Sri Lanka’s music industry has produced a number of tracks that have been hits locally as well as internationally, taking local artists to the global stage. However, several controversies have also emerged from the industry, highlighting the need for a better understanding of rights and credit in the creation of music.

One of the recent controversies is the one surrounding ‘Api Natamu’, a song by Corrine Almeida, with Shehan Wijetunga credited for the lyrics and Azlan Shariffdeen for melody and music, which many pointed out the recently released ‘Eh Yaye’ by Romaine Willis was extremely similar to. Willis’ song, released on 4 April, was removed from YouTube soon after due to a copyright claim by Corrine Almeida, as per the message displayed on the platform.

Willis’ claims

‘Eh Yaye’ credits Shehan Wijetunga, Manurangana Wijesekara, and Shermaine Willis – Romaine Willis’ sister – for the lyrics and Pasan Liyanage for music production. In a video posted a day after the song was released, Romaine Willis explained that a few hours after the video was released, it was taken down on YouTube due to a false copyright claim.

“This situation has made me realise what a strong support system I have – such a caring and uplifting community of people – and I’m genuinely humbled,” she said.

Willis added: “I never have nor ever will intentionally steal another artist’s work. I own all rights to my single ‘Eh Yaye’, released last year. And I possess all legal documents to prove it. The video will be back on my socials very soon, so my fans, please be patient and gentle, especially when addressing other artists and people involved. I will not take part in cyberbullying, nor will I encourage it.”

The caption of the video, posted on Facebook, read: “I never have nor will I ever intentionally steal another artist’s work. The melody, lyrics, and composition of the song ‘Eh Yaye’ once belonged to my sister Shermaine Willis, and the song now belongs to me.”

Corrine Almeida released the official lyric video of ‘Api Natamu’ on 27 March

Almeida shares her views

Corrine Almeida, sharing Willis’ post announcing the release of the song, wrote: “Azlan and myself have legal documents certified by our lawyer when I made the payment to this song ‘Api Natamu’ in the year 2021 and got full rights to it. Azlan had given this song to Romaine Willis’ sister to perform at a show or two of Imran’s, while he was managing her, but never gave any rights to her. All rights of the song were completely his is what he told me, including the lyrics since he had paid the relevant fees to someone by the name of Shehan.”

Almeida’s post refers to Imran Saibo, the Managing Director of Funtime. The artist went on to say that she has a recording of Shermaine Willis performing the song with the original lyrics, but that now the Willis sisters were claiming the song to be theirs, with a few changes made to the lyrics and the title of the song.

“My darling, you simply cannot verbally claim songs in this manner. Please understand that. Azlan has got everything to prove since 2014 and we both have every document to prove since 2020/2021. A couple of years ago, I even did a different version of this song for ‘Sparsha’ on TV Derana.”

The singer said that she would have been happy to see Romaine Willis perform a cover of the song without claiming it to be material belonging to her or her sister. In another post on Facebook, Almeida said: “Let’s see how the legal side will handle it. Remember, what goes around, comes around and I’ve just left it to the universe and it will definitely sort things out for us.”

Shariffdeen addresses the controversy

Meanwhile, Azlan Shariffdeen, who is credited on Almeida’s ‘Api Natamu’ for melody and music, went live on Facebook to address the controversy surrounding the song earlier this week. He praised Willis’ video, saying it was fantastic and wished the entire team all the best, but then addressed the issue regarding the song.

“Over the last 20 years, I have worked on many songs. Of those of you who know me for all that work, some are blindly supporting me because you know I’m not the type of person who needs to steal someone else’s song,” Shariffdeen said, asking them not to blindly attack people like the Willis sisters and instead encouraging people to make a decision after listening to his side of the story.

Speaking about the rights of the song, he said it was complicated, explaining that Shehan Wijetunga wrote it upon Shariffdeen’s request. The project began in 2014, and he claimed to have all the source files. Shariffdeen paid Wijetunga for the lyrics in 2017, and said he made the song’s melody, chord progression, and rhythm himself.

“When I was in a relationship with Shermaine, we shared many things. In addition to this song, there are many others I gave her, like ‘Walk Away’, which I gave her after the breakup. She did a cover of ‘Master Sir’, for which I arranged the music,” he said, adding that with regard to ‘Api Natamu’, Shermaine was allowed to perform the song at a few events, but was told by Shariffdeen that the song doesn’t belong to her.

In 2021, he gave the song to Almeida, and also informed Shermaine that the rights to the song had changed hands.

He went on to say that despite both Shermaine and Romaine claiming that the song was written by Shermaine, he would like to invite Shermaine to show how she created the song step by step before Shariffdeen’s 2014 project. He also shared that Shermaine Willis had new lyrics written by Shehan Wijetunga and acquired the rights to these new lyrics.

Clarifying that he only asked that the song be released as a cover or an alternative version, giving him due credit, Shariffdeen said that when Romaine Willis posted the trailer of the song, he reached out to her, but that she didn’t respond to his messages nor answer his calls. He then reached out to Willis’ manager DJ Mass, via a mutual friend, but was told that DJ Mass wasn’t interested in talking to him about the subject, and was told to talk to Shermaine Willis instead.

He then reached out to Shermaine Willis, but didn’t receive a response.

While the creators of ‘Api Natamu’ and ‘Eh Yaye’ have taken to social media to share their sides of the story, the incident sheds light on just how tangled the web of rights is in Sri Lanka’s music industry, with the incident taking place just days after Senaka Batagoda was barred by courts from singing seven popular songs due to claims made by lyricist Janath Kulathilake.