Another plagiarism case!

Actually, it all started when I started listening to this old 70s Malay song, "Bum Pam Bum Pam Parara" over the radio. A song that some students used to sing in school with altered lyrics - goncang, goncang parara..-mocking a burly guy named Guan Chiang!
Then I discovered via You Tube that that song was initially sang in Greek by a Ari San in the 60s. Then there was a Hindi song with that same tune.

Aris San

A Greek (non-Jewish) singer who arrived in Israel as a young man in 1957 and within five years became a megastar, club owner, close friend of IDF commanders and politicians, and lover of countless movie actresses and singers. In Israelof the 1960s, everyone was singing Aris’s hits “Sigal” and “Boom pam” and the gossip columns were full of his forbidden love affair with singer Aliza Azikri. For his fans, Aris was the perfect combination of east and west. Then began the rumors that Aris was a spy, and stories of violence between him and Aliza. Aris left Israel and set out to conquer America. He opened a hot nightclub in New York where Hollywood stars, politicians, and mafiosos basked in the light of the singer who hid behind an artificial wig, huge glasses, white suits, gold rings, and a guitar. His friends included Anthony Quinn, Telly Savalas, Harry Belafonte, as well as the Gallo crime family. Aris thought that he had found the key to success, but at the end of his meteoric rise came his fall, flight, and mysterious end in Budapest.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/songstress-brought-greek-music-into-mainstream-1.270942

Plagiarized music at the local level

The Malay music scene is familiar with many songs emanated from unabashed plagiarized works of Hindi songwriters. DJ Dave, R Azmi and many the Malay singers of the 40s, 50s and 60s gain fame through these ventures. When we were growing up in RRF, every time an English song hits the pop chart, the market cassette seller would be playing his Cantonese version of the tune almost simultaneously. Of hand, I can remember 'Dance Little Lady Dance' by Tina Charles, 'Ring My Bell' by Anita Ward, fitting this bill.
RTM (Radio TV Malaysia) at one time banned local songs penned to foreign tunes and songs glamourizing foregn lands (e.g. Yellow River by Christie). Here for your hearing pleasure, 'Sunshine' by Archies and 'Si Gadis Ayu' by Black Dog Bone... 

Followed by 'Fantasy' by Earth, Wind and Fire as well as "Khayalan' by Black Dog Bone again!

Yet another case of plagiarism!

Still talking about Shammi Kapoor and his movies, here is another a-go-go type dance in a song which bears a surprisingly similar tune to the one strummed out by The Beatles 2 years previously! A pure coincidence?

Another case of pliagiarism

Actually, I knew about the similarity between these two tunes even when I was young. At a naive and maybe stupid age, I thought it was a coincidence. Wow! Tamil songs are so modern. Of course, I hope I am wiser now. Please listen to these two songs and be wiser... The first one is by the Shadows.

This song Apache was written by Jerry Lordan and recorded originally by British group The Shadows in June 1960 at the famous EMI Abbey Road Studio in London and released on July 1960.

The Tamil song is from the movie 'Sarasa B.A.' made in Chennai in 1965 and sang in the melodious voice of P.B. Sreenivas.
Click to listen. 
http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/searchresults.asp?q=TRACK:iravin%20madiyil

When the going is good...

Gaddafi son's LSE thesis 'written by Libyan academic'
College sets up inquiry into Saif Gaddafi's PhD and the £1.5m donation he later made
By Jonathan OwenSunday, 6 March 2011

• 
  EXTRA LARGELARGENORMAL

LSE PRESS OFFICE

The LSE's director, Howard Davies, has resigned. David Held will feature in the inquiry

