Mpaka Records Ykee Benda has come out to publicly criticize fellow musician King Saha for claiming that he was the brains behind Jose Chameleone’s Swahili hit song titled ‘Valu Valu’ which was released in 2012.
For a long time now, King Saha has previously asserted that he penned down a number of songs for other different artists dropping Spice Diana, and Eddy Kenzo among others who he says have not come out to appreciate him.
What caused an uproar in the media was King Saha claiming ownership of Valu Valu’, something which Ykee Benda disputes, citing the song’s unique style, which is different from King Saha’s typical melodious sound.
They are insulting me because I said Saha did not write Valu Valu. This is a different type of art. For King Saha, all his songs sound the same. There are some identical melodies in some of the same songs. Some people are versatile in their creativity but some are not, Ykee Benda said.
In an interview, while trying to explain his point of view, the ‘Muna Kampala’ hitmaker believed that a songwriter’s style is often consistent across all their work. Ykee Benda claimed that it was easy to identify the songwriter’s signature melodies and style after listening to and analyzing a number of songs from them.
After listening and sampling just five songs written by Radio Mowzey, I can tell you which of Rema Namakula, Jazmine, Namubiru, Ntale songs that he wrote before any of them even points them out; this is because of how he put his lyrics, he noted
While acknowledging King Saha’s talent as a musician and lyricist, Ykee Benda argues that ‘Valu Valu’ lacks any resemblance to King Saha’s own style of music.
I have not disputed that he has written for any artist. He is a very good artist but I’m choosing to focus on Valu Valu in particular. There is no correlation. I’m creative so I do not want anyone to lie to people. Even Chameleone spoke about it before, Ykee Benda insisted.
Ykee Benda views songwriting for other artists as a common practice, even among international music giants. Personally, he has written for Winnie Nwagi and Lydia Jazmine’s yet-to-be-released single and believes that when a songwriter is paid adequately, there is no need for public credit.
If someone pays me for the song I have written, I do not need credit. That is for people who want approval. If you know you are good at it, you never want to run around telling everyone that you are the one who wrote the song, it is an inferiority complex. Swangz Avenue approached me and paid me heavily. All Winnie Nwagi had to do was hit the booth, voice and go ahead with her video shoot and everyone was okay, Ykee Benda revealed.
When King Saha’s allegations first came out, Jose Chameleone strongly rubbished them, especially because the entire song was in Swahili, a language that King Saha doesn’t speak.
