Melissa Mpofu, Showbiz Editor
‘IF Cassper Nyovest could do it, then why can’t I?” seems to be the general feeling in the South African arts industry now.
Ever since Cassper attracted 20,000 plus people to his sold out concert meant to prove that South Africans could support their own, many artistes have been inspired.
One such artiste is Loliwe hit-maker, Zahara, who has launched what she termed #Operation1MillionCopies, #SayNoToPiracy where she plans to sell one million copies of her latest Country Girl album to defeat piracy.
Most artistes the world over have been affected by the ongoing theft of their music, something the songbird hopes to bring to an end by reaching out to fans to buy her album. The album released in September this year, reached platinum status in two weeks of its release showing that it was well received. It features hit Ntombenhle.
Yesterday, Zahara, who has performed in Zimbabwe countless times, posted an image of three of her albums, Loliwe, Phendula and Country Girl on her Facebook and Instagram social networking sites. On her first Loliwe album she wrote ‘1 million copies #WeShouldHave’ and on the Phendula album ‘1 million copies #WeCouldHave’. For the Country Girl album she wrote ‘Operation 1 million copies #YesWeCan, #SayNoToPiracy.’
To show support, some fans posted images of their copies of her latest album, some with more than one copy.
The artiste who yesterday released a music video for Imali, one of the tracks featured on Country Girl, also left for Cape Town where she has shows. She intends to sell a significant number of albums there.
Before the release of Country Girl, Zahara had spoken out on piracy telling her fans they were not real fans if they bought fake/fong-kong copies of her album. Upon release, pirates were already on the streets, selling copies cheaply.
“You say you love my music, adore my personality. You’ve every song in your smartphone, but you don’t have an original copy of my albums (you have fake ones). Is that love? Is that your love for me? Is your love that much that you don’t want me to succeed,” posted Zahara.
“Do you think South African music will ever be taken seriously if you continue to buy pirated music instead of original one? Let me tell you something, when you buy pirated copies of my album, you’re simply insulting my work, dedication and sweat.”
Others however argued that they did not have money to buy original CD’s, something which Zahara responded saying: “It’s better to not have the album, than to have a pirated copy.”