Fresh evidence emerged yesterday revealing how Saif Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, plagiarised his PhD thesis at the London School of Economics. One Libyan academic drafted in to help Saif Gaddafi was later rewarded with an ambassador's posting to Europe. The new details came as a Tory MP called for the LSE's entire governing council to resign. The beleaguered institution also faced allegations that an academic had been pressured to admit a relative of an aide to President Bill Clinton to study there.
The LSE, widely criticised for the way it solicited funding from Libya, resulting in it being dubbed the "Libyan School of Economics", has launched an inquiry into the plagiarism and funding controversy.
Colonel Gaddafi's son enlisted Libyan academics to help ghost-write his thesis, according to Professor Abubakr Buera of Benghazi's Garyounis University. "I learnt that Saif gathered some PhD holders from Garyounis University in Benghazi, Libya, to help him write his doctoral dissertation. Among the people he consulted was a professor of economics who was a graduate from Germany. His name is Dr Menesi; what gives credibility to this allegation is that Dr Menesi, who was then retired, was brought back to active service as a government bank chairman in Libya, then governor to the Central Bank in Libya, then minister of finance, and finally Libya's ambassador to Austria.
Professor Buera described Saif Gaddafi as a "war criminal", and called for the LSE to strip him of his doctorate. "After Saif's stand and lies against the Libyan people, it should be no longer an honour for the LSE to keep him as one of its graduates; from now on, he is being looked down at by many Libyans as a war criminal," he said.
The Libyan embassy in Austria did not respond to requests for comment. The LSE said it has "no evidence" of the allegation.
The university has asked Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice, to carry out an inquiry into the circumstances in which Saif Gaddafi was awarded a doctorate in 2008, only to make a £1.5m donation to the university the following year. The inquiry followed the resignation of the LSE's director, Howard Davies, after revelations that, as well as the £1.5m donation from the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF), the LSE had also benefited from a £2.2m contract with Libya to train its civil servants. Robert Halfon, the Tory MP for Harlow, called for the LSE's entire governing council to resign. "It is the only way the LSE can restore its name," he said.
Among the people who will feature in the inquiry is Professor David Held, the co-director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance and one of Saif Gaddafi's mentors. He had argued in favour of the grant for his centre being accepted and was appointed a trustee of GICDF in June 2009, but was forced to quit several months later by the LSE's council over concerns of a potential conflict of interests. He denies any impropriety.
But questions about Professor Held were raised over claims that he pressured an admissions tutor to accept the niece of former Clinton aide Sydney Blumenthal on a master's course.
Erik Ringmar, a professor in international relations at Shanghai Jiaotong University, said: "I was David Held's colleague from 2001 until 2007. For the first two years we worked closely together as fellow members of the MSc in comparative politics." He described an incident in late 2002, when Professor Held "insisted I accept a student to our MSc programme who was a relative of Sidney Blumenthal, a Clinton crony. Unusually, I was sent an applicant's file not from the admissions office, as always was the case, but straight from the office of the LSE director – at that time Anthony Giddens. In the [applicant's] file was a handwritten note from 'Sid' to 'Tony,' making the case that accepting his niece to do a degree at the LSE would be a wonderful opportunity to 'continue to deepen our trans-Atlantic ties'."
Professor Ringmar claimed that Professor Held telephoned him and said: "You should consider it very carefully, just read the name again. It's Blumenthal, OK? That Blumenthal'."
He added: "In the end, I accepted her, although her grades were substantially lower than what we usually required. I'm not proud of this but I felt intimidated by all the pressure from Giddens, the LSE director, and from David Held. I was a mere lecturer at the time – and easily intimidated."
The LSE dismissed the claim as that of "a disgruntled member of staff who no longer works at LSE".

 The role of Middle Eastern regimes in British universities

From Saddam Hussein to Saif Gaddafi, there appears to be no shortage of would-be benefactors from questionable regimes keen to help British universities. Robin Simcox, a researcher at the Centre for Social Cohesion, which has studied the issue, said controversies were "inevitable". Here are some of the centre's findings:
Iran£10,000 – University of Durham (2009) joint books, conferences and research with the government.
£100,000 – University of St Andrews (2006) from a former high-ranking member of the regime.
£35,000 – School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) (1999) for two studentships.
Saudi Arabia£8m – University of Cambridge from Prince Alwaleed.
£8m - University of Edinburgh (2008) to establish the Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre.
£1m – Oxford's Middle East Centre (2001) from the King Abdul Aziz Foundation.
£20m – Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS) (1997) from King Fahd.
£1m – SOAS (1995) from King Fahd to help establish the Centre for Islamic Studies.

The Malays have a saying, 'kalau nak paut pada pokok, pautlah pada ranting yang kuat' (if you are going to hold on to a tree, make sure you hold the branch which is strong). Just like that, when the going was good, everybody was happy, despots were giving away stashes of cash in returns for for honorary awards. The ivory towers prosper and jokers were glorified - All were happy... until the tide of change swept through without warning in the Arab world. Now everyone wants to wash their dirty hands off the mess they have got themselves into and want to come out smelling of roses before the next regime takes control and they would join cahoots with the victors.
This glorification of leaders has been going on for a long time - examples being our 1st lady getting the mother of the year award, our PM getting honorary doctorate, the King bestowed more alphabets to be added behind his already long name and the list goes on and on. Talking about Ph. D.'s, there are many our respected parliamentarians going around flashing their over the counter degrees without completing a single assignment and knowing a word of English!    

Plagiarism - acceptable artistic licence?

23.6.2010
Plagiarism - acceptable artistic licence?

Just listen to above songs, the first one by Rod Stewart (Maggie May) at the 4: 00-minute mark .. and at the beginning of the 80s song by Tamil movies' music maestro Deva in the Movie 'Aasai'. Listen to apparent similarities which are quite obvious even to the tone-deaf or the partially hearing impaired!

Of course, the Rod Stewart's song precedes Deva's song, so we know who is copying whom? With the advent of multimedia facilities, the problem of plagiarism is quite rampant, from Ph D. thesis to primary school projects.

In India, with so many movies being churning out from their various language studios, it is probably humanly impossible to come out with a freshly brewed new story and fresh new melody with each new movie. Hence, plagiarism is perhaps justified and acceptable as long as it has Indian values and money making (and entertaining). At the end of the day, that is all that matters, is it not?