Last week’s story opened up a hornet’s nest. KAREN DAVIS reports
THE story about Tebogo Lerole caused a row over composer’s recognition and royalties for a Fifties song called Tom Hark. The song was a hit in its time and was also re-arranged and recorded by British jazzman Ted Heath. “It was a standard tune and was played by every big dance band in this country well into the Sixties,” says trombonist Jasper Cook, whose big band career started in 1959.
Quoting Muff Andersson’s Music In the Mix, the Mail & Guardian stated that Aaron Lerole, Tebogo’s uncle, had written the song. This prompted a call from Tebogo’s mother, Thembi, who said her husband, Elias, 58, had written the song, but that producer Rupert Bopape was credited at the South African Music Rights Organisation (Samro).
A call to Samro and to EMI’s office confirmed that Rupert Bopape alone is registered as composer. A call to Aaron Lerole got the reply that Elias had written the song and that “Bopape took it”.
Peter Morake, membership officer of Samro, commented that “there does seem to be a discrepancy over this song”. He recalled meeting with Thembi and Elias over the song in the past, but said no contracts had been changed. “I told them to seek legal advice.” He thought it odd that Bopape was composer on the A- side of the single and Elias’s name appeared as composer on the B-side. “Rupert notified the song in about 1980,” he said, “when the song was assigned to a movie. Normally, if there’s a dispute over a song, we get the people together in the office to sort it out, but I can’t phone the people and say `Come and fight this battle'”.
Thembi commented that it wasn’t that there were never royalties in those years, in fact she had a copy of a statement for 60 for other material. “It’s not that royalties were not sent to South Africa from overseas, they were sent to Bopape,” she said. “At least if he won’t refund the money he should say he’s sorry. It’s not only whites who ripped off blacks at that time.”
Aaron Lerole (60) said Elias “woke us up in the middle of the night with a melody running through his head and we worked on it together. But it is his number.”
But, said Aaron: “It doesn’t matter any more because someone else took it. The whole band [Elias and his Zig Zag Jive Flute] fought about it … To me it brings back heart-breaking memories, thinking it should have paid us enough money as artists. I should be someone now with something to show. But it’s a long time ago, 40 years, bygones are bygones and I just want to forget it.”
Two calls to Bopape in Lenyenye, near Tzaneen, proved fruitless. We were told he was now “a very sick man”, with sugar diabetes, hypertension and cardiac problems and was unlikely to respond. But shortly after our first call, he phoned Elias Lerole and “said Elias must come to Tzaneen to talk about the song”, said Thembi. “He asked Elias to give him the song. We battle to educate our kids and my husband has fought for this song, to no good end as yet.”
Said Elias: “It was composed by me. After I composed it and went and recorded it, it was written on the record that it was Rupert Bopape. Aaron is not a co- composer, it was only me.” Added Thembi: “I doubt if Bopape could play this song if you gave him a pennywhistle.”
Bopape had 64 songs registered with Samro, said Morake. David Coplan’s book In Township Tonight (which also claimed Aaron had written the song) credits Bopape with discovering “some outstanding talent” including Simon “Mahlathini” Nkabinde.