Remo Fernandes leaves the stage larger than he found it
When A R Rahman’s ‘Humma humma’ in Mani Ratnam’s Bombay (1995) exploded onto radio and television over 30 years ago, it came with an irrepressible sense of joy, even though the film carried the weight of dark communal history. With swagger in its rhythm and an infectious energy in Remo Fernandes’ unmistakable Goan lilt, the track refused to be boxed into the neat boundaries of Hindi film music. It was gloriously raw, with Remo’s carefree ad-libs making it feel more freewheeling than a playback performance. On Tuesday, the 73-year-old performed the classic track, seated on a chair, one final time at Cranford Community College Grounds in London as part of Goa Day. As Remo bid farewell to the stage due to health reasons — a stroke, a fall and surgery that diminished his guitar and flute playing ability — it was a reminder of his timeless catalogue that brought joy to his listeners. Born and raised in Goa, Luís Remo de Maria Bernardo Fernandes started with the mouth organ at four and was obsessed with his father’s eclectic record collection of brass bands, Western classical symphonies, bossa nova and samba. Konkani folk, Elvis Presley, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones would then shape his musical imagination. Remo taught himself the guitar and studied architecture at Sir JJ School while performing with bands inMumbai. Part of the joyous abandon of ‘Humma humma’ came from the fact that Remo was an independent musician when being one was not fashionable. He released Pack That Smack (1986), followed by Bombay City and was once the country’s highest-selling English rock musician. While film songs gave him great popularity, generations of musicians still talk of Remo as one of India’s pioneering rock musicians. He leaves the stage larger than he found it, one that now offers more room for independent sounds.
- 1Remo Fernandes' Goan identity and Konkani musical roots connect to Article 29 of the Constitution, which protects the right of any section of citizens with a distinct language, script or culture to conserve it. Goa's unique linguistic and cultural heritage, shaped by Portuguese colonial rule until its 1961 liberation and full statehood in 1987, has long received special recognition, including Konkani's inclusion in the Eighth Schedule since 1992. State cultural bodies continue to support musicians who, like Remo, blend regional folk traditions with wider Indian and global musical forms.
- 2Remo's farewell performance at a diaspora-organised Goa Day event in London reflects India's growing cultural outreach through its overseas diaspora, estimated at over eighteen million people of Indian origin worldwide, among the largest diaspora populations globally. Cultural festivals abroad, often supported informally by Indian community associations and consulates, serve as soft-power touchpoints that complement formal government initiatives such as Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. Such events help sustain regional Indian identities, including Goan Catholic and Konkani heritage, within diaspora communities far from home.
- 3Musicians like Remo Fernandes derive their rights over original compositions and recordings from the Copyright Act, 1957, significantly amended in 2012 to guarantee composers and lyricists an unwaivable right to royalties even after assigning works to producers. Royalty collection for public performance is typically administered by the Indian Performing Right Society, a copyright society registered under the Act. Independent artists releasing self-produced albums, as Remo did with Pack That Smack in 1986, historically retained greater control over these rights than artists working solely within the film industry's assignment-heavy contracts.
- 4Remo Fernandes released his breakout independent album Pack That Smack in 1986, nearly a decade before 'Humma Humma' brought him mainstream recognition through the 1995 film Bombay, marking a career spanning over three decades. He is described as having once been India's highest-selling English rock musician, at a time when India's recorded music industry was overwhelmingly dominated by film soundtracks, which even today account for a large majority of Indian music consumption. His retirement at age seventy-three, following a stroke, a fall and subsequent surgery, marks the end of an active performing career of remarkable longevity.