In 2011, a young girl took the stage at the
Kingfisher Voice of Goa. Queenie Fernandes from Siolim may have stepped on the
stage at the beginning of the competition an amateur, but she stepped off a
professional, and has been a performing artiste ever since.
Since those quieter beginnings, she has
performed as a movie playback singer and has similarly recorded for many
albums, apart from her regular live performances. In the recent past, she
recorded her take on an old Konkani favourite at the Jazz Goa studio. The
track, ‘Adeus Korcho Vellu Paulo’, has since been all the rage amongst Goans
all over the world, thanks to the internet. It has reached the No.1 spot on
Soundclick.com’s international world music charts competing against over 80,000
entries worldwide. Soundclick.com is a US-based web portal where songs from all
over the world are uploaded. Based on the number of hits that a particular song
gets, it assumes the position on the charts. This is rather unsurprising, given
the fresh presentation of this old favourite. Apart from Queenie’s sensitive
and emotive voice, the track also features the work of maestro Luis Francisco
Dias on violin, Domingos Sousa on Brazilian style guitar, Clifford Siqueira on
drums and Colin D’Cruz on an upright bass to give the track a more vintage
feel.
Speaking on the work of his recently
rostered artiste, producer Colin D’Cruz says, “Queenie’s rendition of an old
favourite Konkani mando, ‘Adeus Korcho Vellu Paulo’, has opened the global
floodgate for musicians and music from Goa in general. Konkani songs have made
an impact worldwide; however, it has only been amongst Goan communities who
live scattered around the world. Queenie has changed all that with her amazing
rendition reaching the No.1 spot on the international world music charts.”
However, despite having made said stride,
the question that needs addressing is whether the song having charted makes a
difference to the genre at large. Colin believes so, saying, “The song is now
exposed to all nationalities who are, from the popularity of the track online,
appreciating it even though a large number of listeners may not understand the
lyrics. This is akin to many people in Goa who enjoy say, Spanish, French or
Italian songs without understanding the meaning of the words that form the
song’s backbone.”
Another ‘double’ whammy in Queenie’s favour
is that she has two songs on the charts and both of them have reached No.1 in
two different categories. ‘Tuje Bal’, the other song in question, is a Konkani
devotional song that was also recorded at the Jazz Goa studio.
