Anthony Gonsalves gets his due

Naresh Fernandes' book, Taj Mahal Foxtrot, chronicles, among other things, Goans in the Mumbai film industry

Nigel Britto

When Amitabh Bachchan in top hat and tails emerged from a giant Easter egg in Manmohan Desai's Amar Akbar Anthony in 1977 and proclaimed to the world, 'My name is Anthony Gonsalves', few viewers understood the significance of that statement. The music for that film was created by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, and it was the latter who decided to name Bachchan's character after his real-life violin instructor.

Gonsalves, who passed away last week in Goa at the age of 83, was perhaps the greatest Goan to have entered the portals of the Hindi film industry. The composer, who was also a sought-after teacher (his students included RD Burman and Pyarelal) had a strong background in Western classical music, which few in the film world had, and when he moved to Mumbai at 16 he was already an accomplished musician. Soon, he was to find fame in Mumbai's studios, working in the shadows of the soundtracks along with his peers, many of whom, like him, were Goan.

Flashback to the 1950s. Chic Chocolate prided himself on being India's Louis Armstrong - and not just because of the astonishing physical resemblance he bore to the American jazz great. By 1951, when he appeared in the movie Albela, Chocolate, whose real name was Antonio Xavier Vaz, was either a legend or a nonentity, depending on which social strata you belonged to. On screen for the first time, he donned a frilly poncho and pants that went up to his chest, and began to play his trumpet. 

Soon, his bandmates followed suit - Francis Vaz banged his bongos and Johnny Gomes wove the notes of his clarinet around Chocolate's sharp trumpet lead. The film gave the ace trumpeter the kind of visibility he had never enjoyed before. Not that he needed it. His face may not have have widely known but his tunes certainly were. Just the year before, his trumpet solo on Gore gore from the film Samadhi was all the rage.

As the '50s progressed, there would be more drums, trumpets and reeds in Hindi film music, in both the songs as well as background and incidental scores. A genre that originated in New Orleans had taken root in the Bombay film world, and at its core were people like Chocolate, Frank Fernand, Sebastian D'Souza and Anthony Gonsalves - all immigrant Catholics from Portuguese-ruled Goa.

While millions in India had heard of C Ramachandran and SD Burman, very few knew of these Goan musical wizards who were the driving force in their orchestras. Their story, fast-fading from the pages of history, has been brought to life by journalist Naresh Fernandes in his remarkable new book, Taj Mahal Foxtrot (Roli Books). Subtitled The story of Bombay's jazz age, the author explores a littleknown and rarely discussed aspect of the city's past and presents it as a spectacular alternate history.

Taj Mahal Foxtrot discusses jazz in India between '35 and '67, and takes its name from a tune recorded in '36 by Crickett Smith and his Symphonians, who were booked by the management of Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay to perform there that summer. The two dates between which the book is set are significant, says Fernandes, because "1935 was when the first all-Negro band (Leon Abbey) came to India, and 1967 was the year the iconic Chic Chocolate died".

The book came about when Fernandes embarked on a rather juicy journalistic project to unearth the dirt on a stormy love affair between two Goan musicians, Chris Perry and Lorna. By an amazing coincidence, he discovered that the musician Frank Fernand, who proved to be an invaluable storehouse of information on both the love affair and Konkani jazz in general, lived down his street in Bandra. It was Fernand, who passed away in 2007, who first gave Fernandes a glimpse of the 'golden age' of jazz in Mumbai, and its chief proponents, the Goans.

The immigrants from the tiny Portuguese-ruled state had many advantages over their British-Indian counterparts. "Their Western music training in the parochial schools established by the Portuguese gave them a near-monopoly on the technical ability to merge the basic elements of Hindi songs: Indian melody and Western harmony, " Fernandes writes in Taj Mahal Foxtrot.

And this is how it used to work: In its early ears, Bollywood's composers proficient in Hindustani music employed groups of musicians. Their compositions were melodic - the main performer played a single line and the others reiterated it. However, as the genre evolved, composers realised the need for the music to convey the power of a chase, a romance or a murder. Thus, they formed large orchestras that included sitars, dholaks, violins and swathes of brass and reed, the main strength of the Goan community. While the 'Indian' musicians had to rehearse their parts till they could comfortably play them (Hindustani music has no notation), the Goans just read the tunes straight off the score.

