Nameless clears the air over Salari tussle

Last week we broke the story of an allegation against Nameless by a Burundian singer Serge Nkurunzinza accusing him of stealing the beat used in hit song Salari.

Nkurunzinza alleged that Nameless used his beat for the song Amahera which he released three years ago without permission. But Nameless denied the allegations saying the lyrics were different although the beat was the same due to a studio mix up. Nameless says he had bought the beat from Ugandan producer Washington a few years back. "It is unfortunate that the beat is the same. I had bought it from Washington who wanted me to record Sinzia remix. I kept the beat until I wrote Salari," explains Nameless.

Washington also cleared the Kenyan musician name claiming that he made the contested beat for Nameless at Blu Zebra Studios. It was however saved in a folder with other beats for collection by Burundian artiste who had paid for them.

"I had over seven beats and selected the contested one for Nameless but because I was leaving for South Africa, I burnt it on a CD and gave it to Wahu. I forgot to remove it from the folder which contained beats I had made for Serge. While I was in South Africa Serge called me from Nairobi and asked for beats. I told him to check in the folder where he picked all of them including the one Nameless had paid for," clarifies Washington. The producer says that the studio executives would have sorted the mess but it was not noticed until both songs were out.

"It is sad that the beat now sounds like a riddim," adds Washington.

Nameless also contacted Serge to clarify what his song Amahera was all about. He sent a short text to Nameless who in turn forwarded it to us. It read: Urafiki ni pesa, ujama, upendo bira cash hakuna undungu dunia. Yabadirika hakuna upendo… well, now the truth is out there.