NO MATTER HOW FAR YOU REACH...
Some day's ago, I was talking on the phone to my mother, who lives in Mangalore. The Konkani singing legend from Mangalore, Mr. Wilfy Rebimbus, had passed away a few days before. My mom was describing to me on the phone, with graphic details, about the final journey of this great man.
Wilfy. There mustn't be a single soul in the Mangalorean Konkani world - yes, all over the world - who hasn't heard this name... and his popular songs. We grew up on the diet of his songs. Every aspiring Konkani singer was baptized with his tunes... Every wedding, every function, every Konkani event was incomplete without a sprinkle of his songs. There were books, there were cassettes and there were CD's. There were Wilfy Nites and there were even movies with Wilfy songs.
Wilfy was the 'bench mark' of success and fame in the Konkani world. My own brother, Rony, began to sing Konkani songs when he was very small. And, like any other konkani kid, who dreamed to become a singer, he, too, grew up on Wilfy's songs. He took part in several prestigious singing competitions and came out with top trophies. Then, as the destiny would want him to, he was privileged to sing in Wilfy's famed group.
Willfy's last days were very painful ones. He suffered from cancer. He knew the end was near... and, he wanted to end it well. And, he did it the only way he knew: by holding a very special nite. He called it 'Wilfy’s Sentimental Nite'. Rony had, specially, come down from Kuwait to sing many of Wilfy's famous songs at this event. A special collection of about 40 albums, beautifully packed, was released to mark this special occasion. Rony presented one to me on his way back to Kuwait. It was truly a sentimental present. He couldn't be there, personally, to bid farewell to his Hero. But, he recorded, with some of his friends in Kuwait, one of Wilfy's famous songs and sent it to Mangalore. It was played to the sea of grievers as Wilfy was taken to his final resting place. The gist of this song goes this way:
O Man!
Your life is such a short voyage
In this ocean called World;
No matter how far you reach,
You have to return…
To end your voyage
At your grave.
Well, certainly, Wilfy would not have approved this translation. It is just the essence of his creation. Rony sung it with all his heart and devotion… to bid his hero a tearful farewell..
No body has scaled Wilfy’s height in Konkani music. No body – I dare to say this - will be able to in the near future! He truly deserves the title conferred upon him: ‘Konkan Kogul’… ‘The Konkani Nightingale’. He will always be the ‘Pole star’… Every Konkani sailor will look up this star. We will all hum his tunes as we sail along this ocean, which he called ‘Somsar’ – ‘the world’.
Little wonder, my mom spent so much time giving me the details of the tearful journey of this Legend, this Hero. Her, Rony’s, mine… and of every one of us. She is our mother and who else knows her children better? She is proud of me and Rony, her sons. Rony, for his own fame and name in the Konkani music world. Me, for my own mark in my own world. She will certainly die a proud mother… and we say this without any arrogance. We know her, too. Only she can tell what, on that day, she told me on the telephone… from hundreds of miles afar:
“Son, Wilfy, our Hero, has gone leaving behind a very rich, very enviable legacy.” Then, in a choked voice, she added, “But, like you, he died a simple man, leaving behind no money.”
Only silence could understand my mother’s choked voice.
Farewell to the one who inspired all of us to be true to ourselves. Yes, till the grave.
GERALD D’CUNHA
Wilfy. There mustn't be a single soul in the Mangalorean Konkani world - yes, all over the world - who hasn't heard this name... and his popular songs. We grew up on the diet of his songs. Every aspiring Konkani singer was baptized with his tunes... Every wedding, every function, every Konkani event was incomplete without a sprinkle of his songs. There were books, there were cassettes and there were CD's. There were Wilfy Nites and there were even movies with Wilfy songs.
Wilfy was the 'bench mark' of success and fame in the Konkani world. My own brother, Rony, began to sing Konkani songs when he was very small. And, like any other konkani kid, who dreamed to become a singer, he, too, grew up on Wilfy's songs. He took part in several prestigious singing competitions and came out with top trophies. Then, as the destiny would want him to, he was privileged to sing in Wilfy's famed group.
Willfy's last days were very painful ones. He suffered from cancer. He knew the end was near... and, he wanted to end it well. And, he did it the only way he knew: by holding a very special nite. He called it 'Wilfy’s Sentimental Nite'. Rony had, specially, come down from Kuwait to sing many of Wilfy's famous songs at this event. A special collection of about 40 albums, beautifully packed, was released to mark this special occasion. Rony presented one to me on his way back to Kuwait. It was truly a sentimental present. He couldn't be there, personally, to bid farewell to his Hero. But, he recorded, with some of his friends in Kuwait, one of Wilfy's famous songs and sent it to Mangalore. It was played to the sea of grievers as Wilfy was taken to his final resting place. The gist of this song goes this way:
O Man!
Your life is such a short voyage
In this ocean called World;
No matter how far you reach,
You have to return…
To end your voyage
At your grave.
Well, certainly, Wilfy would not have approved this translation. It is just the essence of his creation. Rony sung it with all his heart and devotion… to bid his hero a tearful farewell..
No body has scaled Wilfy’s height in Konkani music. No body – I dare to say this - will be able to in the near future! He truly deserves the title conferred upon him: ‘Konkan Kogul’… ‘The Konkani Nightingale’. He will always be the ‘Pole star’… Every Konkani sailor will look up this star. We will all hum his tunes as we sail along this ocean, which he called ‘Somsar’ – ‘the world’.
Little wonder, my mom spent so much time giving me the details of the tearful journey of this Legend, this Hero. Her, Rony’s, mine… and of every one of us. She is our mother and who else knows her children better? She is proud of me and Rony, her sons. Rony, for his own fame and name in the Konkani music world. Me, for my own mark in my own world. She will certainly die a proud mother… and we say this without any arrogance. We know her, too. Only she can tell what, on that day, she told me on the telephone… from hundreds of miles afar:
“Son, Wilfy, our Hero, has gone leaving behind a very rich, very enviable legacy.” Then, in a choked voice, she added, “But, like you, he died a simple man, leaving behind no money.”
Only silence could understand my mother’s choked voice.
Farewell to the one who inspired all of us to be true to ourselves. Yes, till the grave.
GERALD D’CUNHA
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