Drums have been a part of Agnelo Rebello’s life right from his early childhood days, discovers NT BUZZ
J P Pereira
Agnelo Rebello comes from a family of musicians, many of whom were drummers. His father Joao Santana was known for playing the trumpet and the double bass. “Everyone knew him as ‘Mastor’, a term they used for the teacher or band leader in those days,” recalls Agnelo.
Thus, for Agnelo, getting into music was a natural progression. In fact, a drum set was always set up and ready at his house. And as a young boy he would regularly sit down and play on it, although he didn’t have any formal training.
At the age of 14, he began accompanying his uncle Joao Caitan (who played the trumpet and tuba), who led a brass band that played at feasts and funerals, and either played the snare drum or the big bass drum. Thus began Agnelo’s journey of playing drums as a professional. His tryst with tiatrs began when he replaced his late brother Luis, also a drummer (who had another assignment at that time), for Patrick Dourado’s tiatr ‘Vikh vo Tikh’. Agnelo later played for this tiatr on a regular basis.
In those days, he says, tiatrs were mostly staged at the Vidya Niketan Auditorium in Margao. “Our mode of conveyance was a cycle. We used to carry the drums on our cycles as the set had to be taken home. But we enjoyed playing and the hardwork made us more responsible,” he says.
The next outing was with band leader Fidelis. “I gained more confidence in this group,” says Agnelo, who later played with Augusto de Panchwadi in ‘Chondrim’, a tiatr by Ben Evangelisto.
He also played for ‘Sezari Kombo’, by the late thespian C Alvares who had released this show in Goa after a successful run in Bombay, now Mumbai. In 1998, he joined Prince Jacob Productions and played for ‘Padri’ and all their nonstop shows, for three years.
In April and May, he would jam up with young musicians and go play in 5 star hotels in Delhi. They would substitute the then popular band ‘Black Slades’, who would come down to Goa for vacation and perform for top beat shows, that were very popular those days.
However, he later moved to Kuwait for job purposes. But, he did not give up on playing the drums. He joined ‘City Limit’ a band of young Goan musicians and played with them for most Goan functions and tiatr. In 2003, when the Kuwait Goan Tiatr Sounstha (KGTS) was formed to organise musical shows and tiatrs by the artistes in the Gulf, Agnelo played for all the programmes as well as tiatr by Comedian Philip, Mario de Majorda, Donald Colaco and others. When Milagres de Chandor staged his tiatr ‘Mother’s Day’ in Kuwait, Agnelo was the first choice to play drums.
When Dominic Fernandes performed a khell tiatr, for the first time, in Kuwait, the ‘modd’ was required. This is a continuous drum roll played, to announce that a ‘zomnivelo khell’ is about to begin. Agnelo was the automatic choice, as there was no other drummer who could play this.
Now based in London, he lives there with his wife Alinda and daughters Aaliyah and Amberley. He has high regard for his elder brother, Jack Rebello, one of Goa’s ace drummers. “My talent of being able to play the drums, without formal training, is a gift from God. I am grateful and thankful to the Lord for all these blessings. I plan to play for tiatrs in London and hope that some good shows will be staged there,” he says, and adds, “Tiatr has to survive. We should all endeavour to give our best to the audience.”