Pakistani musician Faisal Kapadia – best known as one half of popular now-defunct band ‘Strings’ – talked about “unparalleled security” in Dubai, as well as plagiarism in the music business in a recent interview with Khaleej Times.
“Dubai is very close to Karachi. It’s like you are living in Lahore or Islamabad,” he said of his recent move to the gulf city.
“All my life I’ve lived in Karachi so it’s a two-hour flight. Additionally, living in Dubai offers unparalleled security, making it a wonderful place to be,” he was further quoted as saying.
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Kapadia spoke about a number of topics, spanning his career as a solo artist and his latest album ‘Zindagi Jahan Le Jaaye’ that was released last month.
Kapadia went on to elaborate how the digital era has contributed to the elimination of borders.
“In today’s digital era, even if you are in the same city, sometimes you don’t meet and get your job done virtually,” he added.
“Back in 2003, Hariharan Sahab contributed his vocals from Mumbai to our track ‘Bolo Bolo’ via a wave file,” he said.
“Two decades later, technology has advanced so much that distance hardly feels like a barrier.”
Kapadia also addressed plagiarism concerns within the industry and again commended the digital era in helping overcome some of these challenges.
Addressing a question regarding Pakistani music being plagiarised without proper consent or acknowledgement, Kapadia said that in the past, there were numerous instances where songs were used without proper attribution.
“However, in today’s digital age, it has become significantly harder to borrow a song without giving credit. Digital platforms such as YouTube employ software to detect borrowed compositions,” he added.
He used the recent success of Coke Studio hit ‘Pasoori’ to demonstrate how it was reproduced across the border, but with the right permissions in place.
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“People are now legally obtaining rights to redo a song,” he said.
“Pasoori from Coke Studio was re-recorded by T-Series, but only after they had acquired the necessary license,” he was quoted as saying in the report.
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