Weeks after he was slapped with a legal notice for copyright violations, veteran singer SP Balasubrahmanyam cleared the air over his equation with music composer Ilaiyaraaja.
Speaking to Puthiya Thalaimurai, the singer made it clear that he is still friends with the legendary music director but added that the legal notice disturbed him. Ilaiyaraaja’s move triggered rumours that all was not well between the singer and the composer.
SPB was on his SPB50 tour in the United States when he along with singers Chithra and Charan received a legal notice stating they were not allowed to perform Ilaiyaraaja’s compositions without his permission. The legal notice reportedly stated that performing the music director's songs without his permission is violating copyright laws and the singer will have to pay huge financial penalties and face legal action.
Despite the legal notice, SPB says he realised that the show must go on. He immediately changed the song list, choosing hit numbers he had sung for other music composers in his long career. The singer also noted that people, who attended his concert were cooperative and didn’t complain.
Shortly after receiving the legal notice, SPB took to Facebook on March 18 to say, "I did not get any feelers from Shri. Raja's office at that time (when the concert began). I don't know why now when we started our US tour. I am ignorant of the law. If it is a law, so be it and I obey it."
(Content provided by Digital Native)