Yeh Anthony Gonsalves Kaun Tha ?
My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves: Anthony Prabhu Gonsalves (12 June 1927 – 18 January 2012) was the first ‘music arranger’ in the Hindi Film Industry.
Amitabh Bachchan’s character in the movie Amar Akbar Anthony was initially to be called Anthony Fernandes. However, ‘Fernandes’ was not fitting into the meter of a song that Laxmikant Pyarelal were composing. Pyarelal suggested that they change it to ‘Anthony Gonsalves’ instead and that’s how it came to be. Many people did not know it then but Pyarelal was actually paying a tribute to his guru who taught him how to play the violin.
Anthony Gonsalves came from a musical family in Majorda, Goa and learned music from his father who was a Choirmaster at a church. He subsequently moved to Bombay to play music in the movies where, apart from arranging the music, he also taught violin to many including R.D. Burman and Pyarelal of Lakshmikant-Pyarelal fame.
Among the various songs he contributed to were gems like ‘Suhaani Raat Dhal Chuki’ for Naushad, ‘Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawaanon Ka’ for OP Nayyar and many more.
Anthony Gonsalves worked with all the music directors from 40’s to the 60’s like Naushad, Madam Mohan, S.D.Burman etc. He also wrote three books on Indian instruments. Moving to the USA in the late 60’s, he worked as a tutor of Indian Music at Syracuse University. Coming back to India in 1983 he retired in Goa where he stayed till his last days.
'You see the whole country of the system is juxta positioned by the haemoglobin in the atmosphere because you are a sophisticated rhetorician intoxicated by the exuberance of your own verbosity!' (Only those who know the song will understand this - I am posting a link to the song in the comments section)
It takes many people including the lyricist, the music arranger, the musicians, the singer and the music directors to create a song. The stories of many are lost. Glad that this one wasn’t and the credit for it goes to the student. Sometimes, there are some students who make their teacher famous.