http://news.yahoo.com/abducted-tanzanian-albino-boy-found-dead-limbs-severed-163351079.html

I heard about this in connection with Burundi, I didn't know it is also a practice in Tanzania.

But actually it is not their money. You talk about this copyright thing as a rule of nature. As if it would be a rule of the universe that if you write a song, it must have a copyright attached to it. Artists can get revenue because somebody once came up with the idea of creating a law for copyright. But it is just and idea, and not a rule of nature. As you can see from the evolution of classical music, having no copyrights can be just as normal as not having it. Songs are not intellectual property because nature made it to be like that, but because some people came up with the idea  that they should be intellectual property. You can accept it or not. Personally I don't accept it. The fact that some thinks it is an intellectual property doesn't mean it have to be that every way. And!!! It doesn't mean that they serve the art the best this way. Read this article, it also says copyrights are actually limiting creativity. It is not only me who is talking about such things:

http://theconversation.com/why-cash-and-copyright-are-bad-news-for-creativity-34696

Copyrights are for the sake of the author, having no copyrights are for the sake of the fans. The balance should be found between the two because else it can become a culture killer.

In this particular case that Tata Nkiadi mentioned, I even find it unetchical that copyright should be paid to the family of Tabu Ley and Franco. They didn't write any song, these are the songs of Franco and Tabu Ley. They lived a life and had time to collect money to raise a family. The decendats should secure their wealth alone, not buy living on the success of their ancestor for ages. It is unethical towards fans, and you cannot exclude his fact because without fans those two guys would be nowehere. And this it something that is a rule of nature. No fans, no art. Copyright is an idea, but this, it is a rock solid rule. And this should be respected.

Moreover, in the recent state Congolese music is in, when sombody sings songs by Tabu Ley and Franco, we should consider it a blessing. Who cares if they pay copyright for those songs or not? We should be happy that these artists and their fans feel desire for hearing those songs, and not turning on MTV instead to feed themselves with foreign music. If we were in the 70's in the booming economical cicrumstance of Zaire, and you would worry about copyrights, I would say, okay. But when Congolese music is in decline (not congolese artists, but the congolese character), if you feel desire to preserve in congolese music what makes it congolese, you should place emphasis on encouraging people to look for the congolese caracter in music rather than threatening them away from it. Insisting on copyrights in the recent economical state of the congolese society and the recent trends in congolese music is rather a threatening factor than encouragement.

Bencuri, you can't use someone else's material that is copyrighted without their permission or atleast paying some type of payment to that person.Wheter  its products, clothes, CDs etc. people don't won't other people to gain money and credit on their work. American artists sometimes use the same extract lyrics it beats in their music but will change it around so they won't get hit with lawsuits. And there has been good Congolese albums in the last 10 years.

If you write a song and become famous with it, and then years after someone takes this song and reuses it and becomes famous with it too, not by claiming it as his own song, but just by playing it, copyrights shouldn't be claimed, or only to a limited extent. When you write song and someone uses it and he becomes famous by it but you remain unknown, in that case copyright should be claimed.

Music and songs are not physical objects like meat. You cannot sell it by pound. Things like pirate copying and reuse appear because in some aspect they are normal human needs. And lawmakers should consider the circumstances when copyright Claims should be overlooked, even if there is pirate copying or reuse. If you copy a CD and give the copy to a friend who is interested in that music but has no money to buy every single album from the shop, it is normal. Even if lawmakes try to blame it. It is as normal as when you have a grilfriend and you feel the need to make love with her. When pirate copying reaches an unethical extent, that is another story. For example you want to make a business by pirate copying. That should be sanctioned. The problem with the average copyright law is that it sanctions things that are normal human needs that shouldn't be blamed. It is a normal human need to ask for a song in a concert to be played, even if the song was not written by the artist who is performing at that particular concert. However, recently this is also illegal. But, such needs are what keep a culture alive. If you don't make exceptions in these cases regarding copyrights, you fill the pockets of individuals, but you kill the culture.

