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Sri Henry D’Souza is a bright
shining star on the Konkan galaxy of music. Music is
his passion and singing is his way of life. He is a
singer, composer, lyricist, music director and a producer –
all these roles gracefully blended into one person. He
is also a Radio, T.V., H.M.V., & stage singer.
Henry displays a style of singing, which is original,
exceptional & sensational. His two early songs
composed and sung by him more than 25 years ago, “Ye, Ye, Cathrina” and “Ami Dhogi Sezara” were instant hits and
immensely popular. Even in far-off Sri Lanka with its
alien language & culture, Henry’s immortal song of “Ye,
Ye, Cathrina” has been sung in the Sinhalese language and
choreographed too! Even now the melody of these songs
resound all over the Konkani speaking
world. |
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Childhood
and education |
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Radio
& T.V. artist |
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Stage Pop
Singer |
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Composer and Producer |
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Childhood
& Education :
Shri Henry
D’Souza, the prince and hero of Mother Konkani was born at
Bassrikatte, near Koppa, a small town nestled amidst the
beautiful and picturesque Western Ghats well known for their
natural beauty. He had his education in the
prestigious Catholic schools and colleges. He
underwent primary studies at St. Joseph’s in
Chickmagalur. His secondary studies were done at Padua
High School, Mangalore and at St.Pholomena’s, Puttur.
He graduated from St.Aloysius College, Mangalore where he
also won laurels in the western classical singing.
Later, he studied law (L.L.B.) at Bombay
University.
Sri Henry
D’Souza is based in Mumbai and is professionally a financial
consultant. Initially, for sometimes, he strayed into
journalism writing stories, comics, poems and articles for
Konkani periodicals. He even started an English
weekly named “HI” with the help of other famous
journalists. He has also written 3 small plays in
Konkani - Sobit Sansar, Ghar-Rani and Atancho Sansar, which
have been successfully staged.
Eventually Sri
Henry’s natural bent and impulse towards music overcame his
all other extraneous inclinations, and Sri Henry joined the
western Beat group in Bombay in 1964. Thereafter there
was no looking back for Henry. He as the lead singer
for his group used to sing songs of Cliff Richard, Elvis
Presly, Ricky Neson, Pat Boon in hotels, open parties and
weddings.
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Radio
& T.V. artist :
In 1964, Shri
Henry sang his first Konkani song “Sangchem Kitem hai hai
Bombai Sherachem” on All India Radio. Since then, he
has sung more than 700 songs on All India Radio till
today! He is a regular performer for All India Radio
Bombay and Mangalore. He has also sung for Radio
services in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain!
Sri Henry has
appeared 5 times on Bombay T.V. singing solo and duets with
Dr.Aparna Mayekar. These programmes were also telecast
on Goa T.V. as well.
Sri Henry D'Souza with Dr. Aparna Mayekar in a duet
at KONKAN SHOWERS 2004 - Dubai
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Stage Pop Singer :
Sri Henry
D’Souza is a captivating stage singer. After his first
stage song “Sopann Fanthyachem”, he has composed and sang
more than 2,000 songs in past 38 years. He has won a
huge crowd of fans for himself and is a Bombay’s Craze among
the Konkani community there.
Sri Henry’s
musical performances have been local, national and
international. He has conducted more than 200 shows in
different places like Mangalore, Bangalore, Mysore,
Hyderabad, Mumbai, Dubai, Abu-Dhabi, Dhoha, Bahrain, Kuwait
and Muscat! He has also performed in small towns like
Moodbidri and Belman..!! Sri Henry’s long time partners are Dr.Aparna
Mayekar and Sri Melwyn Peres. He has also performed
memorable shows with Konkan Kogul Wilfy Rebimbus at
St.Aloysius College grounds, Mangalore for “Sandesha” and
also at “Dabazo” in Dubai and
Abu-Dhabi.
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Composer and Producer :
Shri Henry has
to his credit 5 audio cassettes, 2 C.D.’s, 2 E.P.’s for HMV,
and one L.P. all of his own creation! He has also
undertaken projects of audio cassettes for singers like
:
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Allen
Fernandes, Muscat &
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Michael
Machado, Germany.
Shri Henry has
also composed songs for 2 famous Konkani films “Kazara uprant” and “Udtha tho budtha” and his songs have been
acclaimed with great fanfare.
Hindi
ace
playback singer and music director Hemant Kumar has selected
and sung some of Henry’s songs for H.M.V. album. Many
of Henry’s songs have been translated to other languages
like Singalese, English and Hindi.
Shri Henry has
also undertaken Hindi songs projects and has recorded Hindi
cassettes with reputed singers like Sadhana Sargam, Mohd.
Aziz, Vinod Rathod and with music director Rajender
Singh.
In recognition
of Henry’s overall contribution to Konkani Music, he has
been honoured with “Sangeeth Samrat” title in
Mangalore and is crowned with the title of “Kala
Ratna” in Mumbai. The whole Konkan world salutes
him with joy and pays its humble tribute to this great
“Sangeeth Samrat” and “Kala Ratna”. Long live Henry
D’Souza and his lively Konkani
songs!
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