Composer Ilayaraja sends legal notice to singer SPB

One of India's greatest music directors, Ilayaraja, has sent a legal notice to one of India's finest singers, SP Balasubrahmanyam. Balasubrahmanyam, who is also affectionately known as SPB and who is on a world tour at the moment, confirmed the news with a post on his Facebook account.

SPB said an attorney representing the music director had sent legal notices to not just him but also his son, SP Charan, singer Chithra, to the organisers of the concerts in different cities and the management at different venues, stating that they were not supposed to perform compositions of Ilayaraja without his permission. If they did, the notice said, they would be infringing copyright law and have to pay huge financial penalities and face legal action.

The singer, therefore, said they would not be performing Ilayaraja's songs from now, but that the concerts would still happen as he had sung several songs for other composers too.

The entire text of SPB's post is presented below...

Both SPB and Ilayaraja, who, until now, were thick friends, are giants in the music world. They enjoy huge fan following and have several achievements to their credit. In fact, SPB, one of India's most respected and loved singers, has won the National award for Best Male Singer five times. He has sung over 40,000 songs in several languages and holds the Guinness record for having recorded the maximum number of songs.

Ilayaraja, who is fondly referred to as Isaignani (musical genius) and Maestro, has composed music for over 1,000 films. Among several other achievements, the Padma Bhushan winner has won the National award five times.

SPB has sung thousands of songs scored by Ilayaraja. Many of them have gone on to become chartbusters and, eventually, classics.

This move of Ilayaraja has come as a surprise to many. Music buffs are now hoping this development does not cause a rift in the relationship between the two great talents.