The controversy surrounding the popular song Keneilwe has been put to rest by Dan Tshanda’s wife Sylvia who is in charge of the late musician’s work. The song was recently reproduced by internationally acclaimed producer, Master KG of worldwide hit Jerusalema. The song was originally written by Dalom Kids as Celebrate in the 1980s. The group was working under the late Tshanda.
It has since emerged that Master KG reworked the song with the permission of Sylvia Tshanda and the Dalom Management. On the new version of the track Keneilwe, which was one of the popular festive songs, Master KG features Nkosazana Daughter on vocals. The original Dalom Kids members who recorded the song were Magdeline Zungu, Jacqueline Rotwana and Petronella Rampou, who died in 2001.
Sylvia said in a statement: “All members who contributed to the making of Keneilwe shall receive royalties for their contribution, this includes the late Petronella Rampou who shall receive royalties from the PROs for the remix and the original version, however the former singers will only receive royalties from the original version.” Keneilwe has over 11-million YouTube views to date. Sylvia clarified the copyright of the song: “The song in question is a copyright of Dalom, produced by Dalom Kids, as such, Dalom holds rights to use and reproduced the song (Record).”Sylvia also made it clear that Master KG didn’t steal the song and got permission from Dalom Management and herself for the use of the track.
“Master KG was granted permission to reproduce them song and was assisted by the new members of Dalom Kids, as such no sample was used pertaining to the original song,” said the statement. Sylvia also paid tribute towards the original Dalom Kids members. She said: “I have taken into consideration of all parties involved and continue to respect and show love to the former members. They contributed a lot to the legacy and deserve respect.” Defending himself on a post on X, Master KG confirmed that he made arrangements with Sylvia to rework on the song. “She arrived in studio with three women who went by the name of Dalom Kids. I had no idea that there were other people involved because we had Dalom Kids in the studio,’ he said