André-Marie Tala

About André-Marie Tala

André-Marie Tala lost his sight at fifteen and built his first guitar from bamboo and fishing line. He handed James Brown a demo of Hot Koki when Brown toured West Africa in 1973, and two years later Brown released a track with the same melody and arrangement under a different title. Tala sued and won in 1978, one of the few times an African musician has successfully pursued an American star for plagiarism. The Hot Koki album itself carried him well beyond Cameroon.