I was surprised: Venkaiah Naidu on SPB-Ilayaraja row

Chennai: Noted playback singer S P SP Balasubrahmanyam has urged music lovers not to sensationalise the issue of legal notice by music maestro Ilayaraja for singing songs composed by him without his permission.

"I request all friends, music lovers and especially all mediapersons, not to make I Raja-SPB issue sensational. It is unfortunate. That is all. Show has to go on, life has to move on. In Gods creation, all are good and equal. Thank you," he said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting M Venkaiah Naidu Tuesday said he was surprised about the controversy and wanted it to be resolved.

"I was surprised hearing the controversy surrounding Sh SP Balasubrahmanyam singing Sh Ilayaraja compositions. Hope it gets positively resolved," he tweeted.

Ilayarajas lawyer had sent legal notice to Balasubrahmanyam, who is on a world tour of concerts, his son Charan (playback singer and actor) and singer Chitra and to all organisers of the concerts to stop singing Ilayarajas compositions without his consent.

Not only Balasubrahmanyam, but also some music troupes performing live concerts have been asked to pay royalty fee for using the compositions of Ilayaraja.

V Raman of popular Lakshman Sruthi Orchestra said the music troupes have already been told to pay up.

"Though Ilayaraja did not insist that troupes like us should pay hefty payments, he indicated that we must give him some bare minimum fee for using his songs and we had agreed," he told PTI.

He, however, said for non-ticketed performances like for temple festivals, this stipulation would not apply.

Meanwhile, some of Balasubrahmanians fans in his Facebook page have urged that the issue be sorted out.

"SPB is born for Ilayaraja and Ilayaraja is born for SPB.. kindly sort out this issue immediately," a fan said. Also, there are posts in support of Illayarajas stand saying the singer should be paid a portion of the revenue from concerts as royalty. "Great Shows, Huge Crowd, Great applause, so much of Money but ignoring the Music Composer and Director. How Fair is it..?" asked one. One of the fans of the playback singer shot back saying, "What about his (SPB) electrifying voice, who (will) pay for that? What royalty he gets?... we listen to the songs not for music just for the luring voice only..."

Several music lovers also regretted the row, pointing to the decades old friendship between the playback singer and the legendary music composer.