Cruz Sanny Vaz de QuepemTo quote Rabindranath Tagore in Konkani:
"Deva mornam zaun asat tujim rochnam.
Jedna tim zaun asat tujim rochnam,
Tednam tim koxinch amkam chukonam
Punn zaite pavtt Deva tim sonspak mat amkam thakoth assona."
Hea vellar Deva nam amkam thakoth sonspak moronn hea amchea bhavachem.
Deva dhi amkam thakot sonspak moron hea bhavachem.
Amkam ani tache familik thakoth and tachea othmeank sorginchem raj, oxem zaum.
The death of Sanny de Quepem was not at all expected at this time. 9th of November 2007 will go down in the history of Kuwait Goan Tiatrists as the blackest day. In the history of Kuwait Goan Tiatrists we do not have similar cases happening earlier and besides there was no greater tiatrist as Sanny de Quepem who breathed his last in Kuwait. Sanny de Quepem was a very good singer with melodious voice which was a gift for him from God. Besides a very good singer he was also a very good composer.
My close association with him started a year after his coming to Kuwait from Saudi Arabia. According to Sanny de Quepem, he was recruited to Saudi Arabia by my late brother Jose Maria. My brother was recruiting personnel from Goa to EDOK company in Saudi Arabia. When Sanny came to Kuwait I met him as Veronica but when he came to know that I am the brother of Jose Maria, he became very close to me. I liked him because of his beautiful singing. He was a staunch reader of my articles without missing a single, not only in Kuwait but also when he was in Goa and Saudi Arabia. He made especial file of all the cuttings of my articles and based on these he composed some of his beautiful, historical and wisdomatic songs. He loved to talk to me and listen to my talk too. He was a very good listener. A very learned man in many subjects. He had very good knowledge of Goan history, cultural and traditional aspects of Goa.
His songs had deep philosophical meanings and carried information that made the audience glued to his words. Many times he used to request me for good stories to compose intelligent songs. For this purpose he used to come to my place and on his small pocket tape recorder used to record what I spoke and then go home and compose his songs. Some of the great songs which he composed in such a manner are “Ayah” recorded in Rosary Ferns Album “Mog – Visvas – Sosnnikai”; “Tiatro ani Tiatrists”; “Kiddo” and some others. Kiddo song is based on greatness of a worm as depicted by Shakespeare in his masterpiece drama Hamlet. This song is very beautiful and after composing it he showed it to me but unfortunately he did not render it anywhere nor recorded. I don’t know where it is now. This is the most precious and philosophical of all his songs. I only hope at least his brother will know where it is kept.
Sunny in a trio with Rosary and Querobin Carvalho
He had great love for Tiatro and to sing on the stage. Wherever I was involved with Tiatro and Musical Shows with Rosary Ferns and Fidelis Fernandes, he used to be a part of our troupe. Not only to act but also to fully support and cooperate. Fidelis Fernandes and his brother Rosary Ferns spotted Sanny while singing in one show and immediately inducted him in our group. When Kuwait Konknni Kendr 4 years back organized its unique type of Konkani Show – “Songit Sanz” – Sanny was like a hero where he rendered his sweet and charming voice, a beautiful Mando with Querobina Carvalho. It was composed by Rosary Ferns. Such a beautifully rendered Mando I never heard before with a nice dress code of Tailcoat and Chimneypot Hat by him. As a singer he was very daring on the stage. When Kuwait Tiatristanchi Sonvstha introduced a clause in its system to keep some Tiatrists out of its fold out of envy, Sanny strongly opposed the Kuwait Tiatristanchi Sonvstha and refused to associate with it in any manner. He told me what Sonvstha was doing is not correct and I must oppose it no matter they keep me in their fold or throw me out. He did not like splits amongst tiatrists. He said it was time for him to fight the dadagiri of Jose Rod against innocent Rosary Ferns whom Jose Rod wants to keep out of stage as if the stage is his father’s property. While fighting this battle, Sanny was scornfully looking at the other members of Sonvstha for blindly supporting Jose Rod and his chamchas for following the code of Jose Rod meaning “Rosary Aslear Jose Rod Na”.
One day Marcus Vaz came to my house and almost tears in his eyes told me that “Motto”, Jose Rod and others strongly warned him not to associate with me in any of the tiatros organized by me. When I told this to Sanny, he got wild and said we must oppose these rascals who are trying to monopolize not only Tiatro in Kuwait but also Tiatrists. Sanny in fact did not like Sonvstha and its divisive members. Sonvstha also kept him at a distance because of his closeness with Rosary Ferns. The chord between them was cut and neither cared for each other.
