Clearing the controversy regarding ‘Juboti Radhe’

A day after its release, the song titled "Juboti Radhe" was removed from the YouTube channel of the project IPDC 'Amader Gaan,' due to a copyright claim made by the band Shorolpur. The cover, arranged by Partha Barua, was sung by Chanchal Chowdhury and Meher Afroz Shaon.

Shorolpur's vocalist Marzia Amin Turin and Guitarist Tariqul Islam Tapan claimed in a video that "Juboti Radhe" is their original track, and they have legal documents in this regard.

According to IPDC, they requested relevant authority and stakeholders to investigate the matter and they wish to re-publish it after resolving the issue.

Since ancient times, songs revolving around Radha and Krishna's love life has been an integrated part of Bengali culture and heritage. From the literary point of view, Sri Krishna Kirtana Kabya is a pastoral drama in verse composed by Boru Chandidas. On the other hand, The Vaishnava Padavali, refers to a period in medieval Bengali literature from the 15th to 17th centuries by Shri Chaitanya. Thus, Radha-Krishna songs cannot be claimed by any particular writer and it does not belong to any particular literary group. Therefore, claims of the songs being stolen cannot be justified.

Shorolpur band admitted the fact that they wrote the song based on various different information and ideology and the words were selected based on the folklore tales. Tariqul Islam Tapan penned and composed the song, inspired by Kirtan and Lila-Kirtan genre. The song is currently copyrighted in Shorolpur's name, though multiple people claimed that Shorolpur themselves stole the song.

Singer Sumi Mirza first created confusion about the song, when she published the song under the banner of Laser Vision, claiming the lyrics to be "collected". Sumi claimed that the song, "Juboti Radhe," was of the genre Mahua, Goalini or Pala geeti. After the band contacted Sumi regarding the matter, Sumi's reluctance to co-operate forced the band to take the matter into court. Sumi failed to prove her claims in the court and later the Copyright office granted Shorolpur permission to copyright the song in their name.

Sumi Mirza went on to publish a song titled, "Binodini Rai," which Shorolpur claims is the direct duplication of their song with a few lyrics replaced. "We are still in the process of resolving this issue with Sumi Mirza on the court," shared Tariqul Islam Tapan, on his Facebook account. "As we are currently not in the country and due to the ongoing pandemic, the case is still pending and we will apply for financial compensation as well."

If IPDC and Shorolpur successfully sort out the legal issues, the song, "Juboti Radhe," will be re-launched. But at the moment, it is apparent that the ownership of the song belongs to Shorolpur.