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[ MUSIC ] American who ‘Tajik Jimmy’ sings his way to lost file-sharing fame in Russia case gets replay

by Steve Karnowski One-man band Baimurat Allaberiyev, who first drew attention after shaky videos shot with mobile phones AP, Minneapolis surfaced on the Internet, has been compared to Susan Boyle of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ he Minnesota woman who became the only music file- sharing defendant so far to go to trial in the US is getting a by Alexander Osipovich T replay two years after losing the case. AFP, KOLOMNA, Russia Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a 32-year-old mother of four and self- described “huge music fan,” will be armed with aggressive new aimurat Allaberiyev, Jimmy” be the opening act for lawyers when her retrial begins in federal court here today. a diminutive native the politically outspoken British The lawsuit is among the last vestiges of an anti-piracy of Tajikistan who has electronica group Asian Dub campaign that the recording industry ultimately dropped amid herded sheep, picked Foundation when it visited St widespread criticism. The Recording Industry Association of cotton and toiled in Petersburg in April. America (RIAA) said in December it had stopped filing lawsuits Bconstruction, hardly looks like When Allaberiyev’s like these and would work instead with Internet service Russia’s latest musical sensation. performance got an enthusiastic providers to cut access to those it deems illegal file-sharers. But Allaberiyev has remarkable reception from the hip club- But the recording industry plans to proceed with cases that are talent that sets him apart from the going crowd, Bortnyuk was so already filed. millions of Central Asians who impressed that he signed a record Thomas-Rasset is the rare defendant who has fought back. come to Russia to escape crushing deal with him that same night. Music companies have filed more than 30,000 similar poverty at home. “I consider him a very talented copyright lawsuits in recent years against people they accused A musical prodigy, he can person,” Bortnyuk told AFP. of illegally swapping songs through Internet file-sharing services perform Bollywood showstoppers The producer said he would such as Kazaa. as a one-man band, equipped with seek to preserve Allaberiyev’s None of the others has made it to trial yet. nothing but an uncanny falsetto aura of raw talent as they worked Faced with huge legal bills, most settled for an average of about and a metal bucket. together in the recording studio. US$3,500, even if they insisted they had done nothing wrong. That — and the miraculous “We will not impose any strict Thomas-Rasset’s new lawyer, K.A.D. Camara, notes the settle- star-making powers of the Internet conditions on him. For instance, ments add up to more than US$100 million; the RIAA contends its — have turned this 37-year-old he might not need any instrument legal costs exceeded the settlement money it brought in. into a cult celebrity here. other than an aluminum bucket,” The lawsuits have turned into a public relations nightmare Allaberiyev won fame after Bortnyuk said. for the recording industry, putting music companies in the shaky videos shot with mobile Despite his newfound fame, position of going after their most ardent fans. Blogs and media phones surfaced on the Internet Allaberiyev faces the same risks reports have highlighted heavy-handed tactics against several that showed him performing songs as other Central Asians in Russia. improbable targets. like “Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Aaja” One April evening, he was riding In 2006, for example, the industry dropped a lawsuit against from the 1983 Bollywood classic a train when he was attacked by a Tanya Andersen, a disabled single mother in Oregon. Andersen Disco Dancer. group of strangers who knocked said she had been misidentified and never downloaded the Set against grim backdrops out his two front teeth. music she was accused of stealing. Industry representatives such as a construction site or Allaberiyev said the attackers allegedly threatened to question her 10-year-old daughter if she a storeroom full of boxes, the were not skinheads and that he didn’t pay up. videos became a viral sensation. Baimurat Allaberiyev, or “Tajik Jimmy,” a Tajikistan native who has herded sheep, picked cotton and toiled in construction, performs was assaulted “for no reason” And in 2007, the companies backed off their attempt to They have now been viewed more as the opening act for British electronica group Asian Dub Foundation in St Petersburg on April 5. PHOTO: AFP — but violence against Central sue an elderly Texas grandmother, Rhonda Crain, who had than 400,000 times on YouTube, Asians motivated by racist hatred been displaced by Hurricane Rita in 2005 and said she never the video-sharing Web site. who soared to fame when her Allaberiyev, who was born on a newly independent Tajikistan. The is frequent in Russia. downloaded music. They settled for no money, just her Allaberiyev — who is widely audition on Britain’s Got Talent collective farm in what was then country plunged into deep poverty. In fact, before Allaberiyev’s agreement not to download any music illegally. known as “Tajik Jimmy” despite became a smash hit on YouTube. the Soviet republic of Tajikistan, Allaberiyev spent some time rise to fame, the best-known Camara said he hoped to turn Thomas-Rasset’s retrial into a the fact that he is actually an Allaberiyev spoke to AFP the close to the Afghan border, one of herding sheep in Tajikistan, then Internet video featuring a Tajik trial against the RIAA, both before the jury and in the court of ethnic Uzbek — now has a record same day he was filmed by