HIGH-FLYER IN
MUSIC’S JET SET
The name Mignonne Fernando and the song Mangala Mohotha
go hand in hand. Savithri Rodrigo takes a closer look at
the person behind the musical legend...

n 28 July 1974, Carl Myatt of the South China Morning Post and the Sunday Post Herald wrote about a young Sri Lankan musician: “Her firsts in the history of popular music in Sri Lanka and her many musical achievements internationally have proved that Mignonne is a rarity by any standard.”

For Sri Lankans, Mignonne Fernando is Mangala Mohotha, the mandatory wedding song copyrighted by Keith Prowse Music London. Fernando was the first Sri Lankan female composer-performer to be signed up by EMI Records, London. Today, the gregarious singer, composer and songwriter is still writing, singing and entertaining…

Sandwiched between two sisters, Fernando was the only one who made music her career. Her father, Arnold Rutnam, was a renowned academic whose forte was mathematics, at St. Joseph’s College; and mother, Marie Pern, was Fernando’s first music and speech-and-drama teacher from the age of six. The songstress vividly recalls the first time she sang: “I was seven when I came second in the Radio Ceylon Talent Contest.” One year later, she wrote her first musical composition. A good scholar, she was involved in every extracurricular activity that St. Bridget’s had, be it a place in the netball team or theatre productions. Many decades on, her enthusiasm hasn’t changed.

Fernando confesses to never having had time for boyfriends – because she was too busy writing love letters for her friends, having had a way with words. When she was 14, her father passed away. She completed her O Levels and went on to Aquinas to pursue law; but budgets were constrained – and very soon, Fernando dropped out.

“It was Lucy Page who introduced me to Cyril Gardiner. I was 17 when I began performing at the Coconut Grove. My mum used to accompany me and read her Agatha Christies until I finished,” Fernando recalls. But the eternal student in her never rested. While her musical career reached dizzying heights – and throughout her marriage, as well – she studied, obtaining a Très Honorable at diploma level in French (at the Alliance Française), an external Bachelor of Arts (London) and a Licentiate and Fellowship (Trinity College, London) in Music, Speech and Drama. She was selected as a member of the Asian Composers League, and is a member of the American Guild of Variety Artistes in Honolulu. CASH (the Composers Authors Society of Hong Kong) enrolled her after she won an award in the Radio Television Hong Kong Songwriters’ Competition in 1981, for Island Song.

Tony Fernando entered her life when he was looking for someone to guide his band of guitarists in music theory and to perform with them. Gardiner of Galle Face Hotel fame promptly recommended Fernando. She joined The Jetliners, managed by Tony, in 1965. The band played for long stints in India, Singapore, Honolulu and Hong Kong, and Fernando traversing the globe with it, won award after award.

The original band comprised Lucian Perera, Felix Fernando, Harris Jurangpathy and Anton Gunawijaya. Subsequently, Indraraj (who is billed to play at the Hank Marvin Concert this year), joined with Ishan Bahar, Loretta Koch, Sohan Pieris, Alston Koch and Conrad de Silva. “We play­ed at almost every musical show and were actually mobbed. Kids used to cut off bits of our hair to keep as souvenirs. When the movie Young Ones came to the Liberty, we performed for about 20 minutes before the show,” she reminisces.

It was while playing at the Taj Mahal in Bombay that Fernando met George Harrison and played a raga with him. “Harrison was learning under Ravi Shankar. But the humility of people like him is astounding. Four years later, while The Beatles were still at their peak, there was a commotion at the entrance and I saw a bearded man in a white kurta, waving to me. It was Harrison, who had come to see me. He asked about my work and we chatted for some time.” Fernando recalls that 1971-72 were probably some of the best years. “I won the Embassy Award at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo from over 1,200 entries, the Matsushita Award and the Special Jury Award for Composer/Performer. I was the only Asian artiste selected to perform at ‘Split 72’ in Yugoslavia and at the 12^th International Song Festival in Poland. I won a gold medal at the 5^th Olympiad Of Song in Athens for Oba Nisa. I recorded my most popular songs, Mangala Mohotha, Thang Nivaadu Kaley, Jeevithay Vasanthayé and my version of Bombay Merey Hai.”

Fernando holds the distinction of being the only woman composer-performer to date to be a finalist for three consecutive years at the World Popular Song Festival, and has competed and won against ABBA’s Bjorn and Benny, French music composer Michel Legrand, Tony Christie and John Farnham.

She claims that although being a descendant of Poet Laureate John Masefield may be an influencing factor in her talent, music maestros such as Franz Liszt, George Gershwin, The Beatles, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, Barbara Streisand and Fourplay have all inspired her. She is very grateful to Ricky and Charmaine Mendis, who supported the band throughout by lending LB Studios for rehearsals.

When speaking of Tony, it’s evident that their love hasn’t dimmed. “When I first met him, I never realised I would marry him. But, given my workload, I never went out to meet anyone and we were always together. One day, in Kandy, he accompanied me to church – and, while returning, he said that he had never felt so comfortable with anyone in a long time. I think I felt the same way, too, but was too naïve to realise it,” she reveals.

Tony’s proposal, however, was less than romantic. He proffered her a piece of paper that looked like a contract – and Fernando recalls telling him she would read it and sign it later. “Uncharacteristically, he told me that I’d better read it now… and when I looked at it, ‘Notice Of Intention Of Marriage’ was staring me in the face! Marriage to Tony was always interesting. We are both very intense people, and we did have our times of conflict and fireworks. But there were moments of magic that I wouldn’t trade for anything else in the world,” she declares. They have two sons, Michael and Robert, while Tony’s daughter Suyin is firmly entrenched in Fernando’s heart as her own. “And I am enjoying being a grandmother to three-year-old Jordan, Suyin’s son,” she confesses.

Her career with and without The Jetliners has opened doors for her to meet the glitterati of music and cinema: Neil Diamond, The Shadows, Hank Marvin, John Rostill, Whitney Houston, Patti Austin, Gladys Knight, Sergio Mendes, Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock; and listening to The Jetliners’ at the Planet Hollywood launch in Hong Kong were Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Mignonne & The Jetliners also played for the Cartier launch of the perfume Panthere, with Mignonne writing special music for the event and fronting for Julio Iglesias. “I also composed and performed solo synthesised music for Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel and Dunhill,” she avers. The Jetliners won the contract to open The Regent in Hong Kong. In 1997, Fernando returned to Hong Kong to perform at the Regent Party for the handing-over ceremony to China.

An attractive and ageless woman with oodles of joie de vivre, Fernando has always worn the nalal patiya to promote Sri Lanka wherever she has performed. “Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional,” she quips. “Though I am growing older, there is very much the child in me, the fun person – and this is me.”

Fernando is currently organising the concert, A Celebration Of Life, for March 2006. She has already released the title CD, which is dedicated to Tony. “Music to me is a gift from God. A tender sapling planted in my soul, it was watered by the wisdom and profound knowledge of my mother. But it was under Tony’s inspired management that my music blossomed. His encouragement and support was infinite. He loved me enough to give me space to create the melodies and lyrics that spun around in my head. Our children’s immense understanding allowed us to present that music, performing with The Jetliners, an assembly of the finest and most dedicated musicians who grew with us and became our family,” Fernando elaborates.

Hers is a celebration of life, indeed…