Anyway, such ideas that are expressed by me are not unfamiliar in business. In fashion industry, it is a general practice to limit the number of patents. Yet, what you can see the fashion industry is not starving. Because this practice helps to fuel inspiration and creativity. That's why I am saying all the time loosening on copyrights on song reuse could help Congolese music return to its roots and have foreign music gain less impact on it. And the money that would go missing by this from the pockets of the artists should be provided by the government in forms of prizes and support instead. This should be the role of the culural minister to provide a background for it and organize this, and not that he is monitoring all the time whether copyrights are violated or not.

And I don't deny there were albums in the last decade that had got some memorable highlights, but I don't think their level compares to Kalayi Boeing by Wenge, Trop Cest Trop by Extra Musica, Avis de Recherche by Zaiko or Fiesta D'or by Aurlus Mabele. To my mind during the last decade Congolese releases improved only in one aspect: incorporating more foreign elements than before. For me these are not good news.

Dany wrote this song recently, it was available on his Facebook profile, thought not the final version. I cannot find it again, maybe he removed it for copyright issues. Did you see it somewhere else where I could listen to it? It was a pretty good track, but I cannot find it anywhere.

I need to update our advertisements. Please mention the new records that you were talking about lately, so I can add the newest ones. With Artist name and Title. Thanx! 

You should separate the music and the personality of those who write the lyrics. And also you should consider the history of christian religious and european secular music to understand the behavior of some christian people condemning secular music.

If you look around among tribal and court musics of various cultures in the world, you can find the secular and religious music, and also the everyday and court music does not differ so much. In Europe both does. And this is because of the unnatural and false behavior of the christian chruch in the middle ages. In Europe, about 1500 years ago, or even before, music was tribal or court music, but not christian cout music. When the christian church started to dominate the cultural scene due to its alliance with kings and emperors, they exterminated tribal and non christian court musics, banning anyhing from the church but their own creation. They came up with ideas and determined what a 'clean' music must sound, that lacks anything evil. They determined that music that god prefers has to be monophonic!!!  So accoarding to this, almost all African music, also African tribal music and even recent religious christian music should be considered evil!  I guess you see this way of condeming secular music by the christian church is quite silly. So back to history, in the earily middle ages they exterminated everything from the high-class music other than monophonic. Poliphony was associated with barbars. It all changed when the plague reached Europe. In the 1300's the plague killed millions in Europe, and people saw the chruch could do nothing, and the power of the church weakened. People didn't have the trust in the church as before, and this made it available for the rennaisance to come. Along with this people started to turn back to poliphony again, and secular music started dominating the scene again, and in the forthcoming centuries the chruch tried to keep up with this change, but even today, in Europe at least, they are still in lag. And this causes that many youths simply don't care about the christian church, find it ridiculous and old fashioned. The christian church is struggling because of the mistakes it has done in the middle ages, like: forcing its artificial monophonic music on people by the idea of creating a 'clean' culture, killing many innocent people through inquisition, burning them on fire alive, even scientists like Giordano Bruno (Galilei almost became their victim as well), leading war in the name of Jesus, etc... These are historical facts, that you can read about in history books. The christian chruch did several things that the bible itself forbids. So when you hear priests condemning secular music, think about that the christian church in Europe has a dark and evil past. The institue that says Congolese music is evil, behaved like evil, too. This shows the level of their credibility. And this way you will see their opinion is fake. That's why many people in Europe considers the church leaders: priests, etc. a joke, clowns. Please remember however I am talking about the church as an institute, and not the bible and the christian religion. When you want to evaluate the opinion of priests, you have to separate the bible and the church as an institute. The two is not the same, and histoy has the evidence for it. So if some of you is faithful christian, don't consider my opinion an attack against the bible, I am talking about the institute, the christian church, and not the bible.

