Dubai : Meet Nephie Rod - Star Attraction at 'Daiji Darbar'
Daijiworld Media Network - Dubai
Dubai, Apr 5 : As announced in the columns already, Daiji Dubai, a forum of Konkani Writers in the UAE will hold musical and comedy extravaganza to celebrate 12th anniversary at the Shaikh Rashid Auditorium, Indian High School, Karama here on April 29.
The tickets for the show is already out, and available at the selected outlets and Daiji Dubai members around UAE.
'Katrina' fame Henry D'Souza along with Nephie Rod, Bollywood fame singer will be the prime attraction of the show. Show will also feature Mangalore's top comedian duo Jerry Rasquinha and Joseph Pinto apart from young singing snesation Munita Veigas and popular composer and singer from Mumbai Antony Tauro.
Daijiworld will feature the noted singers of the show to its readers. For now it is Nephie Rod.
Nephie Rod Rides on the Wave of Singing Success
Nephie Rod Pradhan – the name strikes a chord with music lovers, especially Konkani music lovers, as a versatile multi-linguistic singer who got opportunities galore to perform with some of the best music directors and singers in Bollywood. In Konkani music field she is one of the most sought after singers and has won over the hearts of a large number of admirers and fans.
Having started singing in church choir at a fairly young age of 12, Nephie had a meteoric rise in the singing arena and with her talent and hard work she has only reinforced her hard earned place in the highly competitive field of music. Though she was a late starter when it comes to singing in Konkani, having started Konkani singing only in 1995, she has made her presence felt as a singer of repute lending voice as lead singer in many Konkani CDs. With little prodding from her father who encouraged her to sing in Konkani, her mother tongue, Nephie has become a name to reckon with in Konkani singing and this is proved from the fact that she was nominated for the best female singer category award in both the first and second Konkani Global Music Awards of Mandd Sobhann,.
From being a Church choir singer Nephie graduated to be a beat group singer when she was in S.Y.B. A. which proved to be an ideal launching pad to showcase her singing blossoming talent. Having made a foray as a singer, she had the first success as a singer when she was adjudged the best female singer for singing in different languages at the college annual day function. This success made way for another and a bigger platform when she was offered to sing in Hindi orchestra with Tabassum’s hit parade in 1991. After her graduation she opted for professional singing career and there has been no regretting that decision of making music her career. Music has brought her name, fame and success in the last two decades of her professional career as a singer.
As a professional singer in the leading orchestra groups of Mumbai, Nephie got an opportunity to do lot of shows in different parts of India. Her orchestra singing also provided her an opportunity to globe-trot , that took her to different corners of the world like America, England, Australia, Belgium, Holland, New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa, East Africa, Keny and the entire Gulf countries, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Malaysia, Taiwan and many other countries. These tours helped her broaden her horizons and perspective of life and also to hone her singing skills.
When ordinary star-crazy people get enraptured at the mere sight of Bollywood greats like Amitab Bachchanm, the 3 Khans, Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Ajay Devgan, Raveena, Karishma and others, Nephie had the occasion to perform along with these superstars in many of their stage shows. She has also done a large number of stage shows with playback singers like late Mahendra Kapoor, Kumar Sanu, Udit Nayayan, Kavitha Krishnamurthy, Sadhana Sargam, Bali Brahmabhatt and many others. For the last 14 years she has been singing regularly with playback singer Sudesh Bhosle. Nephie also had an opportunity to do many stage programmes with renowned music directors like Anu Malik, Anil Mohite, O P Nayyar, Bappi Lahiri, Jatin Lalit etc,.
Though, Nephie took to Konkani singing at the insistence of her father, she soon realized she had tremendous opportunities in Konkani music field to exhibit her true potential. Though her first album in Konkani was “utor” (promise) it was the album of “the Golden Melodies of Goa” of Fausto V Da Costa that brought her instant recognition. The CD is a unique and selective collection of Konkani hits of yore and Nephie has rendered some of the evergreen songs like “Sweater Kori “, “Taxi” and “Goddacho Pao”. Tracks like “Moulbailo Dou”, Don Kalzam and Moga by Nephie with Allan Moraes were considered to be some of the best tracks of the CD evoking nostalgic memories of the evergreen Konkani film “Amchem Noxib”. After than album Nephie must have literally lost the count of CD’s she has participated as a singer. She has sung in more than 150 CD’s ranging from hymns, spiritual songs, nursery rhymes, picnic songs, masala songs and romantic duets in English, Hindi, Konkani, Marathi, Punjabi, Assamese and Nepali (for a Nepali movie with singer Udit Narayan). Her Konkani songs “Moga Rup Tujem” in the album titled “Raag” brought out by Kuwait based Rosary Ferns, two solo renditions “Saude” and “Soput”, in the debut album of Walt-Simson Productions “Onath” and songs sung in Buyao Rocks Konkani, the latest album from Buyao Thetres, Goa, are some of the famous CD’s she has lent her golden voice, , which helped making her a household name in the Konkani music field.
Her versatility as a multi-linguistic singer is evident as she had teamed up with well known Arabic singer - Shukri, for an album produced by Tips music company. Nephie has also rendered her mellifluous voice to some of the albums of remix versions brought out by “Tips” and “audiorec”, a music company based in London. For those who are familiar with her voice, it is easy to recognize it on television as she has sung for a lot of T V serials like “O Maria”, for Sony, Campus, etc., with singers like Shantanu, Jojo and Sanjay Choudhary (son of music director Salil Choudhary). She is a familiar voice on television in the form of advertisements and jingles.
Nephie has also lent her golden voice to some of the albums of Mangaloean Konkani artistes like Lawrence Saldana and Claude D Souza. Her popularity reached the zenith among Mangaloreans with the album “Shegunachi Sun”, a Tribute to Konkani music, produced by Jedi with Tony Dias as the music director.
As a singer Nephie has seen success and has gained name and popularity. But she still feels her best is yet to come and she has miles to go. Having achieved everything a singer dreams as a singer, Nephie is working on realizing her long cherished dream of producing her own album. She is waiting for the right composer, lyricist and music director to make her dream a reality. One can only wish she is able to fulfill this dream of hers with flying colours and her voice continue to enthrall music lovers in the years to come.
Daiji Darbar - 2011 : Tickets available at:
SHEZAN : 04-3358855, WINNY,S :04-3358060, CANARA : 04-3963966,DAS-PRAKASH;04-3965595
DUBAI : ALWYN PINTO:050-4583930,BARDUBAI - ROBERT UDYAVAR: 050-6995023 ,SATWA-JAMES PIUS 050-7645876,
AL QUOS:VINCENT:050-2868807,DEIRA-RAMCY 050-5508530 ALQUIES:NOEL D,ALMEDA-055 5878692
SHARJAH – ARTHUR PEREIRA :050-4956550, STEPHEN NAZARETH(KONKAN YUVA)-055 8443157
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