Goan-origin Australian singer recalls roots, performs in 'motherland' India

Australian singer Reuben de Melo who was born in Goa and moved to Australia more than two decades ago as a boy dropped out of engineering college to pursue music and has since carved a niche for himself in the creative fieldThe Perthbased singersongwriter who won The Voice Australia a singing competition in 2024 is part of Australias vibrant Indianorigin communityOn Friday night de Melo and Australiaborn musician Milan Ring who has a mixed heritage including Indian roots from her mothers side performed at Gig on the Green hosted at the Australian High Commission hereAustralian envoy Philip Green who attended the event said efforts are being made to bring the best of Australian culture and art to India just as we welcome culture and art from India to AustraliaTheres now more than a million people of Indian origin in Australia Thats the fastest growing community in our country and theyre doing great things in our society and we want them to do great things for the bilateral relationship he told PTI on the sidelines of the eventThis particular facet of people of Indian origin who have really made it in the arts and culture field in Australia is very special Green said praising the two musiciansAfter the show de Melo and Ring separately interacted with PTI and shared their journeys into the creative sphereI moved to Perth when I was about 11 years old I live in Perth Western Australia Then I won The Voice Australia in 2024 and here I am back in India back to the motherland said de Melo a father of threeThe Australian indie folk singer said that while Perth is my home he will always carry childhood memories of growing up in Goa especially his grandmothers place and his ancestral homeThey will always be my heaven when I leave this place you know what I mean de Melo saidRecalling that he and his sister along with their parents moved to Australia around 20032004 de Melo said music entered his life after the death of a close friendMusic for me happened when I unfortunately lost a friend He was an Aussie guy a singer and liked to sing at birthday parties and stuff I picked up a guitar and I wanted to sing de Melo saidIn a candid conversation the singer said he completed three years of engineering before deciding to drop out and pursue musicThough he works in the mining sector and sings parttime he shared how he drew from moments of grief in his life and turned them into lyrical compositionsI wrote the song The Boys for two colleagues in mining who we lost to acts of suicide de Melo saidGoing down memory lane de Melo recalled how during his early days in Goa he had developed a fascination for the Hindi film BorderI really liked the movie Border and remember the song Sandese Aate Hain It was one of my favourite movies growing up I wore a commando outfit every day with my toy guns de Melo recalledWhile the Perthbased singer has visited India multiple times in the past for Sydney native Ring visiting India was at the top of her bucket listIndia she said feels vibrant colourful and full of energy and something like a cinema scene which prompted her to explore the country its rich music and diverse cuisineIts been on top of my bucket list the whole life to come to India and here I am I am kind of pinching myself it feels surreal Ring told PTIThe musician said she has mixed heritage including Indian heritage from her mothers side Her maternal grandfather was born in north India while her father is from Hong Kong she saidRing who has been based in Berlin for the past couple of years said each country and its natural sounds in streets or elsewhere feel different I would like to go to music events in Delhi and hear the playing of a sitar or tabla she saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever