Joaquim D’Souza hails from the picturesque and serene village of Mandrem. Born on April 29, 1969, his father, late Andre Antonio D’Souza, was a choir master (mestri) at Rosary Church in Mandrem. His uncle, late Jack D’Souza, was also a mestri at the same church, until he moved to Mumbai for better prospects.
When Jack became a choir master at Amboli Church in Andheri, he invited Joaquim’s elder brother, late Manuel D’Souza, to Mumbai and taught him music as it would benefit him. “My brother Manuel later joined the film industry and played the saxophone with noted musicians like R D Burman, Laximikant Pyarelal, Bappi Lahiri and several others. He even performed with Louis Banks in Mumbai,” informs Joaquim.
Coming from a family of musicians born and brought up in Goa, Joaquim always made it a point to visit Mumbai to watch Manuel perform at all the recordings in the film industry. He drew inspiration from there and decided to be a good music director, taking up recordings efficiently.
Earlier, Joaquim learnt the techniques of playing the piano from Prof Mathew Mendes from Olaulim. After his brother’s death, Joaquim took up the saxophone and he picked up the trade by just watching his brother play at the studio.
He started displaying his talent when band leader Joaquim Trinidade from Mapusa brought Joaquim to the Taj Fort Aguada, Sinquerim. There he proved his musical skills for almost 5-6 years.
At the tender age of 7, Joaquim learnt to play the drums on his own at his house. In 1984, during service at the church, his father passed away on August 15.
From 1994 till 2001, Joaquim performed with his band, Moksha. Later, Lester Rodrigues introduced him to the band Forefront, where he played the saxophone and the flute for almost 5 years. As per the requirement of Forefront, he had the opportunity to tour all over India, Kuwait and Qatar.
From group performances with Forefront, Joaquim decided to make his appearance as a solo freelance saxophonist and stepped into the hotel industry, with performances in several starred hotels.
During this period, he met Jess Luis from Borim, who requested him to compose music for his song ‘Kor Kantar’. “The CD ‘Hello Lorna’ was produced by Rony Monserrate with the help of the keyboard. After purchasing the same keyboard, ‘Kor Kantar’ came into existence,” Joaquim reveals.
Joaquim and Jess decided to release a cassette and Lorna was roped in to render ‘Kor Kantar’ and ‘Fulam Bhettoilim’ while the remaining six songs were to be rendered by Olavo. “But unfortunately, on the day of the recording, Lorna took ill and had to return to Mumbai,” he informs, “and subsequently Olavo rendered ‘Kor Kantar’ while Sharon Monteiro sang ‘Fulam Bhettoilim’.”
The cassette was produced with ‘Kor Kantar’ as the title song and it was later released by Goa’s sensation, Remo Fernandes. “Three songs from the album, ‘Happy Birthday’, ‘Kor Kantar’ and ‘Moga Mandolin’ were instant hits. The ‘Happy Birthday’ song was later aired on FM Radio for more than a year.”
Tied up with V P Sinaris, Joaquim later produced CDs ‘He He Moga’ and ‘Ooh Vave’ with his lyrics, music compositions and rendered by Lorna and Olavo. ‘Feliz Natal’ followed which had songs in English, Konkani and Portuguese. An instrumental of the same title was also released. Hit songs in the CD ‘Ooh Vave’ included ‘Intensao Nachpachem’, ‘Suknnean Soirik Moddli’, ‘Jardin de Amor’ and ‘Romantica’.
In 2001, Joaquim released a gospel CD, ‘Jezu Tunch Mhaka Zai’, and in 2015, ‘Khuxalbhorit Natalam’. The latter won the Tiatr Academy Goa’s award for best choral and nomination for child artiste.
When Joaquim assisted Paul Rebello with the CD ‘Bhavart’, he received TAG’s best music composer award. As a player, composer and music arranger, Joaquim continues to contribute to the growth of the Konkani language. “When assisting a tiatrist by playing the drums, I met Wilmix-Sharon; their support has been an additional boost to my music career,” he reveals.
When music legend Chris Perry passed away, Joaquim composed the tribute song, ‘Tribute to a trumpeter’, and rendered it with the help of a flute on the day of his funeral.
Joaquim has also played in late Emiliano D’Cruz’s CD ‘Mogachi Maim’, besides renditions on saxophone in the Konkani film ‘Nirmon’. He has also composed music for George Coelho’s audio CD ‘Jezu Jivo Asa’ and Juze’s CD ‘To Dis’. Having set up a studio at his residence, he continues with his experiments with music using a saxophone, flute and piano.
The musician is happily married to Numila D’Souza from Verna and has two children, Divyo and Symphonia, both of whom are following in their father’s footsteps with drums and piano respectively.
