The First Prize Song of the Campus Music Festival, Plagiarism?

The first prize song of the Campus Music Festival has drawn suspicion that it was copied from Korean singer's song.

Last September 25, the 33th MBC Campus Music Festival(MBC대학가요제) took place at Incheon University. Alex and Hyori Lee acted as MCs, who are famous singers in Korea. There were many judges including composers, musicians, and a producer and some singers who performed to celebrate opening of the festival. 13 teams could go into the finals and had performances on the day.

After they had a keen competition, Ewha Woman’s University team was awarded the first prize at the contest. This team is composed of two women, one is vocal who composed and wrote a song, another is pianist. They were so thrilled that shed tears constantly.

The title of the first prize song is "군계무학". It stemmed from "군계일학", which means the sun among inferior lights. The vocal said, "In these days, many people in their twenties can't show their individuality because they are facing the worst job markets. Thus, I make the music "군계무학" which means there is no outstanding figure." She criticized the youth without individuality in this song. Here are some lyrics of the song.

We (people in their twenties) are slaves of capital, victims of globalization,

Don't live a same forcing life,

Don't change your dream with reality,

Find your individuality,

Don't be afraid of the world.

They also were awarded the special prize.

(Here is the video about their performance.)

However, unfortunately, some netizens are arguing that the song was copied from Korean singer Leessang's "A clown". All participants passed the numerous preliminary contests and there were a lot of judges who are present musicians. Also, the proceedings of the marking were made public. In the course of screening, there was no suspicion of plagiarism, so producers of this festival are being upset by the doubt.

A music program producer said that there can be similar atmosphere music and felt sorry for the reality that many people easily made a plagiarism suspicion to songs paid attention.

On the other hand, a manager of Leessang said, "We are now in America for performance, we couldn't see the festival. So we can't say about the problem yet."

We need to watch the problem continuously. I hope that this suspicion is not true.

There were the second, the third and the fourth prizes. A woman, who made the music for children who work at cacao farms in Africa, was awarded the second prize and popularity prize.

The MBC Campus Music Festival has been held annually since 1977. It became the indispensable festival to university students who love music. There are a lot of famous songs made in this contest.

Reference :

http://tinyurl.com/ybkyyeg

http://tinyurl.com/yavudml

http://tinyurl.com/yc8pl8l