It has been 45 years since Jim Reeves died, but the legend’s music lives on in Mangalore.
It will be 45 years since that great country singer James Travis Reeves died in a tragic air mishap in Tennessee on July 31.
But this town relives his time and works now and then through a concert in his memory, and why not? When the city has a voice that sounds like that of the great Jim Reeves.
This time, it will be a multi-state artistes combine group that will play tributes to Reeves. DNA had an exclusive sneak preview of the practice session with the group.
Max Karkada’s group’s vocalist plays the exclusive numbers of Reeves and guesses that he can play all the numbers of Jim Reeves almost exactly like him.
His great fan Richie Lasrado, who is also one of the music connoisseurs of the city says, “Listen to him without any prejudices and if you cannot, just close your eyes and listen, you will not be able to tell the difference.”
Arun Shiri, a senior violinist of the group, is all worked up: “Jim Reeves’ music is not just music, it is an obsession. I know hardcore Jim Reeves fans in the city who have spent half their lives listening to him and they would not want even a single note out of place. It is hard work.”
For Karkada, Jim Reeves is a one-man religion. His home by the riverside and the large coconut plantation at Haleyangadi near Mangalore is full of the singer’s pictures. In a corner of his estate, he has even consecrated a replica of his guitar in concrete which has now become a pilgrimage centre for budding guitarists in Mangalore.
Karkada knows every event in the life of Jim Reeves: “ I like his academic interest in music. He researched into American folk life and unearthed a 300-year-old song, Danny boy, which is even today on the lips of millions of his fans everywhere. Thanks to Mangaloreans, they have kept the legacy of Jim Reeves alive by encouraging us.”
Mangalore is a cosmopolitan city where a sizeable section of the population listen to western music and particularly that of singers like Jim Reeves, Tom Jones, Elvis, Engelbert, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and many other greats. “My group has singers who can play their numbers. I am still looking for a singer who can play songs of Ray Charles,” says Karkada.
The Tribute to Gentleman Jim group has three violins, played by Manoj Lazarus, Sunil Kumar, Denzil Karkada, Rajgopal on lead guitar, Gladson on acoustic guitar, Jereme Coelho on bass guitar, Melwin Fernandes on drums, Cloy Carvalho on percussions and Oscar Weltha on keyboards. Though this group has been paying tributes to Reeves on and off, this year it has become an interstate affair – two trumpeters Nigel Simon from Calicut, and Theo Alvares from Goa have joined the event.
Karkada remembers the event they organised five years back on the 40th anniversary of Reeves’ death – he had fans of the singer arriving from Bangalore and Panaji too.
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