Chennai, March 19 (PTI): Veteran singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam has received a legal notice from music maestro Ilayaraja for belting out his compositions without his permission at concerts.
Balasubrahmanyam, currently in the US as part of a world tour, said he would now render songs of other music composers following Ilayaraja's objections.
The 70-year-old singer, who has the National Award many times, wrote a Facebook post terming the incident "unfortunate" and requested "all friends, music lovers and especially all media persons, not to make I.Raja-SPB issue sensational". The singer is fondly called "SPB" by fans.
Balasubrahmanyam said an attorney representing Ilayaraja had a few days ago sent the notices to him, his son Charan (playback singer and actor) and singer Chitra and to organisers of other concerts asking them to ensure the music director's compositions were not sung or played without his consent.
The notice said if they continue to do so, it would amount to breaking the copyright law and he and his team would have to pay huge financial penalties and face legal action, Balasubrahmanyam said. Ilayaraja's counsel was not available for comment.
"Let me say, I am ignorant of these legalities. Charan (his son) designed this world tour in August in Toronto (Canada) and did a lot of shows in India too. I did not get any feelers from Raja's (Ilayaraja's) office at that time. I do not know why now when we started US tour (the notice was sent). As I said earlier, if it is a law, so be it and I obey it," Balasubrahmanyam said.
But the singer, who has rendered many Ilayaraja hits in his five decades of signing, said "the show (the concerts) should happen". "By God's grace, I have sung lots of other (music) composers' songs too, which we will present. Hope you will bless our concerts as usual."
He requested fans not to have any "harsh" opinions and discussions over the controversy on Facebook. "If this is the design of God, I obey it with reverence."
Balasubrahmanyam has sung over 40,000 songs in several languages, including Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Telugu. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2011.
