Over the past week, the online communities of India and Singapore have been at each other’s throat.
The causes are, of course, Count on Me, Singapore and its counterpart, We Can Achieve, which is allegedly composed by Joey Mendoza.
The lyrics, musicality and tune of the two songs sound eerily similar.
Since then, things had gotten a lot more hectic.
A Singapore government body got involved, as well as the real composers of both versions.
Joey Mendoza Continues Claims That He Wrote ‘Count on Me, India’ & That Evidence Was Washed Away in a Flood
The real composers of Count on Me, Singapore and We Can Achieve have spoken.
Mr Joey Mendoza from India claims that he had composed We Can Achieve in Apr 1983, and has since provided more context.
He taught it to the children from the Bal Bhavan Orphanage in Mumbai and they performed it a month later during an annual gathering.
He also added that he had travelled around India to teach music and sports to children around the country.
“The children in remote villages all sing We Can Achieve.”
When pressed for evidence, Mr Mendoza says that he’s unable to provide any as all of his cassettes and written documents were washed away in a flood on 26 Jul 2005.
It was added that he sold the song to a Catholic publishing house, Pauline Communications, for 2,000 rupees (~S$37).
Pauline Communications’ Response
In a Facebook post, Pauline Communications stated that they’ve bought the song from Mr Joey Mendoza.
In 1999, Pauline Communications released the track as part of a CD called We Can Achieve – Inspirational Songs for Children and All.
And in 2012, they uploaded it onto Soundcloud in the album We Stand United.
It was added that they were not aware of any copyrights issue and apologised for the inconvenience caused.
Hugh Harrison
Hugh Harrison is the composer of Count on Me, Singapore.
While he does not mind school children taking the song and amending the lyrics to sing it, he draws a line at what Mr Mendoza has done.
“The real problem is that Joey has been commercialising this song, even going so far as selling the rights.
“And worst of all, he makes his audacious acts even more outlandish by claiming that this second of Singapore’s National Day songs was essentially stolen from him and does so in a public forum.”
He had written the song while he was working for the McCann-Erickson advertising agency.
The song was created after months of hard work, with inputs from his colleague, a Singapore government official and arranged by Singapore jazz veteran Jeremy Monteiro.
While he had not received any notification from the Singapore government, he had allegedly written to Mr Mendoza to retract his claims.
The Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth Contacted Joey Mendoza
Previously, MCCY said they’re conducting an investigation into the incident.
In their Facebook post, they provide an update to the situation.
Affirming that the copyright of Count on Me, Singapore is, indeed, Singapore’s, the ministry added that Pauline Communications has “publicly acknowledged” that the India version has “substantially copied” from the Singapore national song.
It has contacted Mr Mendoza to prove his claims and is currently awaiting his reply.
Experts that were spoken to said this is a “clear-cut” case of copyright infringement.
The question is, who copied from who?
However, if Singapore were to sue, it might lead to a deterioration in the relationship between Singapore and India.
According to Lawyer Jeffrey Lim, director of Joyce A Tan & Partners, while Singapore has a “strong legal standpoint” if Count on Me, Singapore is the original, “whether you want to take further steps in that direction is probably a question that’s not legal in nature”.
Feature Image: YouTube & Facebook (Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth – MCCY)
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