Secondly, the modern Congolese music is no different than it was 100 years ago considering its essentials. If you listen to field recordings of Hugh Tracey who recorded many tribal songs in the copperbelt in Katanga, you will hear the tunes are very similar to sebene tunes of today. Also if you listen to the tribal songs composed 50 years ago for guitar, the melody is also very similar to sebene tunes. Most of these old tunes has no arrogant lyrics. So if this music could serve a positive purpose once, why should it be considered evil, when some people today use it to express their arrogance? Arrgonat lyrics nowdays has to be considered the problem of the artist. The music is a different thing. It has no relation to whom uses it, this long history of Congolese music is the proof for that. The essence of this music remained unchanged along the decades, and it depends on the artist if he uses it for good or bad. Congolese music is a unique idea, that you can use either this or that way.

And a real life proof about that Congolese music is not evil: I have a friend who had serious mental problems because of the behavior of his parents. He got into hospital, too. He was mentally ill for 4 years. Doctors couldn't help him. They could make his state better but couldn't reach the level that he was in before his depression. One day I switched on some Congolese music on the HiFi of the car while we were travelling somewhere together, and by the end of the day he got cured! In a day, this music made a totally different man from him, something doctors couldn't achieve during 4 years. So when you want to decide if Congolese music is good or bad, think about my story. And this is a true story, my friend himself can testify it, also those friends of us who saw the change of this guy with me.

I don't know the background why that pastor did this, however hearing such news as a European, I have to say it is something favourable. In Europe, there is a big gap between religious and non-religious music, and it is a serious problem. It is a historical heritage, a big burden on European culture, and a disadvantage. It is something artificial, and not natural. Pastors here now try to incorporate pop styles into the religious music to overcome this problem, but it is still not enough to satisfy people as much as real pop music. As if the methods of the chruch were still in decades or even centuries of lag. Because of this, a religious ceremony seems more just a play than a revelation, something that is very far from the people's mind. I am talking about white man's ceremonies now, let me emphasize.

So I think what this African pastor did is somehow a normal approach and this is what can bring religion closer to everyday people. Maybe he did it for some crazy purpose, or he went further than needed, but yet this act could be a good example to the pastors here where I live.

Good news that people are rising and let their power be seen. However the problem is: this alone won't bring a change finally. It is a neccessary first step, but not enough, even if they mange to oust Kabila. No matter who gets into power, one man won't bring a change. Bacause until Congolese people doesn't know how to administer and manage a country properly, no matter who is in the leader's chair, the situation in the country won't be better. Until mismanagement characterizes the country leadership,  there is no hope for the change in the life circumstance of people.

Unfortunately this is a heritage of the colonial era. The result of the way the belgians governed. Though the majority of the population was black, a small group of belgians could keep them under their rule because only they knew how to administer and manage the life and economy of a modern country. They kept those key administrational positions for themselves, this was the key to their power. Finally the people rise up, they left, and all their propety landed in the hands of Africans, especially after the Zairization. But did it bring a change? No. Rather a decline. Now the situation is worse than it was 50 years ago. And this is because though they handed over what they created to Congolese people, they didn't teach them how to "use those" things. The class of the society that was in charge to administer and manage that "property" went missing when they left the country after the independence, and this gap is still unfilled even today.  As if the driver left a train in motion and all the passengers were travelling on a vehicle they cannot control, because they weren't taught how to drive the train, they were only taught how to travel on it.

What Congolese do as management and administration can only be considered an "improvization" at best, but it is by far not a proper knowledge. And until the people of Congo don't make efforts to train a bunch of people on foreign universities for proper administration, the country won't recover from its ruins. It is not enough that there are businessman, that is only for the economy. People need to be trained for other segments of country management, too. This is how its done in Europe, and if Congo wants a better future, this is how it must happen there. Until then, no matter who is the president, if his staff mismanages things, nothing will change. This caused the decline of Zaire and this will prevent the developement in the future too. If people in Congo don't try to make efforts to change this situation, they will always be running after the modern countires of Europe, but will never reach that social wealth and satisfaction, no matter what minerals are in the soil of the country. Minerals guarantee only money, but not knowledge for proper management. Without that, the money is just flowing away.