De Souzas: Musically Yours

The musically inclined, talented and yet down-to-earth De Souza siblings - can truly be called the ‘Jackson 5' of Goa. The five humble siblings - Antonio Maria De Souza aka Baban, Francisco Boaventura De Souza, Paulo Tadeo De Souza, Maria Lourdes De Souza Fernandes and Marta De Souza - born to late Shimao De Souza aka Muzg Shimao from Taleigao and late Joaquinha Mascarenhas from Raia Shiroda - have been exhibiting extraordinary musical talent and ruling the various fraternities of the Goan tiatr world since 1950s and yet choose a low profile.
Popular in Goa for their artistic inclination, the De Souza family is into singing, acting, playing various musical instruments and recording voiceovers, CDs, VCDs at their own studio in Taleigao. Though scattered and working individually in different bands, tiatrs and musical shows, the three brothers and two sisters are a close knit family when it comes to celebrating their musicality.
"Our family's involvement in tiatr began with our dad, late Muzg Shimao," recalls the eldest of De Souza siblings, Antonio, a well-known drummer who is fondly called Baban in the tiatr circle. Baban plays the banjo, guitar, violin, organ, lead guitar and bass guitar too. He and his younger siblings were drawn towards music and tiatr in their formative years.
Baban who began his career as a drummer at seven, has vivid memories of his childhood at Taleigao, "Both our parents were tailors. However, my talented father did not limit his art to cutting and stitching cloth. More than a tailor, he was a musician first, a singer and a drummer who performed at weddings. When he sang Konkani kantaras, his clear voice would be heard from far away."
In the 1950s when late Muzg Shimao played with a band of 7-24 musicians, Baban would accompany him. Gradually, Baban learnt to play many musical instruments. "My first stage show was in 1955 when I was seven, there's no looking back since then," says Baban whose siblings joined the bandwagon as they grew up.
"I used to play at Hotel Sona in a popular band, Jetliner(later Fire Jetlier)," says Baban who was in demand to play for weddings and parties across Goa. "I charged Rs eight to play at weddings. There was no proper transportation. A portador (coolie) who carried my drum on his head from our home in Taleigao to the venue was paid Rs one. While I went on bicycle, he walked and started much earlier to reach before me," shares Baban.
Life was easy; but livelihood, hard, especially, with meagre remunerations. But music ran in the DNA of De Souza family and that offered enough adrenaline. In those days, the bands played continuously for long hours - 2-7 pm and 9-5 pm with a break of two hours. The weddings were warm get-togethers. People had time for each other and loved coming together to meet, greet and enjoy the occasion. "The evenings would be filled with music," recalls Baban, who now plays the organ and is a one man show running Rock Jazz Band, performing at weddings, birthdays and parties. In addition to this he is also active in playing music at church and tiatrs. His son Richard has taken to drums.
Following his elder brother's footsteps, Francisco began his musical career at 15. Good at singing and playing lead guitar, he joined the International Bharat Circus and travelled.
In 1976, he joined Baban's Fire Jetliner group for a while before flying to Kuwait where he played lead guitar and drum for a decade. "In Goa I joined The Bees and played at Taj Fort," shares Francisco who formed The Syndicate band with Diogo Fernandes, Joe Gomes and Constancio Diniz. His brother Paulo also joined them.
"Ours was a strong group for 20 years," says Francisco who has set up his studio, Audio Tape where tiatr CDs, jingles, voice overs and audio-video recordings are done.
Paulo's career began as a drummer at 13. After performing with The Syndicate for two decades, Paulo joined Alcatraz band and has been playing for 16 years with them. "Ours is a six member group that plays in India and abroad," says Paulo who had stints with bands like Les Vendles, The Sting and The Archies. Currently he teaches music, drum, guitar and violin, in Panaji. Paulo's entire family is involved in music, with wife Savia playing at the church choir and daughter Raissa Mary Anne playing drums, organ and keyboard. In addition to this, Paulo also plays the violin at ladainhas. He also plays as standby or stepny. "I can perform on short notice," says Paulo who eats, drinks and sleeps music.
Maria, the third sibling, started at the age of seven with singing and acting in tiatr though she never learnt to sing officially. She wrote a play Poske when she was a teenager. "After marriage, I sang in the parish and worked on the professional stage in Goa until 1996 before leaving for Gulf to work as a restaurant singer. I also sang in Sushegad Goa, Viva Goa and Pedros." Good at writing, Maria's career as a tiatrist continued in Dubai where she scripted stage tiatr, composed songs and acted in English plays for 20 years. Having returned to Goa, she now works with younger sister Marta in tiatr and stage shows across Goa and outside.
The youngest, Marta began acting and singing and formed her own choir God's Gift. She performs at khells and Carnival in Goa. Along with Paulo she does shows at London, Kuwait, Muscat and Saudi Arabia. One of her tiatr Pagar has done 175 shows. Marta has showcased ladies shows too with song and music. "I played a male role too in Aataa Borem Chintat, that made a record," she quips. The De Souzas are working on a family CD project currently. "This will be an anthology of our contribution towards music and Konkani tiatr," expresses Marta.