a 10 brothers and sisters. picking cotton in more prosperous was perhaps The Execution public opinion. A win by the defense, he said, could undermine deal and has given concerts in television crew and visited by a Encouraged by a musician Kazakhstan. of a Tajik and a Dagestani, a the other music-sharing cases. Moscow and St Petersburg. local newspaper photographer. uncle, Allaberiyev enrolled in He sang for friends and notorious clip apparently created RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth insisted the music His success is striking given He recalled how his talents after-school music classes, while performed at the occasional by Russian ultranationalists. companies will again prevail, just as they had in 2007 when that Central Asians suffer were noticed after he arrived in a projectionist brother introduced wedding, but was only noticed by The video, which surfaced a federal jury in Duluth found Thomas-Rasset had violated widespread discrimination in Russia in 2008 to build the Rio him to the colorful world of a broader public after coming to online in 2007, shows masked men copyrights by offering 24 songs on the Kazaa file-sharing Russia and are often targeted in shopping center, working side by Indian musicals. Russia. decapitating one dark-skinned network. She was ordered to pay US$222,000 in damages, or racist attacks. side with laborers from across the Relatives noticed that The videos that brought him man and shooting another in the US$9,250 per song. Despite his budding musical former Soviet Union. Allaberiyev could break into a fame reflect the grittiness of head after they are forced to kneel Duckworth said the group does not have figures on cases still career, Allaberiyev remains down “When I worked on the falsetto and sing the female parts migrant workers’ lives as well as under a Nazi flag. pending, but the industry will press ahead with them, saying it to earth and has not quit his day construction site, I used to sing of Bollywood songs, as well as the Allaberiyev’s exuberant love of But Allaberiyev says he feels had to pursue those “who have regularly illegally downloaded job hauling cardboard boxes songs to myself. Then all the male ones. performance. comfortable in Russia, and he music and thumbed their nose at the law and the legal process.” at the Rio shopping center in guys — Russians, Uzbeks, Tajiks No less impressive was his In one movie, after he is done says his fame has helped shield Nor did Duckworth have figures on how many defendants Kolomna, a town 100km southeast — would come up and film me,” ability to memorize a song within singing, a man dressed in a suit him from another problem decided to settle after Thomas-Rasset lost. of Moscow. said Allaberiyev, who looks much several days by repeatedly listening walks into the storeroom and that plagues migrants — police “Suffice to say, the first trial generated a fair amount of “I can’t quit working here,” older than his 37 years. to it on tape, and then re-create it commands: “Let’s go. Get dressed harassment. attention and certainly caused a number of people to think twice Allaberiyev said in an interview, “And they’d say, ‘Jimmy, with perfect rhythm, without even and get out of here.” For many Central Asians in about downloading music illegally,” she said. surrounded by the sleek glass and now we’re going to put that knowing the language. Allaberiyev went mainstream Russia, being stopped by the Thomas-Rasset, who still denies any illegal song swapping, is metal of the shopping mall. “But if on the Internet.’ And it got on “My uncle used to play drums. after local journalists tracked police means they must pay a getting a retrial after US District Judge Michael Davis decided last someone asks me to do a concert, the Internet and lots of people He used to tell me, when you him down and one of them bribe or face jail and deportation. September he erred in telling jurors the companies did not have I’ll go and perform.” downloaded my songs and heard grow up, I’ll buy you drums and a introduced him to a music But not Allaberiyev. “The to prove anyone downloaded the copyright-protected songs she But fame has led to surreal them. synthesizer,” Allaberiyev said. producer, Ilya Bortnyuk, head police all know me,” he said. allegedly made available. Davis later concluded the law requires changes for Allaberiyev, who has “And that’s how I became a But history interfered when of the Light Music promoting “They say, Jimmy, you’re a good that actual distribution be shown. been compared to Susan Boyle, star.” the Soviet Union collapsed in company in St Petersburg. singer, you’re our star! And they The companies suing are subsidiaries of all four major the middle-aged Scottish woman Music came early to 1991 and civil war broke out in Bortnyuk agreed to let “Tajik let me go.” recording companies, Warner Music Group Corp, Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, EMI Group PLC and Sony Corp’s Sony Music Entertainment. The defense is now being handled by Camara and his partner, who agreed to take the case for free after the court last month ihanna will testify at next the June 22 hearing, setting the winning artist, whose real name relieved her previous attorney, Brian Toder, who had put in Rmonth’s hearing in the stage for a tense confrontation is Usher Raymond IV, filed the nearly US$130,000 worth of unpaid time. Chris Brown case, her lawyer has between the couple. petition Friday in Superior Court Camara, who’s about to turn 25, was just 19 when he became the confirmed. Prosecutors have said Los Angeles superior court in Atlanta. youngest person ever to graduate from Harvard Law School, and that they will issue a subpoena judge Patricia Schnegg has also The court record did not he graduated with