And then in marched the jazz brigade, who played an even more significant role than just being part of the orchestra. Since very few Bollywood composers knew to write music, the job was left to the Goans - people like Chic Chocolate or Frank Fernand. They were called 'assistant music directors'.

When the producer called a 'sitting', the Hindu composer, Muslim lyricist and Goan assistant director would listen as the director narrated the plot. When he wanted a song, the composer would hum it, and the Goan would take down the notation, which the composer would later expand. Indeed, it was the job of the assistant music director to craft introductions and bridges, and here's where the creativity came in.

According to Frank Fernand, who worked with composers such as Hemant Kumar, Kishore Kumar and Anil Biswas, music directors couldn't write music and so "We arrangers did all the real work". With their bicultural heritage, these Goans, who lived on the edges of the Hindi film industry and had to be happy with tiny credits, had no qualms about bringing a whole new sound to the music. They gave it, in Fernandes' words, its "promiscuous charm". A few Ellingtonesque doodles crept in. Soon, influences from Portuguese fados also made their presence felt. Apart from the jazzy Dixieland stomp were themes from classical maestros like Mozart and Bach.

Despite their enormous influence, very few of these musicians respected what they did. Anthony Gonsalves was among the few who did. "Gonsalves actually loved the music he was playing, unlike other Goan musicians who believed that Hindi film music was inferior to jazz and they had to do it to supplement their incomes, " Fernandes says.

Today, jazz has all but disappeared from Hindi film music, as has its heavy Goan influence. Fernandes worries about his city and its music. He writes: "Contemporary Bombay, however, is not only doing its best to choke the spaces in which the quirky and eccentric can survive, it has also lost its ability to agree on a central melody. " Taj Mahal Foxtrot is a gentle plea for a new score. 

THE FAB FOUR 

Anthony Gonsalves (1928-2012) from Majorda, Goa.

His name could safely feature among the pioneers of world music. Merged Goan and Hindustani music during the 1950s, and founded the Indian Symphony Orchestra featuring Lata Mangeshkar and Manna Dey as soloists. The ISO performed in '58 at St Xavier's College, Mumbai. He gave his compositions names like 'Sonatina Indiana', 'Concerto in Raag Sarang' and 'Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in Todi Taat'. Some of his significant works are in the movies 'Naya Daur, 'Waqt', 'Dillagi' and 'Haqeeqat' 

Chic Chocolate (1911-1967) from Aldona, Goa.

India's most accomplished trumpeter was prolific in the world of films. He began with 'Nadaan' in 1951, and was an important part of C Ramachandran's team. In 1952, they collaborated for 'Rangeeli', a massive success, especially the song 'Koi dar hamara samjhe', sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Later, Chocolate also worked with legends like Madan Mohan, O P Nayyar and Naasir, with whom he worked on the '56 film 'Kar Bhala' 

Frank Fernand (1919-2007)  from Curchorem, Goa.

Master of the violin and trumpet, Fernand, apart from being a staple in the Hindi film industry also made the legendary Konkani movies 'Amchem Noxib' and 'Nirmonn'. In '48, he joined Shankar Jaikishan. 'Barsaat' by Raj Kapoor was his first major film. A sterling patriot, he considered August 15 the most important day of the year. Later, he worked with top-ofthe-line music directors such as Anil Biswas, Kishore Kumar, C Ramachandran, and others 

Sebastian D'Souza (1906-1996) from Verem, Goa. 

His first brush with cinema was in pre-Partition Lahore. Post World War II, his earliest arrangements were for Shyam Sunder and Mohammad Ali. After Partition, he was back in Bombay, where he used his Lahore contacts to get himself work with O P Nayyar. His first tune, 'Pritam aan milo', was sung by C H Atma in '55. Later, working with Shankar-Jaikishan between '52 and '75 (' Daag', 'Mera Naam Joker' ), he helped create some of the most memorable tunes for Raj Kapoor's films.

This article was first published in The Times of India's Crest edition dated January 21, 2012.

