Remembering Reginald” to
commemorate Reginald Fernandes’
101st birth anniversary, The Friends
of Reginald will celebrate
the 101st birth centenary
of the famed Goan
novelist-musicianlyricist,
the late
Reginald Fernandes
on June 14, 1914,
at his residence at
Aframento Vadi in
Siolim at 3.30 pm.
The Friends of
Reginald including
musicians, tiatrists, readers
and others will gather at his house at
Aframento Vadi in Siolim at 3.30 pm and
commemorate the day with Reginald’s
melodious music, thrilling songs like
Adeus Korchea Vellar, Visvaxi Kalliz,
Soglleach Vellar, etc besides sharing
experiences about the Konkani writer
known as “Patxai Romanxincho”.
Having learnt music at the parochial
school along with Joaozinho Carvalho
(Johnson & His Jolly Boys) and maestro
Antoninho de Souza, under the tutelage
of Zeferino D’Cruz, Reginald Fernandes
was already a musician when he had
moved to Bombay at the age of 18.
The hobby that he acquired in
1932 to tide over homesickness while
performing for the Maharaj’s band in
Gujarat, saw him turn one absorbing
novel after another – as many as 160
in all.Perdida was fated to be his last
novel published before Reginald died on
November 13, 1994. His work hasbeen
out of print since long, and has only
been seen in the collection of Brazinho
Soares Kalapurkar of Santa Cruz. In fact,
Brazinho will display his collection
at “Remembering Reginald”.
Generally, the fact
gets lost that Reginald
Fernandes had an
impressive musical
career, having played
for the first band at the
palace of the Maharaja
of Mysore. He also was
a court musician of the
Maharaja of Palitana in
Kathiawar (Gujarat). He played
for outstanding ensembles including
Nelly & Her Dance Band, Vincent
Carmine and his Orchestra (popular
in Pune), Micky Correia and Johnny
Baptist and his Band besides Alfred
Rose’s Rose Buds. He also played for
the Hindi film industry, besides Alex
Correia and Lahore’s Billday Becks in
Karachi. He had his own band too:
Reggie and
his Melodians.
The event will therefore highlight a
few of Reginald’s evergreen songs, with
Juvencio Carvalho, son of Joaozinho
(Johnson & His Jolly Band) on the violin
accompanying his mother and Braz
Fernandes. Quite a few musician as well
as singers have assured their presence
at the unique event, and will launch into
Reginald’s large repertoire of songs that
once vowed radio listeners in Goa.