high honors. He and his partner at their Houston calling the singer to discuss the ruled on a motion brought by give any details about the split law firm, Joe Sibley, 34, a classmate, were already involved in a events of Feb. 8, when Brown Brown’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, between the R ’��������������n’������������� B star and couple of similar cases. He said they agreed to defend Thomas- allegedly assaulted her. regarding a police photograph his wife, who were married in Rasset for free in hopes of setting precedents for other cases. Rihanna’s lawyer Donald Etra of Rihanna that was apparently August 2007. In the short time since they took over the case, Camara and said that she will comply with leaked to the press. Morgan Freeman’s attorney Sibley have tried some new legal tricks, with mixed success. the order and attend the hearing Judge Schnegg deemed the claims a woman who was with the On Thursday, Davis shot down their request to suppress on Monday of next week. This motion premature, calling it “a actor when he wrecked a car in evidence gathered by the MediaSentry anti-piracy service. The would be the singer’s first court fishing expedition.” Rihanna will testify in Chris Brown’s case Mississippi last August was partly judge did not buy Camara’s claim that MediaSentry violated appearance since charges were A day after fleecing Andorra next week. photo; AP to blame for the accident, though a federal wiretapping law and a state law regulating private filed against Brown in March. Etra 6-0, England soccer star David he won’t elaborate. detectives when it tracked down his client. Had Camara won on would not comment on the current Beckham launched a new except for the underpants, perched Demaris Meyer is suing that point, however, the recording companies could have been relationship between Brown and underwear campaign for the on a chair with his legs spread. A Freeman in US District Court, left without much of a case against her or other defendants. Rihanna, but said that his client Giorgio Armani fashion label. braided rope is draped around his claiming Freeman was negligent But the defense did manage to create at least a headache for was closely following the case. Beckham said he was “proud torso which partially covers his when the car he was driving ran the music labels by demanding that they produce certified copies Brown is accused of attacking but a little embarrassed” by the tattooed arms. off the road and flipped. from the US Copyright Office of the copyrights on the 24 tracks in Rihanna in the couple’s rented colossal billboard photograph of “He’s gorgeous,” 18-year-old Both Meyer and Freeman were question, to prove they really do own the songs. car on the weekend of this year’s himself in nothing but a pair of model Georgia Palmer raved, one seriously injured in the crash on a The industry’s lawyers were caught by surprise, having gotten Grammy awards. If convicted, tight, black briefs emblazoned of hundreds of fans who turned up two-lane highway about 8km west by with uncertified copies during the first trial. Although music he faces up to five years in with the Emporio Armani eagle to witness Beckham’s three-minute of Freeman’s home. companies told Davis on Monday of last week they were not sure jail. Making his first public logo, which now looms appearance, despite a city-wide Meyer sued Freeman in they could get certified copies in time for the new trial, Davis comments since being over London’s Oxford tube strike that plunged large parts February for medical expenses, reminded them that they had the burden of proving they owned charged, Brown Street retail hub. of the British capital into chaos. pain and suffering, lost wages, the copyrights. said yesterday that The 34-year-old Fans in the crowd were mostly permanent disability and Camara said he will seek dismissal of the case if the plaintiffs he was “not a Beckham, currently appreciative of the photograph, property damage. fail that test. monster.” on loan to AC though some were more Meyer has denied reports she’s Corryne McSherry, a staff attorney with the digital-rights Brown is also Milan from the Los impressed by his football prowess. romantically linked to Freeman. group Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the new defense confirmed to appear at Angeles Galaxy “I preferred him last night on Freeman’s attorney, Jack team is taking a creative approach. She said it would have been soccer team, and the pitch,” said eight-year-old H. Hayes Jr, responded to the interesting to see how all the cases that settled might have turned his Spice Girl wife Ben-Jasper from Germany, who lawsuit Friday in a four-page court out if those defendants had free lawyers who were willing to Victoria, have stripped stumbled upon the crowd of document denying almost all the push as hard. Beckham down before for Armani onlookers while exploring London allegations or saying Freeman “This case could end up being the tail end of a frankly stripped campaigns. on a family holiday. doesn’t know enough about them shameful and certainly failed campaign to go after users,” down to his The photograph Court records show singer to form an opinion. McSherry said. briefs for an shows the Usher has filed for divorce from Hayes would not elaborate “Maybe this will be the coda to that long campaign.” underwear English sex Tameka Foster Raymond after Friday when contacted by phone. billboard. symbol less than two years of marriage. “It’s just a car wreck case and On the Net: Recording Industry Association of America: naked The 30-year-old Grammy- — Agencies photo: AP that’s it,’’ he said. www.riaa.com; Recording Industry vs The People lawsuit-  tracking blog: recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com.