Tanzanian pastor furious after a young Kenyan remixed his song, then cashing in on YouTube and Tik Tok

Tanzanian pastor, Faustine Munishi has had his feathers ruffled after one of his gospel tracks got remixed by a Kenyan young man who since then started enjoying fame and online monetization over the song.

Just like what happened to Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up,’ in the famous ‘Rick-rolling’ trending, a few years ago, in the UK, the Pastor Munishi’s hit, ‘Malebo,’ which was released 31 years ago, also got a new lease of life and suddenly became the most popular dance track of 2026 and trending like fire online.

‘Malebo,’ a song that Munishi penned for his close friend ‘Malebo,’ who allegedly refused to become a born-again Christian is one of the Tanzanian church minister’s popular numbers and now made even more famous by a young Kenyan Tiko Tok personality, Titus Tito Muthee.

The young Kenyan reportedly used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to rendition the song, giving the number a dance makeover and voila! The track is now the most popular club hit in Nairobi, Mombasa, Arusha and various parts of East Africa.

But while most residents of Kenya and Tanzania are enjoying the AI remix of ‘Malebo,’ the original composer and singer, is not. In fact, pastor Munishi has already complained about the issue.

As of now, the remixed version of ‘Malebo,’ has been pulled down from ‘YouTube,’ ‘Tik Tok’ and other online platforms over copyright infringement.

Faustine Munishi, who is now serving as a pastor in the Moshi Town of Kilimanjaro, warned young people to become more creative and write their own songs instead of piggybacking on works done by other people and even cashing on them.

Titus has on the other hand admitted to have remixed Munishi’s song without the original owner’s permission and asked the church minister to forgive him for the oversight.

But ‘Malebo,’ a 1995 hit which got a new lease of life through AI remixing, is still blazing fire in local clubs, public ceremonies and personal Bluetooth speakers across East Africa even though the clips on social media platforms have already been removed.

Faustine Munishi who started out as a solo gospel singer in Arusha, Tanzania back in 1980 was later to become a famous singer after moving to Kenya, settling in Nakuru and releasing long-playing (LP)s then mostly on cassette formats.

His first three albums were the most famous works. The fifth, which contained the song ‘Malebo,’ was released in 1995.

At the turn of the new Millennium in 2000, Munishi released a very controversial song, ‘Mpende Adui,’ (Love your enemy) in the seventh and yet another popular album, but the number which attacked Tanzania’s ageing ruling party, CCM caused authorities to switch him off during a live performance in Dar-es-salaam.