Listen to the song from the following video.

Recognise it? Yep, it’s from Enigma’s Return to Innocence. I didn’t know this story before but apparently Enigma used the old man’s voice without permission and after making millions with it, they didn’t even compensate him. Even worse, they didn’t even recognize him as the performer for the song. His name is Di Fang, an elder from a tribe in Taiwan. The song is actually an elders’ drinking song.

When approached by them, Enigma’s production company challenged them to bring them to court, hoping that the millions of money needed to bring the case would deter them. However with the support of the Taiwanese people they did in 1997 and justice prevailed 2 years later when the lawsuit was resolved out of court in Difang’s favor. In the settlement, Enigma’s recording company agreed to compensate Difang financially.

DiFang passed away in 2002 at the age of 82.

Actually, at first I thought it was sung by a Native American and I usually have that image in my head whenever I hear it. Well I think from now on, I can correct this mistake, and give due recognition to the late Di Fang though it’s only in my head.

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