On his 101st birthday, the late Romansi writer and musician
Reginald Fernandes was remembered in his birth place Siolim. The
King of Konkani Romansi, as he was called was remembered by about 100 fans of
the late author when they, some of them coming from distant places in South Goa,
congregated at his residence in Siolim,
Bardez, yesterday, Sunday 14th
of this month at 3.30 PM.
An author of over 160 Konkani Novels besides being a gifted musician
playing Violin and Trumpet, Reginald Fernandes was born on 14th June
1914 and after undergoing basic schooling at Parochial School in Siolim, moved
to Bombay and began writing in 1932 while playing music at Maharaja’s Palace in
Gujarat. He also played music at the Palace of Maharaja of Mysore. He wrote
over 160 Konkani novels (Romansi), “Lindorf” being his first novel while
“Perdida” was the last.
My first contact with him was when I was a very young boy somewhere in
1958, at that time I as a member of our
village Choir group went to Panjim at Emisora de Goa to record some
Motets. When audition test was going, he
was present there and seeing me singing well he patted on my back. At Emisora de Goa as a full time employee, it
was mandatory for him to prepare some songs and Tiatros of 30 minutes duration,
weekly thrice. These Tiatros were aired
on Sundays at 7.30 PM, Tuesdays at 5.00 PM and on Thursdays at 6.30 PM. Besides, he was responsible to script one
programme of 30 minutes on every Saturday at 6.30 PM known as “Antu Babachi
Gozal” directing against Bharat Serkar.
Then again I met him at Siolim in 1968 when he organized a Konkani Show
at Holy Cross Convent along with Cruz Noronha and others. Though not many but at least some romansi of
his I read when I was a school going boy.
Being a very good friend of my father who was his great admirer,
Reginald used to send copies of his novels to my father and used to discuss
with him finer points of his stories.
After discussing with my father, he penned down his finest Romans
“Nimanno Ugddas”, the story of this Romans begins in Candolim near the Cemetry.
He was not only an author but also a teacher because by reading his novels
many Goans learnt Konkani in Romi script.
In fact he was an institution by itself of Romi Konkani. His work in the
field of Konkani writing was not to make money and in fact by writing Romansi he
did not make money but only for the love of Mae Bhas. By nature he was a very
humble man with no pride inspite of being a great author and a great musician. A great number of Goans Hindus and Christians
learnt Romi Konkani by reading his Romansi which were very interesting. To give taste of his Romansi to the present
generation, Tiatro Academy, Dalgado Academy and Konkani Academy must reprint
some of his Romansi for the benefit of the new generation.
On this day 14.6.15 Dalgado Academy has already named its Hall after
Reginald Fernandes and also taken a decision henceforth to mark this day
annually at the Academy’s premises. This
is a very good decision of Dalgado
Academy. In Siolim close to his house
where this function was organized a road was named after him. If the local Panchayat had to organize this
function on its own it would have been much better because thru Reginald
Fernandes the name and image of Siolim brightened. He was an asset of Siolim.
It is an honour for Siolim to have such a great son and as such local Panchayat
should have taken up this job of organizing this function. Good that his well-wishers like Joel D’Souza,
Brazinho Soares, Alister Miranda, Bonaventure Pietro and others came forward to
organize this function otherwise this man would remain as a forgotten hero like
many remained. As it is, he was a
forgotten on his 100th birthday.
During the function a beautiful Exhibition of his Romansi, letters and
other such materials was organized by Brazinho Soares who is another
independent institution that preserved most of the published materials in Romi
Konkani. Brazinho Soares displayed
around 100 Romansi of Reginald Fernandes besides Reginald’s letters and Post
Cards.
To entertain the guests, some of his songs were also rendered by his friends and relatives including
the wife of Johnson with the accompaniment of musical score provided
prominently by the son of Johnson, Bonaventure Pietro, Alister's son and others.
During the function some of his admirers eulogised Reginald’s works and
prominent among them were Reginald’s son, Dale Menezes, Mario Menezes, Fausto D’Costa,
Joel D’Souza, Bonaventure Pietro, Jessie Dias and others. Among others, Cyriaco
Dias, Wilmix and Sharon also attended the function.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Candolim, Goa.
Tel: 7507394349.
