The conference, attended by government officials, sponsors, friends and family of the group, fellow artists and the press, was quite a hectic one as, besides the presentation of the single, many qualms and questions about the group were cleared. 

Mr Galen Bresson was acting as the group's press officer at the conference and besides him was the group members Richard Robert, Colin Rath, Mervin Bick and the only female of the group Nisha Kumar. Absent, on account of work commitment, was Shamir Peer Mohamed.

The group started a little over two years ago when the members were still Polytechnic students. During their lunch breaks they used to hang out together and do some vocal harmonisation. Eventually the group Fade, as we know it today, was born.

The early successes were recorded when they participated in the Creole Festival Song Contest with Kisisa Kreol, the song that has had much controversy surrounding it during the past months or so, after the release of the same song by another local artist.

Monday's press conference shed some light on this matter.

According to the group, the artist who re-released this track was a close friend of the group members' and did have an agreement to re-sing the track provided the group’s name was acknowledged.

Still according to the group, this was not the case and the track and the self-title album of the artist in question was released outside Seychelles, hence breaching the agreement.

Mr Rajah, the group’s legal advisor, explained the aftermath of this alleged infringement. “A letter has been written to the concerning party and we have already received a reply saying that they would settle the matter as soon as possible,” he said, adding that if this did not get solved, proper legal action would be taken.

Explaining who the author of the song was, Mr Bresson said it was the work of Fade and largely that of rap artist Mellow.    

This matter was brought to the attention of the Lanmizik San Frontyer’s (local music association) chairman, Mr Patrick Victor, who was also present during the press conference. Mr Victor said that the association was aware of the matter and was closely monitoring the case.

He also noted that it was one of the association’s objectives to try and eliminate copyright problems in the country.

Mr Bresson also launched an appeal to the chairman to try and prevent such problems from happening to other artists as this might discourage them. 

“Fade may have faced it and live through it, but others may not be as strong and give up,” he said.

Still on the infringement issue, it seems that the group's new single Be Mine has allegedly also appeared on the album of the same artist and the matter is still under consideration. Nevertheless, no further comments were made on this.

To get off the edge of the copyright dilemmas and into the brighter side of things, the group have been acclaimed as an ‘International Group’ by radio listeners in Mauritius where their number 1 hit single Should’ve told you are being broadcast. 

“Many did not believe they were a local group,” Mr Bresson said.

He also noted that the group was in contact with a distribution company to market and sell their album outside Seychelles, and that their new album would be hitting the shelves of music stores around the island by mid-February this year.

The album, which is mainly targeting the youth, is guaranteed to have a song for the different age groups because it seems that even people in their fifties are singing Should’ve told you!

The crowd present at the press conference were the first to hear the album played in full.

Even if there were rumours that the group had split, all five members of the group participated on the forthcoming album, even Shamir who wrote and sang Fly Away and Captured my heart.

Mr Bresson clarified that even if Shamir was not appearing on any of Fade’s performances he was still a member. As for Mervin, he might also have to scale down his commitments with the group’s activities if his job consumes a lot of his time, but nevertheless he remains a full active member of the group.

After all questions were answered, Mervin and the other group members proudly presented to each one attending the press conference a copy of an autographed single, which includes Should’ve told you (the instrumental and radio version) and the new Be Mine song.

Then, over some snacks, the guests had the chance to congratulate the group and to have personal autographs.

We managed to pull Richard from the throng of fans inside to say a few words about the groups achievement so far and he had this to say: “So far it’s been a really good experience for all of us and I’m really happy. As for the sale of our album I expect it to perform pretty well.”

And this album is really one that you have to look out for because it will be something that you have never heard locally before, a completely new top-notch experience which, according to critics, is going to be two thumbs up and a straight pin up!

Last year their single Should’ve told you was named the number 2 song of the year, and by the end of this year, hopefully, they will be the number 1.

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