Obituary: Anthony Gonsalves

Anthony Gonsalves in action. Photo from Taj Mahal Foxtrot/Naresh Fernandes

Nigel Britto

In Manmohan Desai's 1977 film 'Amar Akbar Anthony', Amitabh Bachchan, dressed in a black suit,wearing a tophat and holding an umbrella, popped out of a decorated Easter egg and proclaimed to the nation "My name is Anthony Gonsalves." For most who heard it at the time, the name didn't appear too significant-perhaps it was an arbitrary guess at a quintessentially Goan name? Not to the duo who were behind the music for the film, Laxmikant and Pyarelal.

The latter, who was taught the violin by a Goan musician who answered to that name, used it as a tribute to his real-life violin instructor. The real Anthony Gonsalves died in Goa on Wednesday, losing his battle with pneumonia. He was 83. But alas, Bachchan's one line was the only recognition Gonsalves was to receive for decades. Despite his formidable role in giving Hindi film music its international flavour, the reticent yet prodigiously-talented Gonsalves was a nearstranger to accolade. His contemporaries described his genius as being 'far ahead of his time'. So far, it appears, he was beyond the vision of those wise men and women who decide award lists. To them, Gonsalves didn't fit the bill. Perhaps, to most of them, he didn't exist at all. When his first award did come-the Karmaveer Puraskaar, in 2010-he was 82 and struggling.

"I'm happy, so happy," he whispered into the microphone, teary-eyed, as his faithful disciple Pyarelal, not a young man himself, felicitated him at Panaji. There was never doubt about Gonsalves' genius. He was born into music in Majorda in 1928. His father, Jose Gonsalves, a choirmaster at the village church, provided him his initial training.

Already an accomplished musician at 16, he migrated to Bombay, like many other Goans who dominated the metropolis' vibrant jazz scene in the decades before and after the Second World War. Unlike his fellow-Goans, his background was not jazz and dance but western classical. Also unlike his fellow-Goans, he loved the Hindi film music he was playing. Most others didn't, and played it by day, believing it to be lesser music than the jazz they played by night. Haqeeqat, Chetan Anand's 1964, government-backed war movie, for which Gonsalves arranged the music (it was credited to Madan Mohan) is perhaps the most striking example of his work. Most Goans didn't bother going out to watch the films they'd contributed to. Gonsalves was different.

He took a genuine interest in Hindustani classical music. A recently-released chronicle of jazz in Mumbai, Taj Mahal Foxtrot, reveals new insights on his life, and how Gonsalves developed his passion for raga-based music and tried to learn it. "It struck me very hard in my heart and mind," Gonsalves is quoted as saying in the book. "Melodically and rhythmically, it's so rich." The book's author, jazz historian Naresh Fernandes, recounts Gonsalves' child-like enthusiasm at the studios. "When other musicians went off for a smoke between takes, he'd engage in call-and-response jam sessions with the flautist Pannalal Ghosh. He sought out Pandit Narayan, Pandit Shyam Sunder and Ustad Inam Ali Khan to deepen his knowledge of the Hindustani tradition."

Alone at home at night, the hard-working Gonsalves transcribed the tunes from his head to paper. Those familiar with Hindustani classical music would realize this was an enviable task. "A raga isn't like a ladder, on which you take one step at a time," he used to say. "It's like a path up the mountain. It winds more and there are unusual intervals between stages." And his attempts to bridge the Indian tradition with his Western background resulted in his compositions having unusual names, some of which were "Concerto in Raag Sarang", "Sonatina Indiana", "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in Todi Taat" and "Symphony in Raga Multani".

His fascination with the two vastly different genres created a problem of sorts. His love for western classical music was at odds with his community of Goans, most of who had come from a jazz and dance background. On the other hand, his initiation into Hindustani classical was almost accidental, and had no formal training there too. He solved this little problem by fuelling his own dreams. In April 1958, he founded a 110-member Symphony Orchestra. "I paid my own money to put up this concert because I wanted to show the richness of our country's music," Gonsalves said. The orchestra, which performed in the quadrangle of St Xavier's College, Mumbai, and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chowpatty, featured singer Manna Dey and Lata Mangueshkar, who is also of Goan origin. In Taj Mahal Foxtrot, Fernandes says Gonsalves insisted it wasn't fusion. "I just took ragas and scored them for an orchestra and choir," Gonsalves said.

