'I NO LONGER SAY KARTEL' - LONDON-BASED SINGER SAYS DeeJay

London-based R&B singer Khalia says she is no longer a Gaza fan. The singer claims that her rendition of Vybz Kartel's Summer Time was removed from popular social network site YouTube by the artiste.

"My favourite dancehall artiste was Vybz Kartel until he got my cover of his song removed from YouTube, so now I say Mavado, Gully to the world," she said.



According to Khalia, she fell in love with the song and wanted to experiment and give it a new sound.

"I loved the song and thought it would sound good in a higher octave," she said.
According to Khalia, she was anxious to see what Summer Time would sound like if it was done by a female artiste, and because she regards herself as being a credible singer she decided to take on the challenge.
The singer says she was getting a lot of attention for the song which was becoming viral on YouTube getting over 3,000 views in a week.

"The response was very good, most people say it's better than the original which I am very pleased about," she said.
The 17-year-old says that she is inspired by everyday situations and her music delves into a variety of genres including dancehall, R&B and urban music.

However, when the star contacted Vybz Kartel, he said, "The artiste, who I never knew existed till she did that cover, didn't get any authorisation from Adidjahiem Records to redo the song. As a result, that was a copyright infringement. And as such was dealt with accordingly," he said.
According to Khalia, she will never do a Vybz Kartel cover version again because the artiste is not very appreciative. "No more Vybz Kartel songs, he didn't seem to appreciate the hard work that went into covering Summer Time," she said.
As it relates to Khalia's utterance that she is no longer a Gaza fan, Vybz Kartel said "Like all other defectors, she won't be missed."

Khalia, an avid dancehall fan, was born in Jamaica, but migrated to England at age six.
The singer has been doing music professionally for a year and has recently released her debut mixtape called Touchdown.
Touchdown has eight tracks comprising of six originals and two cover versions.






source: Jamaica star