Ask a music buff to name popular Tamil songs from the 1970s to 90s, and the list is sure to have chartbusters composed by Ilayaraaja and sung by S.P. Balasubrahmanyam.
Fans of the duo were, therefore, in for a surprise when SPB, as the singer is popularly known, announced on his Facebook page on Saturday that he, and singers Chitra and S.P. Charan had been served legal notices by Ilayaraaja cautioning that they should not perform his compositions without his permission. If they do, they would face legal action for breaking copyright law.
‘Don’t know legalities’
SPB said in response in his FB post: “I am ignorant of these legalities. I did not get any feelers from Shri. Raja’s office at that time. I don’t know why now when we started our U.S. tour. As I said earlier, I am ignorant of the law. If it is a law, so be it and I obey it.”
The singer and music composer have together produced generation-spanning hits including Keladi kanmani , Ilaya nila , Nalam vaazha ennalum , Pothivecha malliga mottu , Kadhaalin deepam ondru and Enna satham indha neram . The ongoing SPB50 world concert tour began in August 2016 in Toronto and performances have taken place in Seattle and Los Angeles in U.S., Russia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, and parts of India.
The FB post kicked up a storm on social media. SPB reacted again on his post and said that since he had got a notice, he either had to respond legally, which he did not want to, or accept the demand. The singer further asked people not to be judgemental.
More SPB shows are scheduled in Dallas, Atlanta, Detroit and Chicago in the U.S. over the next two weeks. The singer said while he could not perform Ilayaraaja’s compositions, the group would present songs of other composers.
Injunction in 2015
The Madras High Court had, in 2015, given an injunction against four music labels from monetising Ilayaraaja’s musical works. The composer had said that he held the exclusive right to all his songs.
