There are many tales of Goans that
return home after making their lives
overseas, all with an aim of enriching the local soil with their experiences
from abroad. And while there are plenty of Goan bands out in the market with
members who have similar experiences, there is one that has been making more
waves in recent times: Smooth.
The story goes thus: Sebastian (Sabby)
Almeida, the frontman of the band, got together with another founding member,
Lenny Fernandes and together they recruited Razia da Costa Campos, Russel
Dsouza, Darrin Lobo and Collin Dias to bring to Goa what they refer to as ‘a
wave of different, happy music’.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
After travelling to perform
internationally in Oman and Africa, the band has now re-grouped and is set to
bring the house down at several local venues including ‘Soro’, the village pub
in Assagao, and the recently opened ‘Showbar’, located at Sinquerim, which has
been creating plenty of buzz for itself too. Smooth plays live music in a host
of languages as well, which is a hallmark of the band. From English to
Portuguese, and Konkani to Spanish, Tamil, Swahili, Marathi and Hindi, this
allows them to satisfy the musical preferences of nearly everyone in the crowd,
from young to old, with their newer as well as retro renditions.
Russel, who handles keyboards, violin
and vocal responsibilities for the band, points out that this USP is in keeping
with the touristic nature of the band’s base of operations. “Goa being a
tourist destination, we feel it is very important to make partygoers happy with
a track from their country or state. The idea is to build a strong and varying
repertoire that covers as much as we can, even if it is a single track. It only
takes a spark to light a fire and that’s what we want to do on the dance
floor,” he says.
Razia, the female vocalist of the band,
doubles up as a musician as well as a teacher of the Portuguese language at Don
Bosco Oratory in Panjim. This, she feels, has aided in adding yet another
dimension to the band’s sound. “With a natural exposure to the Portuguese
language, we latched on to the idea of playing a lot of different Portuguese
tracks, which are always appreciated by the crowds that we play for; from waltzes,
to cha cha chas, to the corridinho,
to rock and roll, and swing in Portuguese, we do it all,” she adds.
But it’s not just about being
commercial. Sabby points out that the band has a heavy focus on taking the
discovery of their original sound even further. “Having five main vocalists in
the band, Smooth has fantastic harmony. Everyone loves the rhythm and the happy
sound that we produce. The band is also planning on releasing its original
album in December this year,” he concludes.
