Albanian singer claims Eurovision Serb winner copied her music

TIRANA, May 15 – Soni Malaj, a well known Albanian singer, claims the first notes of her song were copied and used by Serbian singer Maria Serifovic, who won the Eurovision contest last week.
Serifovic’s powerful ballad, Molitva, scored 268 points, beating Ukrainian drag queen Verka Serdyuchka who finished in second place. Russia was third, Turkey fourth and Bulgaria fifth.
But Serbia’s victory celebrations in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest were marred by claims the track is a copy of another song and accusations of distorted eastern European block voting.
Critics believe Molitva, performed by Marija ˥rifovic, is a remake of an old Albanian track of singer Soni Malaj.
A man who posted a video comparing the two songs side by side online said: “I knew this Albanian song long ago. It won a popular song competition called Top Fest that is organized yearly. As soon as I heard Serbia’s song I realized it was plagiarized. I am not aware if they did it intentionally or not, but the similarity was obvious.”
Macedonian composer Mariano Filipovski, or Maki, said that his song for Soni Malaj, titled “Separation,” was made up of 50 percent of the Serb song. He added he was contacting experts to evaluate his charges and if proven he would take legal steps.