To do what others cannot do is talent. Talent is an inbornquality possessed by all, but to identify the hidden talent and put it to useis one's greatest achievement. This is exactly what Juje Fernandes has done. Hehas identified and put his God given talent to good use. Juje Fernandes is thenew kid on the block of Konkani music. His maiden Konkani album ‘Tum MogantPodd’ has brought him instant fame and popularity.
Juje is a qualified civil engineer by profession, andoccupies a high profile post of a project manager for a construction company inGoa and resides at Caranzalem. His journey into Konkani music began way back in1995 when a group of youth from his village put up a tiatr ‘Soja’ in hisvillage and he tried his hand at composing the ‘Cantos’ and the opening solo.He followed this again with another tiatr ‘Rosto’, wherein he composed moresongs and cantos too. The practice caught on. “I was already employed inBangalore then, but my friends would send me the script, and based on that Iwould compose the songs and come down to Goa to teach them to the youth,”recalls Juje Fernandes. “But the inspiration and love for music and singingcame from my paternal uncle Remedios who was a professional violinist. As asmall boy I would spend hours sitting with him listening to music and singingsongs just for fun,” he adds further.
When ‘The Goan’ asked him to shed more light on his firstaudio album ‘Tum Mogant Podd’, Juje had this to say. “A few songs for the albumincluding the melody and the chorus for the title song were ready two yearsbefore. Somewhere in September this year, when Prince Jacob the President ofTAG was felicitated in Sindhudurg by our Diocese I sang the song ‘India’ at thefunction. He liked the song, as well as my voice. From there on, things justhappened to move. He encouraged me to record an album and offered to sing freeof cost for it. I am thankful to him for his encouragement. Bishop AllwynBaretto of Sindhadurg district also gave me a lot of moral support andencouragement’.”
The lyrics of ‘Tum Mogant Podd’, his first audio album carrya lot of punch and good philosophy. Every line justifies a hidden poet in thelyricist and a good sense of observation. He is passionate about Konkani musicand is all fired up to do something different.
Having tasted success and a lot of positive feedback fromthe Konkani music lovers, Juje is inspired to continue the passion further andstart work in right earnest on his second audio album. Juje is thankful to thepriests and people of Sindhadurg Diocese who have stood behind him and givenhim a huge morale support and encouragement in his endeavours.
