At the heart of the controversy surrounding Badshah’s new song Genda Phool lies a simple truth: all folk compositions in the public domain...
At the heart of the controversy surrounding Badshah’s new song Genda Phool lies a simple truth: all folk compositions in the public domain are not “expressions of traditional culture or folklore”, and therefore cannot be reproduced or sampled at will.
Genda Phool emerged on March 26, amidst a nation-wide lockdown over the Covid-19 pandemic. The music video for the track, which also features the voice of Payal Dev, has Badshah romancing Jacqueline Fernandez at a Durga Puja event. The catchy hook is taken from the Bengali folk song Boroloker Biti Lo, originally written by singer Ratan Kahar. However, Badshah was credited with the composition and lyrics of Genda Phool across streaming platforms.
Boroloker Biti Lo was written in 1972 and performed by Swapna Chakrabarti in 1976. The original tune is on Saregama Bengali’s official YouTube channel, and remains popular among Bengalis.
There are multiple grounds for copyright violation in Genda Phool. Folk music is presumed to have been in existence for generations, is collectively “owned” by one or more groups or communities, and is likely to be of anonymous origin. In such cases, the present copyright regime does not grant a monopoly to any individual or set of individuals. The music is free to...
