[Written by Sigmund de Souza – Courtesy Goa Messenger]
It was a birthday bash with a difference and like none that Goa had ever witnessed before. Goa’s favourite son and one of the most famous personalities in contemporary Indian music, Remo Fernandes turned fifty on 8 May and the inimitable entertainer showed that he knows how to celebrate.
Performing before about 25000 fans at the jam-packed Panjim Gymkhana Grounds, teaming up with bands and singers with whom he had grown up with through the years, Remo’s 50th Birthday Concert turned out to be a complete entertainer.
Having worked for a whole month, putting the concert together, supervising arrangements for his buddies from former bands, who arrived from all over the country and abroad and, going through rehearsals with them for days, Remo dished out his greatest performance before his hometown fans and by far the biggest concert that Goa has seen in the new millennium.
Displaying awesome energy and stamina, that would make a man half his age stagger, the versatile musician who has dominated the Goan music scene for almost two decades now, teamed up with his school days band ‘Beat 4’, Architecture college days band ‘The Savages’, hippy days band ‘Indiana’ and his current touring band ‘Microwave Papadums’.
Speaking to GM after his concert, Remo said he didn’t feel a day over twenty. “I know some musicians who hide their age. So why am I so happy that I have turned 50? I don’t know, I just feel great that I am 50. I still feel young and I don’t even dye my hair! I guess it’s just that I enjoy doing my music so much,” said Goa’s golden boy….Ooops, his not a boy anymore!
Remo kicked off the concert singing ‘Minha Maizinha Querida’ (My Mother Beloved), which he had sung as a five-year-old at Clube Nacional in Panjim. The crowd’s response was instant, a thunderous applause. He followed that up with the Konkani dulpods, getting everyone swaying, clapping and singing from the word ‘go’. At one point, he had everyone in peels of laughter with his humorous rendition of ‘Undra Mhojea Mama’ in five different accents of Konkani.
After performing three songs with the Microwave Papudums, it was the turn of the ‘Beat 4’ to get on stage. The surviving members of the band, Nandinho Lobato Faria and Caetano de Abreu teamed up with Remo to belt their school-day favourites. Drummer Tony Godinho, who had flown down all the way from Oman, could not join the band since he was recuperating from a mild heart stroke, suffered a couple of days earlier at a dinner following a rehearsal. Remo asked the crowd to clap for Tony so loud that he would hear them all the way at the GMC hospital in Bambolim. And the crowd obliged.
Lucio Miranda, Remo’s childhood idol, oldest friend, mentor, and fellow musician, sang three songs to the sound track from his album ‘Lucio’, which was arranged and recorded by Remo. It is heartening to see how Lucio has recovered from the injuries he suffered in a serious road accident last November. His amazing voice had the audience cheering him all the way.
Then came a power packed performance from ‘The Savages’. Bashir Sheik (drums), Prabhakar Mundkur (keyboard), Ralph Pais (bass guitar), and Remo (lead guitar) left the audience gasping at the sheer energy and enthusiasm displayed by the former musicians, now all in their 50s. Bashir got a rousing cheer from the crowd for his awesome performance on the drums.
An audiovisual creating awareness on SARS, presented by the Goa Government, was then filmed, explaining what the disease was all about, what precautions one should take and what facilities the government had in place to tackle the eventuality of an outbreak of the SARS virus. There were messages from the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Health Minister Dr. Suresh Amonkar and Health Secretary Rina Ray during the documentary.
The most touching moment of the concert came when Remo acknowledged how he missed his childhood mate, the late Alexandre Rosario and the original members of the Microwave Papadums – Dharma, Selwyn and Victor, who died in a tragic accident in Kanpur two years ago. He also fondly remembered Goa’s Spanish guitar virtuoso, the late Dr. Eloy Gomes, whom he said he had admired so much during his childhood years.
Remo was furious when their pictures failed to show up on the giant screen.
One of the sweetest moments of the evening came when the Valadares Sisters – Ruth, Lucia and Jacinta joined Remo on stage after staying away from the limelight for about 20 years. Remo told the audience that the sisters fondly referred to him as their brother and shared a very deep bond of affection. Cheered by an enthusiastic audience, Remo backed them up with just his acoustic guitar, as they sang a Samba medley, followed by ‘Bonequita Linda’ (which ended with a verse in Konkani) and signed off with a strapping rendition of ‘Tinta Rella Di Luna’.
Next on stage was ‘Indiana’, the band that Remo had formed with the versatile percussionist Bondo, tabla player Lala and Abel on the bass guitar. Abel could not make it to the concert, but the others did. Remo once again brought back memories of the days when full moon parties with live concerts and fusion music were the happening scene in Goa. Bondo, who came down for the show from Mumbai, drew a lot of applause from the crowd although he gave a more subdued performance.
Remo then went on solo (with his box guitar) to sing some of the songs that had become very popular in Goa during the 80s, songs like A Pig’s Eye View, Everybody Wants To (his AIDS awareness song), The Paper Caper and Graham Bell. He also performed his mega-hit songs like ‘O Meri Munni’, ‘Hamma’ and ‘Ocean Queen’ (dedicated to his wife Michelle) backed by the Microwave Papudums.
By now it was a half past Eleven in the evening, and trust the Goa Police to spoil the party. They suddenly asked that the concert be wound up. Remo received great applause from the crowd when he took a dig at the Deputy Inspector General of the Goa Police, who was at the concert earlier in the evening. “Since he has left the venue, his policemen are back to stop the show”, remarked Remo over the microphone in his trademark bold and forthright style.
After his power packed rendition of Jalwa, Remo called all the artists of the evening back on stage to take a final bow. They obliged and then prompted the crowd to join them in singing the ‘Birthday Song’ for Remo, and the crowd obliged, bringing down the curtains on one of the most amazing concerts that Goa has ever seen.
Remo’s performance had lasted four and a half hours and he still seemed to have more left in him. It was five minutes to midnight when the concert ended. The amazing thing was that most of the crowd, which comprised schoolchildren and teenagers to middle-aged and older folk, had filled in at about 6.30 pm and were on their feat for the entire duration of the show.
The 50,000-watt state of the art sound–complete with relay traps, impressive stage lights mounted on trusses that moved and the huge stage was set up by Reynolds, Bangalore. The stage sets were done by Lesley Reynolds, Goa, and the giant screens and live video coverage were provided by Shamir Diniz with Margao Electronics.