Singapore — Yet another Indian composer has been found to have altered the lyrics to Count On Me Singapore and is selling it online for S$0.67.
The composer, one Gnani Ni Chhayama, has changed the lyrics to one of Singapore’s National Day songs and is selling the track on bandcamp.com.
According to the website, the track was released on Jan 1, 2015.
Last week, Pauline Communications, the company that apparently plagiarised the Count On Me Singapore song, had taken to social media blaming the Indian composer for the entire saga.
In a Facebook post on Mar 14, they wrote: “We would like to inform you that we had produced this song with the help of Mr Joey Mendoza who sold the copyright of the lyrics and music to us, claiming he owned it.”
Read related: Indian composer withdraws claim on Count On Me, Singapore song
The company added that they were sold the copyright in 1999 when they produced a CD titled” We Can Achieve”.
“We were not even aware that this song has been the National Day song of Singapore since 1986,” the communications company explained.
“We have a goal for Mother India/ We can achieve, we can achieve” lyrics are written, copying the lyrics from the 1986 Singapore National Day song.
Every mention of ‘Singapore’ was replaced with “India”. The song title was also changed to “We can achieve” instead of the familiar ‘Count on me‘.
Though Mr Mendoza initially claimed to have composed the song, after a probe by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) on Mar 21, Mr Mendoza said that he “does not lay any claim to the lyrics and tune of the song (Count On Me, Singapore)”.
The second composer laying claim to the song, Mr Chhayama, included the track as part of a larger album with other songs. However, the track alone is being sold for US$0.50 online.
TISG has reached out to Mr Chhayama for comment and clarification. /TISG