With his mellifluous, soothing voice he can make hundreds dance to his tunes. Justin Fernandez aka Justin the Gypsy truly has a captivating and vibrant voice. He can enliven any function, be it a small house party or a huge business meet. When he sings the all-time favourite love song by John Denver, ‘You fill up my senses...’ the listener will indeed be overpowered by mixed emotions. He sings with so much passion that you feel overwhelmed.
Justin’s life is devoted to music. But why the Gypsy tag? “Because I love to travel with my guitar,” says the singer who embodies a particular kind of modest grace in the way he sings and even speaks. Justin has been performing at private functions for years. He performed last year for Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her family from Italy. He loves to sing evergreen and classic English songs as well as Italian and Spanish. “In my younger days I used to sing Malayalam songs. It is my love for dancing that got me hooked to Hindi songs,” recollects Justin who is from Alappuzha. Thanks is due to his brother for initiating Justin to the world of Western music. “As my brother was sailing he used to bring English cassettes and I started singing English songs,” he says.
Justin was the lead singer of 2B 3C (two Brahmins three Christians) band that used to play in Hotel Avenue Regent, Kochi. As the lead singer of the band, he toured Russia, his first foreign tour. But it was his stint at Marari Resort that was a turning point in his life. A German spotted his talent and took him to Germany. Since then he has been touring Europe several times a year, juggling music classes and charity work in Kerala at the same time.
Justin will be easily mistaken for a Mexican. He speaks English and sings English songs with the right pauses and accent, which makes you wonder whether the singer is Portuguese. “While performing at Gabriel Restaurant in Germany the audience mistook me for a Mexican. In fact, I’m an Anglo Indian,” he corrects you. “After listening to my songs many are surprised to hear that I’m Indian,” says the singer with a heart of gold, for, apart from singing he has a passion for social work. He recently penned and sung songs for an endosulphan campaign for Indiavision. Once he starts singing, the listener gets lost in his music. He has an impeccable diction which, of course, comes with a lot of practice. But Justin is not a trained singer. He started learning songs and even the guitar all by himself. It was much later in life that he started taking music lessons, from a pianist named Stephan in Switzerland. “He is a bundle of talent and very old. For each class he charges $100. But it is a blessing that I could learn from him,” says Justin who performs for a band called Zion in Switzerland when he visits the place.
Justin has financial constraints and that is the very reason why he had to sell his Audi, which was a gift from a Swiss couple. “I have an annual contract with a hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, for three months in a year. The family which owns the hotel gave me their Audi, which I had to sell as I didn’t have the money for maintenance.” He sold the car in Switzerland itself and built a house in Alappuzha which he is now running as a homestay! The guitar he plays costs nothing less than `1 lakh, again a present from another family in Switzerland.
Justin is into voice training now, teaching children in Toc-H school,Tripunithura, as well as giving private tuitions. His dream is to bring out an album to save our environment from pollution. “It is a serious issue and I want to create awareness that it is the children who are worst affected due to the increasing pollution levels,” says the singer who performs for underprivileged children in SOS Village whenever he gets time. Justin can be contacted at 9846010001.
manuvipin@expressbuzz.com