Didier Awadi: Perfect.
Solange Cesarovna (off-camera): All good?
Today is a very inspiring day Because we are here to release a new song, a new version of an original song from my country.
I'm Solange Cesarovna, singer and songwriter from Cabo Verde and also CLIP champion.
I'm Didier Awadi, African artist with a Senegalese passport.
My job as a CLIP Champion is to tell as many artists and music professionals as possible: You have rights.
Know them.
We wanted a real, concrete example of what we do.
So we chose a piece that we liked.
This song, Dos Atributo, it's a morna from Cabo Verde.
And it's so, so special because, Manuel de Novas created it as a tribute to his wife and his mother.
And I recorded it in 2009.
Now, in this new version we also are doing a tribute to our mothers.
Didier: All good?
Are you plugged in?
Not yet?
For me, it was an opportunity - for my mother who is Cabo Verdean, like the songwriter - to honor my mother, who is 83 years old.
As I say in the song, we often forget to say, "I love you." (Didier raps in French) So, how did we do it?
We identified the rights holder.
Since he has passed away, the rights holders are his children.
So, we reached out to his children to ask for their permission and negotiate the rights to create an adaptation of the song.
Because I know the sons of Manuel de Novas, I immediately called Neu.
Neu Lopes.
And I said: Neu, we want to do a new version.
And first of all, we want to know if you and your brother are okay with this -- If you can authorize us.
And he accepted our proposition.
After that, what we started doing, it's the creative part, and me and Didier we started doing a lot of meetings online, sending ideas through WhatsApp, because I'm in Cabo Verde, he's in Senegal.
Creating the lyrics, and all the magic was there because we felt that this is the perfect song.
(Solange sings in Portuguese) (Didier raps in French) Neu, thank you so much for being here.
Before we go through, and finalize the new creation, we need to agree on the rights for this new version.
I discussed with Didier before, And of course, if you want, after our proposition, Neu, to propose something different, feel free, because this is exactly what we are doing.
We are creating a new arrangement, a melody a little bit different, keeping the soul and the vibe of morna but bringing it to "galop" and changing the structure a little bit.
The question was whether we would keep the musical work exactly as it is, or whether we would modify it.
Adding rap, for one, changes it.
Adding new lyrics, changes it.
For us, the goal was to stay in the spirit of the work and still allow ourselves to slightly modify the tempo.
So, we made some modifications to the musical work, but we didn't lose the soul of the song, and that, for us, was important.
We understand that it would be, a good proposition for Manuel de Novas to keep - and of course, you, as the representatives of Manuel De Novas, and as the current rights holders of this song - to keep 50% of the song and 50% to be split between me and Didier.
So, I will keep 25% of this new version, Didier will keep 25% of this new version.
The most important thing when negotiating rights is to always feel that the final decision is fair.
Because we are talking about fair remuneration, and we are also talking about an economic right.
Well, I want for the music to be better known, and regarding whether it's fair or not -- I think it is fair because it's your work, too.
It was my father's work, okay?
My father's creation.
But you will have a new creation.
So for me...
I think it's okay, for us.
Didier: Yeah.
Thank you.
Solange: Great!
So, for me, go for it.
It's good.
We left the meeting feeling that all of us were comfortable.
Neu was happy.
Myself and Didier, we're happy.
And, this is also very important to inspire our creativity; when we know that the rights are correct, that we are doing something that is fair for all the creators, all the people that are involved.
This is an inspiration for the creative process itself.
When you feel the magic of having something that you are creating ready to share, it's something else.
I think that we have the song and we are ready to share the song.
(Solange sings in Portuguese) (Didier raps in French) This project is important to me because, beyond making good music with people you love, it's also about finally being able to tell people, It's possible.
It's possible.
It's not out of your reach.
You just have to make the moves.
You need to use a musical work?
Find out how to do it.
If it belongs to someone and you like it, try to reach out, either to them, their rights holders, their lawyers, the record company, or the publisher.
It's possible.
Sometimes we don't do it because we think it's going to be complicated.
Sometimes it's not complicated at all.
You just have to go for it.
