I was sued for sampling “Ɛfa wo ho bɛn” song, says EL
EL reveals that he was sued four years ago for sampling “Ɛfa wo ho bɛn” by the Amazing Chorale
The award-winning Ghanaian artist EL has revealed that he was sued a few years ago by Amazing Chorale, a gospel choral music group, for copyright infringement.
Speaking with Caroline Sampson on Asaase Café 995 on Thursday (20 April), the rapper said, “But I have been sued before, so I know what it feels like, and I don’t want anybody to have to go through that.
“People sample my songs every time; I don’t enter their in-box,” he said.
“Ɛfa wo ho bɛn” was recorded by TV3 during their performance at the station’s gospel music contest, Celebrations, in 2015.
The “KOKO” hitmaker said, “I got sued for ‘Ɛfa wo ho bɛn’, and that was four years ago. I was in my corner one day, and I got served.
“So we went through a whole back-and-forth process, and I had to pay an amount of money,” he said.
He explained that it was a song his producer sampled and sent to him; he did not know where it came from.
“We even dropped the song and shot a video, and we were enjoying the song not knowing I was about to get served.”
Paid up
In an interview, the composer of the song – Asare Bediako from Toronto, Canada – remonstrated that EL did not seek permission from either him or Amazing Chorale.
“First, we tried to beg them to drop the suit, but what they wanted was the money, so we had to pay,” EL said. “They were threatening me with court matters, and I also don’t like court matters, so I quickly had to give them the money they wanted.
“It taught me to be really careful about what I put in my song. I always have to scrutinise and find out every piece of information first,” EL said.
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