It has now emerged that the legal teams of both presidential aspirant Raila Odinga and high-flying Kenyan boy band Sauti Sol are in talks to resolve the much publicized disagreement over alleged copyright infringement.
This is according to Sauti Sol’s lawyer Moriasi Omambia, who said the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition party chief’s team was dedicated to putting the matter to an amicable rest.
“I would like to confirm that the Raila Odinga Presidential Campaign and their lawyers are working with us, the @sautisol legal team, to resolve the infringement matter at hand. We acknowledge their willingness to quickly resolve the matter at hand,” wrote Moriasi on Twitter
Moriasi Omambia@moriasi_oI would like to confirm that the Raila Odinga Presidential Campaign and their lawyers are working with us, the @sautisol legal team, to resolve the infringement matter at hand. We acknowledge their willingness to quickly resolve the matter at hand.10:00 AM · May 20, 2022302Reply
The battle lines were drawn after Sauti Sol threatened legal action against Azimio over the usage of its ‘Extravaganza’ hit song in a video unveiling Odinga’s presidential running mate, Martha Karua, on Monday.
The band said the political outfit’s actions amounted to copyright infringement, adding that it had not agreed to any association with Azimio’s campaigns.
“This action is a flagrant disregard of our basic and fundamental rights to property and freedom of association. Through their action they have taken away the right to own and control what is originally and solely our property,” Sauti Sol said in a statement then.
“We are not aligned to nor associated with the Azimio La Umoja Campaign or any other Political Movement…We are fully apolitical.”
However, Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party, in mitigation, said using the song was just but “a show of love for their work” and a gesture of admiration for the celebrated group.
“We would like to assure our celebrated musical team Sauti Sol that we love them and appreciate their music so much. The group has carried our country’s flag so high in international fora & every Kenyan appreciates this. Playing their song yesterday was a show of love for their work,” ODM wrote.
The matter has since caused a bit of confusion online, with the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) and the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) both issuing contradictory statements as far as what permits and licences were required of Azimio in order to use the song, or not.
