And his buddy and partner Daryll, tiny with a lovable goblin kinda air, could
fly off on Firebolt looking for the next new artist to add him to their live
music project. And by the way, neither of them wear shoes, walking around bare
feet all over Goa, turning up for meetings with event organisers and sponsors
in shorts and with no shoes. But even if they did, few would fit into them,
since the duo have put live music in Goa on its feet that many with big shoes
couldn’t.
The two happened to waft into the lives of many searching
for remaining spots in Goa, where the so very Goan thing didn’t happen
any-more- people walking in with their instruments to jam- anything would do, a
stool, a vessel, and of course things like mouth organs, djembe, flutes and
anything that created good sound by the Vaddi Beach between Benaulim and Varca,
this was Art and it an Escape from the way music was created, sung and enjoyed.
There was no method but it was joyous madness as we sat amidst the thatched
huts at this little eco resort they called home and made it one. We hung,
watched amazing old films, played and sang and met musical characters on their
own journeys and escape routes.
It was lovely as this space lasted, till Daryll and Vinesh,
both from Bombay, with an architecture background consumed by their DNA of
loving music and creating a space for musicians, moved on create Goa’s version
of probably the best temple for live music in the country today, Blue Frog in
Bombay. Their Goa baby called Live Lounge at Baywatch Resort has become the
centre and the only genuine space for live music with local and international
talent converging there. It has now become an intrinsic part of the Live Music
calendar of India, a mandatory pit stop for musicians across regions, languages
and even genres. From Welsh Jazz bands to Baul folk singers from Bengal, have
all come and occupied the Live Lounge space, some of them even together, making
live music truly one across people, races, language and regions.
So, no, this isn’t about “English”, music. Professor
Dumbledore Vinesh Iyer, and Daryll Harry
Potter, Noronha, have given hope for
revival of Goan country music as much as jazz and rock and then again to the
folk music of the wandering minstrels of Bengal, the bauls. And of Elvis Lobo-
our very own has held his place among international greats in world festivals
like Big Chill in England, Boom in Portugal, Namaste in America, and with Zakir
Hussain and A R Rahman here at home, the Elvis Lobo Project, created at Art Escape by our two characters has been
one of the catalysts.
The next stage is more of this, with the Indie festival in
mid-November with over 60 bands, including ten international ones and the run
up and event featuring bands from Burma, Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea and so on.
And if the nuts and bolts fall into pace, we could have Sufi
dance troupes from Persia, Arabia and other places converge for a World Sufi
Festival. Imagine seeing the Sufi dervishes whirling in frenzy to the rhythm of
the ocean in the background. This is in friendship and partnership with a
Calcutta based groups of like-minded characters.
To our shoe-less wonders, we thank thee, for getting
original music, created by home grown
songwriters on its feet by giving space and encouragement and for the world and
its music to come right here to Goa, without fanfare or commercialisation, to
sing and play. They have earned the right to truly create the Goan Order of
Music, (like Dumbledore’s Order of the Phoenix) to preserve what we once really
had.
