Another day and yet another blatant copy of a Pakistani song has surfaced on musical platforms, garnering millions of views without any original thought or composition. However, this time, Hadiqa Kiani is not staying quiet.
Indian singer Kanika Kapoor has recently released a song titled Buhe Bariyan (how original!), which begins with a Saregama Originals banner, but eventually uses the lyrics of Hadiqa’s popular track by the same name. Hadiqa took to Instagram and criticized the artist, the music company and everyone who is involved in plagiarizing her music without asking any permission or crediting her original work.
Hadiqa shared a screenshot of the music video on her Instagram Story and candidly shared how shameless this practice is.
“Another day and another shameless rendition of the song my mother wrote. No one asked for my permission, no one has given me royalties, they just take the song that my mother wrote and I recorded, and use it as an easy money making scheme,” she wrote.
The singer shared that her song has been “stolen” and used multiple times in Bollywood films that star the likes of Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta. Many singers have sung her songs on stage or covered them by making music videos.
“So far, it’s been stolen to be used in multiple Bollywood films starring the likes of Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta. It’s been stolen by every other singer who sings on stage while earning. And of course, by many singers who produce full music videos. Some of these cover videos have received almost 200 million views on YouTube. The latter gives me ‘credit’ by mentioning ‘original song: Boohey Barian by Hadiqa Kiani’,” Hadiqa shared.
Hadiqa sang Boohey Barian as her first Punjabi-language song, written by her mother Khawar Kiani for her Platinum-selling second album, Roshni. It was released in 1999.
The singer and actor mentioned that almost every time she has covered a song, she has “bought its rights, taken permission from the artist or paid royalties because that’s the ethical way to go about things.”
Hadiqa also gave a message to those who want to cover her songs.
“I’m alive and well, if you want to sing my songs, ask me first. I want to be flattered by these covers because, in theory, they are paying a tribute. But there’s a right and wrong way to do something. Profiting off of someone else’s hit song without any thought is not right,” she clearly stated.
She clarified that she holds no personal grudges against the singers who have sung her songs. “I’m just upset with the way that they all seem to go about the process,” she said, concluding: “Anyways, the theft of Pakistani music continues.”
Kanika Kapoor’s song has already received over 2.8 million views and 127K likes in one day. The description below the song only mentions that it is a ‘Punjabi folk song’, which probably refers to Panj Bariyaan by Hans Raj Hans. This Punjabi folk song released in 1996 has a similar melody to Hadiqa’s tune. However, her version of the composition has been copied countless times without crediting her mother’s lyrics.
Watch Hadiqa’s Boohey Barian here:
