This week, it’s Adele who is singled out and condemned for… plagiarism. A Brazilian judge found that the melody of his hit “Million Years Ago” (2015) was pumped from the song “Mulheres” (1995) by composer Toninho Geraes. Consequence: the song is prohibited from broadcasting or marketing worldwide. Any violation will result in the payment of a fine of 7,800 euros…
A deterrent effect
This is not the first time that “Million Years Ago” has been the subject of suspicion of plagiarism. Similarities have also been pointed out in the past with a title by Kurdish singer Ahmet Kaya who died in 2000.
In his judgment, the Brazilian judge who banned Adele’s song considers that it is a “turning point for Brazilian music, which, due to the richness of its melodies, harmony and rhythms, is often copied to compose international hits“. He hopes for a deterrent effect.
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We can’t blame him. Some weighty examples support his reasoning. For example, the case of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” (2011). The Belgian-Australian singer himself admitted that he was inspired by “Seville”, a title by the Brazilian musician Luiz Bonfa who died in 2001. He also agreed to share with the latter almost half of rights reported by the composition.
Le cas “Smoke on the Water”
“Smoke on the Water” (1972), Deep Purple’s hit, should also have a lot to do with Brazilian music. The sequence of chords of the legendary riff strangely resembles that of “Maria Quiet” (1966), a song by Astrud Gilberto, the famous Brazilian artist who popularized “The Girl From Ipanema”. It seems that Deep Purple keyboardist Geoff Emery was a big fan of… Brazilian music. Plagiarism or free inspiration, the debate is not settled.
In 2012, it was Madonna who made the bench and the back bench of music in Brazil stand up as one man. Her single “Give Me All Yout Luvin” bore striking similarities to “LOVE Banana” by Brazilian singer Joao Brasil. Rather than suing the Queen of Pop, the latter declared that she was flattered to have been copied by the Madonna: “I’m a big Madonna fan. If it’s plagiarism, even better. She’s always on the cutting edge of music, so that’s a good sign about what I’m doing.”.
Brazil also plays the “borrowers”
These stories of plagiarism are not new. Even before the invention of radio and records, some people were “inspired”. At the beginning of the century, recalls the website Voyagesdumonde.be, the whole of France was humming a hit by Félix Mayol entitled “La Matchiche”. How do we know it was a hit at a time when there was no radio play and record sales? We simply calculated the sales of scores and the number of performances at the balls. What was presented as a popular tune from Spanish folklore was in fact a Brazilian opera tune from 1860 by Carlos Gomes.
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That being said, one of the biggest cases of plagiarism in song saw a Brazilian artist caught red-handed. In 1987, after endless legal proceedings, Morris Albert was found guilty by an American court of having plagiarized Loulou Gasté. His song “Feelings” was a copy of “Pour toi”, a song composed for the film The powder fire which was subsequently interpreted by Line Renaud who shared her life with Loulou.
