BY DANIEL F DE SOUZA

HE IS young, adventurous, happily married, focused, a globe-trotting IT professional based in Detroit, USA, but has a great passion for Konkani music, specifically for the legendary Melody King, the late Alfred Rose. Meet Agnelo Fernandes, the new ‘sing alike’ of Alfred Rose, who was recently seen at his vocal best at the Kala Academy Black Box when he rendered two sensational Alfred Rose hits: ‘Mog Dakhoi’ and ‘Dotorancho Dotor’ at a show organised by Tiatr Academy-Goa in memory of Lucasinho Ribeiro.

Though he was born, brought up and schooled in Mumbai, Agnelo’s roots are in the serene village of Siolim in Bardez. Incidentally, there is no professional tiatrist in his clan. But, many years ago, his father did produce and stage a lone tiatr in his youth. Another noteworthy aspect with respect to Konkani music is that his paternal uncle, Viriato Fernandes, composed the lyrics of the all time hit lullaby ‘Dhol Mhojea Bai’ in the Konkani film ‘Nirmonn’.

ROMANCE

AGNELO’S romance with Konkani music began at home when his parents introduced young Agnelo to tiatrs and Konkani music cassettes and CDs. He, however, developed an insatiable passion for Alfred Rose’s songs and music, right from a young age. He was simply awed by Alfred’s singing style, his melodious voice and the kind of songs he composed. His parents conversed in Konkani at home and listened to Konkani music; that’s how the love for Konkani music got entrenched in his heart and remains so till date. “I am not in touch with any Goans in Detroit. My work schedule is also very hectic, which requires me to fly across continents at short notice. It is Konkani music and the language that helps me keep in touch with my beloved motherland, Goa,” Agnelo stated during his hour-long conversation with me.

Recalling his love for Konkani music from a young age, Agnelo says, “Listening to Alfred Rose on the cassettes and, later, CDs was a fantastic experience. I have seen him sing in a dozen or so tiatrs. As a child, I would try to imitate him, his singing style, his diction, holding a comb in my hand to replace the hand mike.” Constantly listening to his idol made him grow closer to him in his thoughts, so he decided to meet the legend in person.

“In August 2003, I set out to meet Alfred Rose at his residence in Mahim, Mumbai. When I sought direction to his apartment in his locality, it was roadside cobbler who guided me to his residence. What popularity, I thought to myself, that even a road side cobbler knew this great legend and spoke about his singing prowess. Though Alfred was not keeping in good health, his wife Rita Rose was kind enough to allow me to speak to him in person. Our meeting lasted two long hours. I sang one of his songs for him; he became very emotional. I will treasure meeting the legend for the rest of my life,” recalls a nostalgic Agnelo.

REGRETS

SADLY, when Alfred Rose passed away on October 21, 2003, Agnelo was not in Mumbai. He was on a job assignment in distant Johannesburg in South Africa. He regrets not being able to attend his funeral. Following his death, Agnelo had a great desire to do a musical show as a tribute to his idol and hero in the year 2004 in Mumbai. “My transfer came so suddenly that there was no time to do anything. I just had to pack up and leave. There was no time to even carry along my favourite Konkani music with me. While in Detroit, in the early stages, I longed for Konkani music. On my return in December that year, I collected all my Konkani music CDs, converted them to MP3 format and took them along with me,” recalls Agnelo.

During my tête-à-tête with him, I realised he had done a close study of Alfred Rose’s singing style. “When Alfred Rose sang, the entire atmosphere looked so charged; he would carry the audience along with him. Not all singers can do it. He sang because he loved singing and, at the same time, he loved all the appreciation his fans showered on him. Alfred Rose was one such singer who had a natural God-given tenor, baritone, and nasal voice variations which he used to maximum advantage,” says Agnelo.

Agnelo knew he had a God given voice and so he felt that, with a little more effort and practice, he could fine tune it to come as close to Alfred’s voice as possible. Fired with passion, Agnelo — once in the USA — went a step further and, with the help of high tech electronic equipment available there, tried to decipher Alfred’s voice. For this, he made use of special headphones and other costly equipment. His only intention in doing so was to give the beautiful voice back to the people who loved Konkani music and Alfred’s singing since he regretted that, after Alfred’s death, the voice that captured every one’s imagination was lost forever.
Over the last two years, Agnelo has been taking a serious view of Alfred’s voice. With the help of technical support, including video tutorials, voice training exercises and other written documentations, he is working on developing a baritone voice. Despite his tight work schedule in the States, he dedicates one hour everyday to his dream project and is confident of achieving proficiency in another few months time. “I have to achieve self satisfaction before I venture out on a large scale. I endeavour to achieve as much closeness as possible to the singing style of Alfred Rose, including his diction and pronunciation. I want to do something to carry on the legend of Alfred Rose, for his fans worldwide and I can do so only if I can sing in his typical style,” he says with a glint in his eyes.

His love and adoration for Alfred Rose is evident from the fact that Agnelo launched a special website for Alfred Rose fans on October 21, 2009 on the singer’s sixth death anniversary. Prior to the launch, he had blocked the domain name for three years. Speaking of his future endeavours, Agnelo confided: “I am now in the process of updating the website. Besides, I am also planning to launch ‘Goykar.com’ and ‘Kantorist .com’ in the near future, devoted to Goans who helped Goa in various fields, made Goa proud and others devoted to Goan Konkani singers. I want to reach out to Konkani-speaking people and keep the language and its heritage alive through music. I am aiming to make Konkani music more professional with global acceptance.
I spent little more than an hour with this young man and I could see the burning desire in his eyes to do something different. With his enthusiastic approach and down to earth simplicity, Agnelo sang two clips of Alfred Rose’s sensational solo ‘Dotorancho Dotor’ and ‘Mog Dakoi’ on a minus one track exclusively for me. Believe me, the result was enchanting. Being a die hard fan of Rose myself, I had goose pimples when Agnelo’s voice filled the drawing room through my Sony Home theatre system. The closeness to the great legend was evident in every line.

Agnelo has the desire, the passion and, above all, he is determined and strong willed. With a little extra effort, I think Agnelo can achieve whatever he has set out to do. I wish him all success in his endeavours and hope he will bring back the melodious voice of Goa’s one and only Melody King, Alfred Rose, into our living rooms.