By Gladys Fred Kole
A county high court in Juba has indefinitely banned the playing of singer Lady Kola’s song titled “Little Girls,” which has been trending in the country for the past three months.
Akuol Zahariah Elia aka Lady Kola, the singer and composer of the provocative lyrical trending single “Little Girls,” was first arrested in August 2023 and dragged to court over her song, which the accuser damned immoral.
Juba County 1st grade judge, Lual Chuai Deng, ordered the banning of the song temporarily amid an ongoing court battle.
The judge warned that the ill-mannered song must not be played in all social media, public and private places, official media houses, and nightclubs temporarily, with effect from November 6, 2023.
“The judiciary of South Sudan is hereby instructing all relevant authorities to implement and comply with this order with immediate effect from said date.” The court order reads.
Reactions
The Juba High Court judge’s order on Kola’s song ban was, however, welcomed with mixed reactions from her fellow artist, the artist governing body, and fans.
Reacting to the court order, the Executive Director of South Sudan’s Artists Union, Lucky O’ner, said the union is against the court’s ruling.
“We are urging the courtroom to return the situation to us because we know what the song meant and what should be done regarding the song,” he said. “It is our responsibility to talk to the artist and make sure that the song changes.”
Lucky disagreed with the court’s decision to suspend the song, arguing that the case should be left to the artist union to handle and talk to Lady Kola. But the court has yet to issue its final verdict on the case.
“This is a burning issue, and this song has never even been played on the radio stations; the song belongs to the streets and bars.” Lucky lamented
“What we are trying to trace now is that the song should be controlled from the internet to the kids; the parents should be controlling their kids; that song is for adults, not for kids,” he continued.
The artist union boss reiterated that the lawyer identified as advocate Adhet, who filed the case against Lady Kola, is a cover line for singer Queen Zee, saying the controversy emerged from a personal issue that they took very personally.
He assured music lovers that the whole situation would be resolved, adding that as of yesterday, they were still in court.
“The court didn’t consult the artist union; if a lawyer has a problem, there is a union of lawyers, but not for this to be handled underneath until it gets to court.” He echoed.
For his part, artist MC LUMOEX expressed that, as a parent, the song is basically very vulgar.
“At the end of the day, if we are trying to release songs or if the court is ruling against the song “Little Girls,” the court should look further,” he continued. “Little Girls is not the only song that is vulgar; there are many.”
“If the court traces and bans all those songs, I would be happy to see that happen; otherwise, affecting one artist is not fair; it looks as if someone is against her struggle in the industry.” Lomoex lamented.
He argued that if the country is ruling that they don’t want any songs with such ill-mannered lyrics, then it should be done as a national law provision that is put into effect and stands so that everyone in their own lane will ensure that things are fine.
Lumoex further decried that such situations, if not handled well and put to rest, are going to render the music industry vulnerable because artists are going to be looked at like objects that cannot be respected and can be arrested at any time.
Another artist and female diva, Irene Toss, who fell victim to the whole situation, told the No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper that she didn’t have a problem with the song or the owner, but rather that she was not okay with the fact that her image was used as a cover for the song.
“The song was a disrespectful one. Everyone has the right to sing whatsoever, but nobody has the right to use anybody’s image,” she blasted.
Toss termed Lady Kola’s use of their images as a cover for the song disrespectful, saying she believes it’s against the law and it wasn’t the right thing to do.
“I was not among the people who filed the case against her (Kola), but if the court has agreed and ordered that the song should be banned, then that’s the right thing to do; our rights were violated.” Toss echoed.
However, a fan of Lady Kola has reacted contrarily, saying that she doesn’t see a valid reason why the song should be banned because it has already been trending for the past three months.
“For me, the song is okay; I enjoy every bit of it. So there is no need to ban the song at the moment; maybe it can only be regulated and not banned,” the fan said.
How it started
In July this year, South Sudanese female artists left no stone unturned on their social media platforms after singer Lady Kola claimed to be bigger than the rest in the music arena in the country.
The fight of words on social media all started when Lady Kola reportedly decided to edit a banner advertising an all-female artists’ concert in Juba that was slotted for July 29, 2023, zooming her image bigger than the rest, which prompted chaos among them.
However, these fights prompted Lady Kola to release a song titled “Little Girls” for her rivals and use the edited banner as a cover for her new song.
The beef continued with Kola beefing with one fellow female artist best known by her stage name, Queen Zed, who was also part of the team Kola called her little girls.
Lady Kola got arrested twice in the midst of this drama after the release of her famous and provocative banger before it was banned by the court.
The purpose of the then-organized concert was to show peace, love, and togetherness amongst the female divas.
The concert was an idea of Talia Fisher and Rebecca Trey, with the help of Young P Promotions.
Female artists who were involved were Queen Zee, Irene Toss, Lady Kola, Hadia Badi, Rebecca Trey, Hani Breva, Tasha K. Exodus, Juna de Star, and Talia Fisher.
No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper efforts to reach out to the accused and court-embattle Lady Kola and her beef Queen Zee regarding the latest developments from the high court were futile by press time.