Coke Studio Tu Jhoom Controversy: Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan, also known as Xulfi, responded to the plagiarism allegations by singer Nirmala Maghani regarding the duet song and his production Tu Jhoom.
Umerkot singer Nirmala Manghani has accused the Coke Studio producer of lifting the melody for the song from her vocal sample.
Coke Studio released the first song from season 14 on January 14, 2022. The track, ‘Tu Jhoom’, has been sung by living legend sufi music maestro Abida Parveen and Naseebo Lal. According to the credits given in the description of the song on YouTube, the music was arranged and produced by Xulfi and Abdullah Siddiqui. Coke Studio’s season 14 has been “curated and produced by” Xulfi as well.
The song was praised with positive reviews from music lovers and fans alike. The Tharparkar-based singer Nirmala Manghani claimed of sending the demo version to its producer six months before the song’s production. She accused the singer of stealing its tune for his work.
Xulfi said In his response that he would never do such a thing. Furthermore, the producer claimed he takes the responsibility of highlighting Pakistani culture across the world seriously.
Moreover, Vital Signs member and Coke Studio’s founding music producer Rohail Hyatt spoke about the situation.
“A lack of understanding about raag based folk tunes usually ends up in controversy with someone claiming their idea has been copied,” he tweeted. “Songs in the same raag always sound similar. Even the melodies can be near identical. Lyrics matter.”
In another Tweet Rohail Hyatt praises the folk singer Nirmala Maghani.
“Regardless of the controversial circumstances under which I got to hear @nirmalamaghni’s voice, I feel blessed to have heard it. What a lovely voice she has. There’s indeed a silver lining to every situation and I pray she becomes a rising star in our industry IA (Insha’a Allah)”
The song, released on Friday, broke the internet when it streamed on social media application YouTube and aired on television channels.
The video has more than nine million views with countless millions of likes, comments and shares from its users.
Apart from music fans, the celebrities also lauded veteran singers for their singing and melody.
