Latin Music Beat

Alejandro Sanz has been singing beautiful ballads to fans of Latin music for years, and recently one of those songs has been allegedly plagiarized.  The song La Primera Persona is being rumored to have been allegedly plagiarized by famous Italian pop star Jovanotti.  Jovanptto’s ballad is titled A Te, and has become a hit both because of the similar lyrics and tune. 

Listening to both songs, the melody and harmony of the two songs are very similar.  The lyrics are not all that far off either so I can see where the accusations that the song was plagiarized come from.  Sanz’s song was released before Jovanotti’s though, in 2007, so he clearly has the upperhand if the accusations go any further.

Jovanotti has stated to the press that he never heard the song by Alejandro Sanz before and only listened to it now that the rumors are flying.  Claiming that the sound of the song is one that has been used in the past and many songs can be found to have the same tune, Jovanotti has brushed off any claims of plagiary.

Admittedly, after listening to both songs all the way through, even though the tunes and the lyrics have some similarities, they are both two very different songs and each one does have a sound of its own.  While I think they are very similar, I get Jovanotti’s point and prefer to think that the two songs were created independently of each other. 

Here is a video of Alejandro Sanz’s beautiful La Primera Persona