In his autobiography ‘Remo’ yesterday, the musician writes about his many loves, including his first big romance – Goa
Twenty-seven years ago,’You and I have become one‘, from the soundtrack of BombayComposed by AR Rahman, was one of the biggest hits of that time. By that time, Rahman was known for his unusual choice of singers to break the playback of what seemed to be a select list. Of course, there was also an element of surprise for listeners when they looked at the song credits to see who sang the latest hit. ,You and I have become one‘, better known as ‘hmm humma’, sung by Remo Fernandes, a detail the singer forgot to share with the TV crew who met him in Goa in the 90s to work on a documentary on his life and music. As he writes in his autobiography, Remo, Published by HarperCollins, “Okay… you go into a studio, hear a song for the first time in your life, record it, go out and never hear it again for months, so obviously that’s it. You forget it completely. Until suddenly, without any warning, it is discarded.”
When Remo speaks to us from his home in Siolim, he looks back on his short stint in Hindi cinema with the kind of quiet affection one seldom finds for his favorite relative – not too far away and not too far away. That’s very close. “After Success” Jalwa, if I really want to be in the movies; I would at least attend the premiere and walk shoulder to shoulder with all the producers and directors. I would try to get as many assignments as possible,” says the 69-year-old Padma Shri awardee, who was approached by filmmaker Gul Anand to co-compose the music for the Hindi film. Jalwa, which was released in 1987 and starred Naseeruddin Shah and Archana Puran Singh in lead roles.
lay bare
An icon of the 1980s, known for songs like ‘flute song‘ And ‘oh my munni’, Remo says that he has never been one to pursue fame and film projects. “Here I was sitting quietly in Goa doing my work, when suddenly Gul Anand came to me and in the same year Shyam Benegal [to make music for films], I was writing my songs in English and I had just released an album of old Goan and Portuguese songs. The film world suddenly came to me. I didn’t go to Bombay or contact any filmmaker. It wasn’t in my scene at all because I didn’t even know enough to think about it,” says Remo, who composed the scintillating soundtrack for the Benegal film. trikal, released in 1985.
Writing an autobiography was not on his list of priorities – making music took most of his time. “There were different phases [in making music], Initially these were all romantic songs. They were all about different girls,” he says of tracks like ‘don’t let him go, He writes of his many relationships with a candor that is rare among Indian artists. Of his partner Xenia, to whom he dedicated the autobiography, he writes: “She made me discover a third new thing about me: that I can be willing, willing, and happily monogamous.”
He engages the reader with humor, wit and an incredibly visual writing style, which makes remo A compelling read. Encouraged by friends, he wrote two chapters in 2009; He was mesmerized by his many anecdotes, including his days of hiking across Europe and college days studying architecture at the JJ School of Arts in Mumbai. But during the lockdown, in 2020, he returned to complete the autobiography.
Porto to Panjimo
remo It is as much about his life as it is an inspiring episode for Goa. Whether it is tracing his family tree, where he talks about his “strict” grandfather Dr Bailon Fernandes, who forbade his sons from playing music, or growing up in Panjim, which he called ” Doll City” with houses made of laterite stone, or about why he wrote ‘Down wooith brown’, Goa is at the center of it all.
The opening sentence of the first chapter expresses his deep love for the idyllic beach paradise that is a world in itself: “I knew by heart the cracks in my old pavement.” It is this bond that draws her back from Porto, Portugal, during the winter months, which has been her second home since the mid-2000s. “I like to come back to Goa and do some shows during Christmas,” he says. The reason for his moving to Porto is also indisputably linked to Goa. The small coastal town in northwestern Portugal reminded him of his childhood in Goa, before it was liberated from Portuguese rule. Goa is where he learned and sang Portuguese’Heroes Do Maro‘ (Heroes of the Sea), the national anthem of Portugal, as part of the Mocidae Portuguesa (Portuguese Youth), the equivalent of the Portuguese National Cadet Corps (NCC).
But most importantly, without Goa, there would be no music in Remo’s life. The two are inextricably tied together and you hear them in Mando, Konkani folk songs that are integral to his journey as a musician, like a film song’Jalwa‘, as they say, “gave him recognition on the streets of India”. He recalls that the students living in the hostel used to sing Portuguese songs from outside his house like ‘surumbai,bara di damo‘ And ‘maria pita che‘ That’s when he felt like home. The students were originally from Daman and Diu, which were also Portuguese colonies at that time.
Remo used to reinterpret in the late 90s’maria pita che, In 2005, during a concert in Dubai, Remo’s backing song on the track impressed British rock band Jethro Tull’s famous flautist and bandleader Ian Anderson.
Remo recalls that he was nervous before the concert, an unfamiliar feeling for someone who first took the stage when he was only six years old. But things changed as soon as he stepped onto the stage, he writes in his autobiography. “As soon as I announced that I was from Goa, there was a roar of approval from the multinational audience, and it got the ball rolling. They were soon singing.”maya yes‘, clapping, dancing in the corridors; The snow had melted, the party had begun. I was at home.”
The magic lies in the three-letter word: Goa.
Published by HarperCollins, Remo (₹799) Available wherever books are sold
The author is a freelance journalist and Faculty of Journalism at Flame University
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