Abdonio Rodrigues is a name to reckon with in the world of music. Through his sheer talent and innovativeness he can play all the styles in music.
One of the most appreciated Goan ace drummers, Rodrigues was born to a family of musicians at Curchorem on July 30, 1936, to late Maestro Diogo (who had established a music school in his own house in 1920) and late Severina Alphonso.
Out of the eight Alphonso children, four brothers were well known in the music field — late Jhony (trumpet), late Gaspar (trumpet), Arco (saxophone) and Abdonio (drummer).
According to Rodrigues, he started playing cymbal in his father’s band “Band Liberal” at the age of 7. After getting training in Jazz music, he started playing the drum professionally in 1950. This led him to start his own band “Rodrigues and his Swing band”.
This talented musician was a boon to music industry as he started playing for the top professional musicians like Goody Searvy and many others in most of the reputed starred hotels in Bombay. He elevated the status of music abroad when he joined the ship JS Kenya and SS Uganda to play music. This job offered Rodrigues an opportunity to travel all over the world.
After leaving the job on the ship he again joined top bands in Bombay and brushed his musical instruments with top celebrities like Leon Fernandes, late Joe Fernandes, late Chris Perry and late George Fernandes.
Very humble in nature and being a soft spoken person, Rodrigues can speak extensively on music. His commitment and dedication to music made him one of the most prominent drummers who can play 14/8, 5/4 and 7/8 tempo.
A good musician is a person who can play one or more musical instruments. Besides perfecting his art as a drummer Rodrigues can play other musical instruments like trombone, violin and trumpet.
Besides playing music in Hindi film ‘Trikal’, he had also played instruments in Konkani films like ‘Amchem Noxib’, Mhoji Ghorkan’ and Nirmon’. He played for most of the Konkani songs which were recorded on HMV and audio cassettes produced by Jerome D’Souza, Alfred Rose, Lawrence Saldanha, M Boyer, Fr Peter Cardozo, Joe Rose, and others.
For his yeomen services and excellence in the field of music, he has been conferred with the State Cultural Award by the State government.
He is not only perfect in music but is also a very good tiatr writer. He penned his first tiatr in 1957 “Qual Sera O Nosso Destino?” His other well-known tiatrs are “Kitem Amcho Fuddar” and “Aruina” which were well appreciated by the audience.
C Alvares’s tiatr “Mhoji Unni” was his first professional tiatr where he played the drums. Later he played the drums in most of the tiatrs. Recognising his contribution in tiatr, Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG) bestowed on him the prestigious “Lifetime Contribution to Tiatr” award.
Due to his poor health Rodrigues now needs the support of a walking stick to move around. Even at the age of 80 he is very fond of music and is still active in playing these musical instruments along with his brass band for
all occasions.
