The ability to compose a Konkani song at the drop of a hat is a
great achievement and Edwin D’Costa from Nuvem has sometimes done it within 30
seconds. With the world in the palm of our hands due to the internet, he has
been composing songs for over forty years which has reached the audience
through Youtube. Known for his talent of quickly composing a song, singing,
recording, editing the video and putting it out on the internet within 24
hours, he has gained a huge fanbase.
“I love to sing songs on current issues,
tributes of religious figures, tiatrists, political and social issues, all
related to Goa. I have been reading the Herald when I was living in
Goa and now I read the online epaper from Dubai, where I have worked for almost
half my life. These news reports give me much needed information which I use to
compose a song. Since news travels faster because of the internet, sometimes my
songs are out before the next day’s newspaper,” says Edwin, whose most recent
songs were ‘USA Goykar Bhurgeak Marlo’, ‘Amcho Goencho Saib’ and ‘Montriank
Warning’.
Sharing his five goals in life, Edwin
explains, “I wanted to have albums from A-Z, complete 100 albums, compose an
entire female singers’ album, have Roseferns release my first and 100th album
and finally have my own show with all songs composed by me. I completed my last
goal with the recent show, where 31 singers sang my songs at my show.” The show
was directed by Jose Mascarenhas while Norman Cardozo embellished the songs
with his music. The show also had the release of his 100th album ‘Sindhudurg
Diocese Gonvlli’.
Edwin has many firsts to his name, right from Fastest Composer,
Master Composer and the first Konkani singer to release 100 albums. However,
the wait was long. Edwin released his first album ‘Goencho Avaz’ in 1980.
Through his music, he has had three generations of singers singing his tunes.
In the pandemic, Edwin was constantly working on his songs but
couldn’t release an album. “I released my 99th album ‘Baiche Udok’ and within
two and a half months I released the 100th one. I work on a certain work
schedule and only if it is breaking news then I work on it immediately. It was
very expensive to shoot videos in Dubai so I learnt to do it myself. ‘USA
Goykar Bhurgeak Marlo’ was my first song to reach 88,000 views in a day,” says
Edwin.
Edwin
pays tribute to his late brother, Simon, in every album and believes that his
gift of composing is to proclaim the word of God.
