahbani's melody for Fairuz in the song "They asked me the people" with a simple acceleration and adding some rhythms in the distribution to produce the melody "Inta Ma Qelch Leh", which he presented in 2003 .
Dig into old songs
In the song "Willy Ya Hawa" by Nawal Al Zoghbi, the composer Mohamed Rahim as well as the distributor Hamid Al Shaeri used a complete musical phrase stolen from the introduction to the melody of the song "Helwa Ya Baladi" by singer Dalida, which she sang for the first time in 1979, before the melody was clearly reproduced in the Zoghbi song Released in 2002 on the album "I wish you".
For the second time, Rahim and Al-Shaeri are involved in another musical theft, but with singer Sherine Wagdy and the prelude to her song "Talaf Li" issued in 2011, but this time with the theft of the introduction to the poem "Qari'at al-Fanjan" by singer Abdel Halim Hafez, composed in 1960 by Mohamed El Mougy.
For the third time, the composer Rahim was involved in a musical theft, but with another tune by the Lebanese singer Myriam Fares and the song “Shou Hob” in 2012, but what is remarkable is that the stolen tune is relatively new, and it is the tune of the song “Bil Qalb Khalini” by the Lebanese composer Jean-Marie Riachi, released in 2006 in the album “I retired.” Love" by Majida El Roumi.
International songs steal from Arabic
The position of Arab music was not always the place of the thief, as some Arabic melodies were stolen to put musical phrases from them in international songs that achieved great success.
Among the most prominent tunes stolen from Arab songs, we can note the melody of the song "Papi" by Jennifer Lopez, released in 2011, which stole the tune of the song "Keda Reda" by singer Hisham Abbas, which was a great success in conjunction with the release of the film of the same name in 2007.
The song of the American rapper “Jay Z” was similar in a distinctive musical sentence with the melodies and arrangement of the Egyptian musician and composer Baligh Hamdi, to put it in a repetitive rhythmic sentence in his song “Big Pimpin” as it is taken from the song “Losaa” by Abdel Halim Hafez from the movie “ My Dream Boy” 1957, and after the song was produced, Hamdi’s heirs tried to sue “Jay Z,” who said that he listened to this piece through an unknown disc and thought it was public property, and tried to settle the matter by paying $100,000 to the company producing the film and the Egyptian composer’s heirs.