Opposite
the Santa Cruz Church, a narrow lane takes you to the cosy home of Filomeno
Cota. Greeting you in is a grand double bass standing majestically in the
corner. “This double bass had crumbled into 20 pieces and I painstakingly put
in all together to make it look like this; and you can even play it! It is
nearly 100 years old and was played at the Rachol Seminary. This still has the
antique gut string which is no longer available,” explains Filomeno Cota, a 78
year-old musician and recipient of the Kala Gaurav Puraskar.
Son of late
José Santana Cota, a recipient of the State Cultural Award in Music for the
year 1986-1987, Filomeno and his nine siblings, all share a passion for music.
Late José was a famous music teacher in Santa Cruz and was responsible for
teaching the young generation to play different types of instruments. Neatly on
display at Filomeno’s house now, the instruments are testimony of the wonderful
musical years Santa Cruz and the Cota family must have seen.
During the
Portuguese era, there were no primary schools. Children were taught the
alphabet and music at church. “My father used to teach all the village
children. There also was a system in place for training your own children. If
the family had many children, they were taught to follow the father’s
profession. I was taught to play the double bass, trumpet and French horn while
my other brothers were taught different instruments like the clarinet, cornet,
saxophone, circular bass, slide trumpet, snare drum, etc. We would form our own
band and earn money,” reminisces Filomeno, whose brothers include State
awardees, Luis Cota, Fr Bernardo Cota and Bruno Cota.
Filomeno
retired 20 years back from All India Radio, formerly known as Emissora – de –
Goa and since then has found comfort in restoring antique, especially foreign
made, musical instruments. “I know that age is catching up with me but I would
love to make and sell a double bass. I also repair old violins and violas with
special glue made by grinding certain leaves with wheat,” says Filomeno.
Unfortunately,
the manner in which musical instruments are maintained saddens Filomeno. “Many
instruments are just tucked away in houses; they are not played for years and
they lose their charm. The real beauty is in producing music; not just keeping
instruments on display,” he affirms.
