Lebanese composer Jan Marie Riyashi said that he is waiting for Lebanese singer Mariam Fares to make a decision about stopping the airing of her song “Shu Bahib” (How I love), which was composed by Egyptian composer Mohammad Rahim. Jan Marie stated the composition of the song originally belongs to Lebanese diva Majeda Al Roumi’s song “Bil Qalb Khaleeni” (Keep me in your heart), which she sung several years ago.
Jan Marie stressed that he places the responsibility on Mariam and she should do the right thing by stopping the song as soon as possible.
Mariam had released the song on Valentine’s Day and just hours after its release criticism rose at the similarity between “Shu Bahib” and “Bil Qalb Khaleeni”.
Jan Marie said that he had received a call from Mohammad Raheem denying any similarity between the two songs, a matter that led Jan Marie to request that Mohammad listen carefully to the songs and compare them.
According to the internet website MBC.net, Jan Marie noted that he had worked with Mohammad Rahim in the past, but that does not mean that he will let the matter of copying the composition pass because it falls under the violations of priority rights.
Jani Marie said he will not take the matter to court because he is confident it will be resolved peacefully. He added that Mariam had called him after releasing the song and she denied listening to Majeda’s song or has any recollection of the comparison with her song.
Jan Marie added that Mariam had also informed him that when she listened to both song she was shocked at the similarity and that she had fallen victim to fraud.
On her part, Mariam refused to make a public regarding the matter and stated that specialists in such issues should be the ones who perform the evaluation and see if the songs are similar or not.
