Everyone in Goa
was invited. There were no presents, no tickets,
not even any chairs. With music and dancing on the house, singer Remo Fernandes
celebrated his 50th birthday on May 8 by throwing a free mega concert at Panjim.In keeping with his socially oriented themes against drugs, communalism, teenage-sex, violence and corruption, Remo used the get-together to spread awareness of the deadly SARS virus. "I wasn't happy celebrating my 50th birthday alone or with a few friends," says Remo. "So I asked myself what I would be happiest doing that day and it suddenly struck me to throw a concert."
The state government heard of Remo's plan and proposed the use of audiovisuals to create awareness on SARS between performances. In return it offered logistic support for the event.
Some 16 musicians who had played with Remo at some time or the other joined him in the 3-hour concert. "It's going to be great fun playing with Remo after a gap of 30 years," says Bashir Sheikh, band leader of Mumbai-based The Savages, which disbanded in 1974. "I'm trying the drums after 23 years. It's sure going to be a nostalgic trip." Another band member, Prabhakar Mundkur, flew down to Goa for a single rehearsal and flew back to Mumbai.
Remo recalls his first encounter with The Savages: "I was in Mumbai in the early 1970s at the Sir J.J. School of Architecture when I was asked by them to join as lead guitarist. I almost fainted. They were my heroes, and after their hit called Simple Simon Says, they were virtually next to God."
Caetano Abreu, member of Remo's first band The Beat 4, was equally ebullient. "Playing with Remo after 35 years is a great feeling," says Abreu. "We still remember our old songs. It's been great rehearsing for the show."
The Beat 4 was paid Rs 50 for their first show. The money earned was spent the following day on a movie, ice-cream and snacks. "Each of us got Rs 10, but we were thrilled about it," says Abreu. "We were all 14-15 years old then."
Remo attributes his success to his father, Bernardo, a disillusioned musician, who was the driving force behind the formation of The Beat 4. When Remo was five, Bernado presented him with a banjo, but later found him huddled under the bed, crying. "I was crying that evening because I could not get the right notes," says Remo. "Though I couldn't express it to my father he understood and promptly gifted me a mouth organ." He also got from him an accordion and a ukulele.
And then one day, when he was ten, he heard someone play the guitar. "That magical sound possessed me, possessed all my senses and I knew then that I had found my soul mate for life," says Remo.
Influenced by the hippie movement, he left for France after his graduation and spent two and a half years hitchhiking and playing in restaurants across eight countries in Europe and north Africa. In 1982, he returned home refreshed and raring to go. He started the fusion music band Indiana, where the four members occupied his ancestral house at Siolim to create music. They took turns performing household chores, cooking and shopping. The four-month experiment produced ten songs and the group was a rage at the 1982 Jazz India Festival in Mumbai. Individual egos, however, got in the way and the band decided to split. Remo decided to go solo.
Giddy
youth: The Beat 4 group with Remo (extreme left) in 1966Hindi films gave him a wider audience. "When I was a boy, I dreamt of recognition within a select group of people to whom western music was popular," says Remo. "But Gul Anand's Jalwa and Shyam Benegal's Trikaal were something beyond my wildest dreams. In the case of Jalwa, I had to compose an innovative song for 20 minutes non-stop, changing the instruments each time for the chorus."
Remo then formed the band The Microwave Papadums. However, the original group members, barring one, perished in an accident on September 18, 2000, on the Kanpur-Lucknow road after a concert.
Despite acknowledging that he has not been pushy enough to make it really big by moving to Mumbai, London or New York, Remo has no regrets. Being in Goa, he feels, he has had the best of both worlds. "My 2001 album India Beyond was extremely fulfilling," he says. Though he was satisfied with the album, recording companies were not. One company agreed to release it on condition that he assured it a pop album. "Recording companies go by the tried and tested path and are not interested to see the other side despite the fact that a lot of people are fed up of pop," says Remo. "Corporate music is manufactured with a buyer in mind, sidelining those artistes who write straight from the heart."
After 20 years, the musician is now redoing his studio, changing the recording equipment, the carpets and the decor. "When I was 15, I thought that 50 was old," he says. "Hell, when I was five, I thought 15 was old. With every decade, I'm surprised how wrong I was. Being old is a state of mind and I'm happy and grateful to be 50 and rocking."
Remo has plans to release three more albums and dismisses any talk of retirement. "You cannot retire from something you love doing," he says. And, at 50, he says the best is yet to come.