While his orchestral performances got mixed reviews, they catapulted him to a level sufficient to earn a fellowship at Syracuse University in New York. He departed in 1965 and taught his students there a little bit of Indian music, as well as orchestrating a short film for children, Simple Silk Screen; many of his works, such as Haqeeqat Symphony No.1, Pavitra Symphony, and Din De Potekar Sextet No.2 were created while he was at Syracuse. Some of these works are stored in the repositories of the largest library in the world, Library of Congress in Washington DC.

His life from there on remains a mystery, and he chose to live it in relative obscurity; he would never wield the baton again. There are several theories as to why this was so, each as unlikely as the next. He returned to his native village Majorda in the 1970s and lived a quiet life there until his death on Wednesday. Towards the end of his life, he was confined to the wheelchair, having fractured his pelvic bone. Meanwhile, the great music he composed in his prime, the bridge he tried to build between east and west, still lies in an old trunk. Till the end, he hoped that they would be played one more time. Sadly, it was not to be.

This article was published on The Times of India, Goa, in its edition dated January 20, 2012.

3 divas to serenade opera lovers

Nigel Britto

On July 7, 1990, on the eve of the Fifa World Cup final, Mumbai-born conductor Zubin Mehta led a massive orchestra at the Baths of Caracella in Rome. The singers, who called themselves The Three Tenors, were opera biggies Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras, who teamed up to create the concept that truly opened the gates of opera to the outside world.

An effort to replicate that magic will transpire in the city on Monday evening in the Tata theatre, NCPA, when British sopranos Patricia Rozario (originally from Mumbai) and Susanna Hurrell will team up with Goan wonderkid Joanne D’Mello in a joint celebration of the female operatic voice, in the style and form of the Three Tenors. The ‘3 divas’ will perform a variety of well-known arias— solo, duet and trio works — taken from popular operatic repertory.

Rozario is one of Europe’s leading opera exponents and a prominent soprano based at the Royal College of Music, where she teaches. She holds an Order of the British Empire for services to music, and has performed in many of the world’s most prestigious venues. Her unsurpassed artistry and top-of-the-range clarity have inspired some of the world’s finest contemporary composers, such as Avro Part and Sir John Tavener, to write exclusively for her. She has recently given premiere performances of many works, most notably Jonathan Dove’s settings of Vikram Seth’s ‘Minterne’.

Rozario has a running project in India that teaches young opera singers the finer nuances of the art. “It doesn’t matter if you’re British or Indian, these young sopranos are an example of what students can achieve if they work towards it,” she told TOI in Goa, where the three sopranos performed before 600-odd people in Panaji. D’Mello and Hurrell are both her former students, and though Rozario has performed in Mumbai before, this is the first time she has embarked on a tour with her students, who are justifiably excited. “It’s a real honour to perform with our teacher,” D’Mello, 24, told TOI.

Rozario is a long-running exponent of the idea that classical music shouldn’t be confined to the niche audiences that assemble inside opera houses. “Seeing live music being performed on stage is second to none,” she says. For the last two years, she has visited India several times to train young aspiring sopranos, and bringing students on tour with her (a rarity in the world of opera) is perhaps a demonstration of what dedicated training and guidance can do to prospective opera singers.

D’Mello and Hurrell have both finished conservatory and are in Belgium and Britain respectively at Opera Studio, the stage in a singer’s career between conservatory and professional singing. At the NCPA, the three will sing in Italian, French, German and English. The repertoire, too, was carefully chosen to “demonstrate the capabilities of the singers,” said Rozario. It will include works by staples like Mozart, Puccini and Handel, as well as less common names like Massenet and Gounod. Two French arias on the repertoire are set in Sri Lanka and India. Apart from the ‘serious’ repertoire, popular fare like the Flower Duet from the opera Lakme, and Adele’s Laughing song by Strauss are also part of the set.

The accompaniment scores for most of the arias are essentially for orchestra, but will be played by British musician and founder of the Chamber Music Company, Mark Troop on the piano. The Mumbai concert will be their last stop of their India tour, after already having performed in Delhi, Neemrana (Rajasthan), Goa and Pune.

This article was first published in The Times of India, Mumbai, in its edition dated January 7, 2012.