Popular pop artist and playback singer Padmashree Remo Fernandes has resurfaced with his social single �India, I cry' over the web. With an on-off appearance in Bollywood, the singer has been making his own songs in hometown Goa. In a chat with Radioandmusic.com's Anita Iyer, Fernandes nonchalantly speaks about the challenges of being a pop singer in the Bollywood dominated era of the 80's, the sorry state of non-film music and his new single- �India- I cry'

Going back, how difficult was it to convince the record labels to release a pop album in a Bollywood dominated scenario?

It wasn't difficult, it was impossible. They all wanted me to do �Kurbani' style disco, which was the rage then, and all-knowingly proclaimed that original pop in English just wouldn't sell in India. So I produced my own cassettes and distributed them to record stores in Goa on my yellow scooter. It was only after these became a hit, and attracted film contracts for �Jalwa' and �Trikaal', that the same record companies who had earlier turned me down came back with offers. I chose the best one of the lot, CBS.

Don't you think pop music has completed a circle - in the 1980s there was no air play on TV and radio and the same has been repeated with these streams ignoring pop music?

Absolutely! Besides, there is also the fact that pop musicians today, after one hit album, totally sell out to Bollywood, and stop making personal albums any more. I see Bollywood as an all-swallowing glut. That's why today India has no great poet and contemporary dancer and independent musician to boast of; they are all writing lyrics and choreographing and composing for Bollywood.

Bollywood came calling in 1987 after the success of Jalwa, but you resisted entering into Bollywood? How difficult was it to resist Bollywood which guaranteed instant fame?

Very easy. I just stayed put in Goa, and didn't even attend the premier of �Jalwa'!

You finally took up playback singing with Rahman's Bombay in 1995 and delivered some great numbers later. Do you think independent artists have to embrace Bollywood to survive in the market?

One need not be done at the cost of the other. Artists who are true to their own music should never stop making it, even if they do allow themselves occasional forays into other areas such as Bollywood. To me, my own music has always been my main passion and body of work, and Bollywood a side-light. I've always refused to make Bollywood my everything, even though in this country I am more known for my five Bollywood songs than for the 500 of my own. Bollywood is extremely tempting, yes, but it is up to us artists to stick to our music and make it as big as Bollywood, and not to forsake it totally in favour of The Great Glitter.

You recently released the track �India, I cry' on Facebook. What is the idea behind the track?

The chorus �India, I cry, I cry India' had been going around in my mind for a couple of years but the rest of the song just wasn't coming along spontaneously. The ideas were there, but more as feelings rather than words. I'd tried writing lyrics several times on my computer, but they just wouldn't work. One day I sat myself down with an old fashioned pen and paper and, strange as it may seem, words just flowed. I have decided to always compose lyrics with pen and paper from now on!

The idea behind the track is to showcase how India is catapulting itself and its urban areas into a financially booming present and simultaneously bulldozing its way over its nature, its poor rural majorities and its rich cultural traditions, treating all these as �casual collateral expendables' required for its �progress'.

Can you relate any memory during the making of the track for our readers?

Well, rather than being memorable, there's one incident which I would rather like to forget! Since I was over-burdened with scripting, directing and acting in the video (besides doing my own make-up, planning my own clothes, etc), I made the unforgivable mistake of shooting the first chorus in front of the little shrine beneath the banyan tree without taking my shoes off. To make matters worse, I shot it on top of the platform, which I mistook to be a stage where festive plays and dances [called �nattoks' in Goa] are held. It is only after the video was on the net for a few hours that two Facebook friends pointed out my mistake. I had never met these people yet they wrote to me through private messages, without raising an issue or a controversy in the public forum. I immediately took the video off the net, re-shot and re-edited the scene with the correct decorum, and put the revised video back on Facebook.

Did you pen the lyrics and compose the music as well?

Yes, I did. The song credits read as follows: Music, Lyrics, Main Vocals, Backing Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Bass Guitar, Flutes, Keyboards, Drum Programming, Recording and Mixing: Remo Fernandes. Violin: Melcon Teixeira.

The video credits read as follows: Video Concept, Direction and Editing: Remo Fernandes, Camera and sound operation: Jonah Fernandes (who is my 20-year-old college-going son, who had never really handled a video camera in his life before)

Why did you choose a social networking site like Facebook to release the song? Apart from Facebook, where else is the song available?

After resisting it for years, I joined Facebook this June to check it out and loved it. I confess I'm a total addict now. I've made wonderful new friends; I have found long-lost friends, as well as long-forgotten photos and videos, such as my very first Pepsi ads. I was initially going to release this song on my website and on Youtube; but as a gesture to all my friends on Facebook, I decided to do an exclusive release on that portal. Now it is also available on Youtube and on my website, www.remomusic.com, I have also provided free download of the song's audio track, and three ringtones. Through Facebook, the video has spread to other domains too, such as Orkut and Twitter as internet has no boundaries!

One reason why I decided on a purely net release is that I am quite disappointed with the way our record companies, music channels and FM radio stations are run with nothing but commercial and advertising criteria in mind. Internet provided me with total freedom from such constraints, and from blood-sucking business people who cheat artists out of their royalties.

Is Remo Music, your music label?

Remo Music is not a label; it is just my website to start with. Then I thought of embedding it as a logo on my video. My tracks such as �Flute Song', �Maria Pita Che', etc are being played by DJs in international clubs on privately burnt CDs, without anyone even knowing that the track is by me. I didn't want this song and video to suffer from such anonymity and piracy too, therefore the embedded logo.

Why did you allow your track for a free downloads?

I have not made loads of money, but I think I've been blessed in reaching a point in life when I know that I have �enough'. Very often, not even the richest people in the world know how much is enough, and forever crave more and more… As long as I do the odd live concerts to earn bread, butter, cheese, caviar and champagne, I'm happy - I am a man of simple tastes! I am finding a great joy in giving away my music for free. A work of art is a labor of love anyway – it can never be created with a price tag in mind. No sales figures could ever substitute the priceless sentiments expressed by the people on Facebook.

Would you be releasing the single �India I cry' in a physical format?

No way!

There was time when non-film music enjoyed huge sales but today non-film is in diminishing. How do you think non-film music should be revived, as that genre is sidelined now?

You should ask the record companies, music channels and FM radio stations. After all, that's their business and their duty towards music, to revive and keep it alive, isn't it?

You have been missing from the mainstream music scene? Would we be seeing you launching an album or in Bollywood project soon?

Again, you should ask record companies, music channels and FM radio stations about why I'm not on their mainstream music scene! Not that I really yearn to be there anymore. I have been there, done that. Besides, I don't really see myself launching a physical album ever again, but one must never say never! I did record a couple of Bollywood songs lately and one Telugu film song as well which should be released eventually.

You were conferred the Padmashri and also recognition from Goa government which you rejected. Can you talk about it?

A journey through a landscape you love is always fabulous. Yes, I was fortunate to receive the Padmashree award at the hands of the then President Kalam, a man I have always admired and respected. Thereafter, the Government of Goa (about whose ways I have always been highly critical) tried to give me an award too, �An award for receiving an award', they called it. I refused it in an open letter which was published in the Press, saying that it would be insulting to me to receive an award from a Government which is so full of known and proven criminals, forgers, smugglers, gamblers, rapists and thieves who in any civilized country would belong behind bars, not in seats of power.

You have been in the music industry since decades. How has the music industry changed according to you?

Not much. The people running it are still as clueless about music as ever. And I refuse to have musically challenged people sit in judgment of, and make decisions on, my music nowadays.

Click here for Remo's 'India,I cry'

Send in your comments to: anita.iyer@indiantelevision.co.in