21 Oct 2017  |   05:28am IST

Making a musical chartbuster

Jazz Goa is constantly motivating young talent to step up and give their vocals a platform. Jazz Goa recently released the ‘Chartbusters from Goa’ album, which features a compilation of hits that made it to the international charts. Café speaks to a few singers whose songs are still making waves

 

 

Goa is known for its musical treasures, original

gems that not many get the opportunity to experience. Taking such creations to a wider audience is the album ‘Chartbusters from Goa’ that has been produced by Jazz Goa, which is headed by Colin D’Cruz. The album is a compilation of hits by various singers. Each song is an original piece of work, right from the lyrics to the music. The album has singles that reached number one on internet charts from among thousands of global entries.

The songs in the ‘Chartbusters from Goa’ album includes, ‘Spellbound’ by Leo Vaz, ‘The Star’ by Stephen D’Lima, ‘Chrystal’s Song’ by Chrystal Farrell, ‘Keep on Rocking’ by Cyrus Byrne, ‘Falling Down’ by Minelli Pinto, ‘Angel’ by Prateeksha Nayak, ‘Riverside’ by Neil Monteiro, ‘Sweet Sweet Goa’ by Ernest Flanagan, ‘Reduce Reuse Recycle’ by Carlos Gracias, ‘Don’t Stop’ by Danielle Rebello, ‘Into You’ by Minelli Pinto, ‘Be Mine’ by Sampan Sail, ‘Sinking Soul’ by Aileen Carneiro, ‘All out Again’ by Benoy Rai, ‘Low Down Mama’ by Owen Bosen and ‘Babble’s Poem’ by Chrystal Farrell.

Minelli Pinto has been writing her own songs since a very young age and she was encouraged by Colin D’Cruz to enter the studio for a recording. Little did she know that the same single would be the No. 1 song on the charts. “I was introduced to Colin through my father, Melroy Pinto, who had casually mentioned to Colin that I love writing songs. Colin then invited me to record the song in his studio. ‘Falling Down’ was the first song I had written. It was an exhilarating experience as I used to write and perform for the family and now I could record my first ever song. I was in Class XII when I recorded this song on May 17, 2010. following that, I recorded ‘Into You’ in 2012,” says Minelli, who is trained to play the piano but prefers the sounds of the guitar.

Cyrus Berne from Margao is a musician and composer and currently a part of two different bands, Estonia - Born to Rock and Duck Cherry. He recently released a mash up single of ‘Shape of You and Closer’ which received a great response. His single, ‘Keep on Rocking’, is featured in ‘Chartbusters from Goa’. “I remember writing the song with my cousin, Olivia Mukuna, who is currently in the USA. The song is about the hardships and joys we come across in our lives and how we have to keep our spirit high,” says Cyrus. “I sang this song for the Kingfisher Voice of Goa in 2012 and won the competition,” he adds. Cyrus is now focusing on a studio session collection, which will be available on Youtube.

Leo Vaz from Mapusa was the runner up for Kingfisher Voice of Goa and he remembers recording his single, ‘Spellbound’, nearly four years ago. “It is a beautiful song about the feeling of falling in love and the irony of how the same love can leave you spellbound,” Leo explains.

Speaking about his experience in the recording studio, Leo says, “It was an amazing experience as I got to record with the musical legends of Goa. Lester Godinho and Xavier Peres are the cream of the crop, with whom I got to work on the song.”

Colin had heard Leo sing and immediately approached him to get a song recorded. “I was at Jambalaya, Candolim, hanging out with a few friends on Karaoke night and Colin heard me sing. He told me that he loved my voice and would like me to record a song. I thought he was joking and I didn’t take it seriously. A few days later, Colin reminded me about the recording and we did the first recording. He then asked me practise the song for a few days and on the third recording, it was done,” says Leo.

“Most of the songs are actually written by youngsters just getting into music and they were simply thrilled to know that their songs got world-wide attention thanks to the internet. The song genres range from pop and rock to jazz and blues and everything in between,” says Colin, who was the hand pushing these youngsters to the next level. The album is available as a free download at www.jazzgoa.bandcamp.com