Sanny was a very challenging singer and to prove this he composed a very daring song and rendered it beautifully dubbing the author of the discriminatory code known as “To Aslear Aum Nachona”, as coward, discriminator, traitor and ended it with a statement “Ignorant tum Xinkop xinklolo rostad". Sanny rendered this song in Simon’s Tiatro where the entire hall packed audience applauded him fabulously and he was also called back to sing it again. There was no stoppage for Sanny. During one of our conversation on the stupidity of Kuwait Tiatristanchi Sonvstha, Sanny told me that because of his close association with Rosary Ferns, sonvstha is against me especially its mentor and initiator Jose Rod who used to tell that “Sanny azunui ‘T’ zaunk na”. T refers to Tiatrist as if Jose Rod is a matured tiatrist like J.P. Souzalin. Further Sanny said some of the tiatrists from Sonvstha, to show their total allegiance to Jose Rod and other destructive elements never even talked to him adding that Sonvstha kept a distance between him and itself.
Sanny participating in a Manddo with Querobin Carvalho
Best of Sanny’s performances were with Rosary Ferns in Rosary’s trios either with Sylvester Vaz or Querobina Carvalho. Their trios were the most sought after by the audience. The most memorable trio of theirs was “Bapuji Gandhi” where Sanny dressed like a Gandhi and looked also like a real Gandhi. The other best trio that he sang with Rosary and Sylvester was “Matarponn” and yet another beautiful and interesting trio he sang with Rosary and Querobina was “Portuguez Tempacho”. These are just few examples where I can cite his greatness. His solos were also equally good and interesting. He also composed and rendered duets either with local or visiting females artistes. Tunes of many of his songs were very beautiful based on old English songs. He loved many of the English oldies and knew them by heart.
He was not only a good singer but he could play any given role to the satisfaction of the director. For example in Rosary Ferns Tiatro “Bhurgim Maim Paichem Sukh”, he did a wonderful role of a mentally retarded boy.
Sanny with Comdian Humbert and Prince Jacob
He acted in Tiatros not for the love of money but for the love of Tiatro. I don’t think he accepted money from any of the directors but on the contrary he used to shell out money from his own pocket for helping financially, some of the directors in providing Air Tickets and also the payments to the visiting artistes. Many times he used to purchase ticket books from the directors and give the tickets free to many of his friends who could not afford to buy the same. Best of his performances were done in the Shows organized by Konkani Heritage Kuwait and Kuwait Konknni Kendr.
He was first time introduced to Konkani Album by Rosary Ferns in his Album “Raag” where he rendered a beautiful song “Kazar” and later on Sanny de Quepem himself produced his two Albums, the last being NRI. Sanny also played a small role in T-Bush E-Cinema ‘BLACK Nesop Atanchem Fashion’ that was released in Kuwait recently.
He loves social work and to do this he used to spend money from his own pocket. Sometimes he financed the Air Tickets of some of the destitute Goan maids from Kuwait to Goa but never made a show out of it. Silently doing philanthropic activities was his forte.
As a man he was good at heart but if time comes he could be very defying and challenging. Though physically he had a thin frame but intellectually he had lot of strength. Besides being a Tiatrist, he was also a good writer. Recently he was very regular in goanet and gulf-goans doing lot of write-ups either as “cut and paste” or his own originals. He had good command of English as well as Konkani too in which he wrote many of his articles.
As a lover of Konkani we will miss his presence in Kuwait and his assistance for Konkani causes. He loved Konkani, he loved Goa and he loved Goan causes. In his death we lost a great supporter of our causes. When the news of his death was known everyone started talking of Sanny only. This shows his popularity in Kuwait amongst Goans. He was not a managing director of any company nor an owner, he was not a president of any Goan association nor a leader yet he was very popular by just being a Tiatrist. This shows the strength of great tiatrists. May his soul rest in peace and may God give strength to his wife and children to bear this colossal loss.
On Monday at Kuwait City Cathedral memorial a Mass was offered by Kuwait Goa Tiatristanchi Sonvstha. Sanny was not a member of KGTS. By organizing this memorial service in English the organizers have insulted Sanny because Sanny would not accept anything in English as a lover of Konkani. If any of the songs of Sanny were rendered after the Mass then it would be a befitting tribute to Sanny’s tiatristpon. Somebody who is very close and who knows Sanny well should have rendered the speech instead of by Araujo. The majority of the people who attended the service came there only because they loved Sanny and not because of KGTS. Sanny’s death was used by KGTS for its own promotion.
Sannychea mornan nhoich ek khoddegant tiatrist somplo punn ek nizacho Goykar melo.
Sanny melo vo Sanny-k marlo? Sanny Goa Day hea dissa somplo ou Sanny “Goa Death Day” hea dissa melo?
Hea fattlean vachat.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
