FN
One paragraph -- written by Glenis Mendonca and Jeffrey
D'Souza -- about an all-girl band in a recent souvenir of the
Moira 'club' piqued my interest. Sharing it online (via
Moira-Net on Facebook), brought in a quick response.
It turned out that there were two -- not one --
all-girl bands in that Bardez village of the 1990s.
Wendy D'Sa helped to get five of the musicians of
those days to share their reminiscences.
"Somehow we could not get in touch with the drummer and her
sister," Wendy comments.
The "we" in this story are Vinita (drums), Cynthia (bass),
Delilah (lead on keyboards), Olivetta (rhythm guitar), and
Wendy, Rowena and Virginia as the trio singers.
"Casual Encounters, an all girl band, started when Salazar
D'Sa, a musician from Moira village who so many remember
today, hand-picked us amateurs and invited us to be part of
this all-girl band," the team said, after the topic came up
again.
They recalled: "Everything else then followed -- a
dedicated and hard working team, great supportive
families, our village being a safe haven for
practices and rehearsals that went on past
midnight. Our age old institution A.A. de Moira
for giving us the opportunity to perform our first
show and our village community for being there.
But most of all we had Salazar."
They had backup too. On the technical and electrical side,
for the instruments etc., there was Raul Electrical from
Mapusa. Sanjay, in his white Maruti van, is still
remembered. Band-members say, "Our godfathers were the
[bigger bands] Cascades and Syndicates...."
Their first memories are of practice sessions at Salazar's
place. They would "look forward to 7 p.m."
Did they think it would succeed, at all?
"Success was never on our mind," the band members say today.
"We were enjoying every moment being part of an all-girl
band. It was a very fulfilling experience and we did our
best. We never thought it would go far, we had joined for
the fun of it."
So, what were the challenges then?
Setting up the stage and getting instruments tuned was one
they recall. It was also a challenge to balance work and
practices and shows. Traveling long distances and returning
in the early morning hours could be exhausting too.
So, did it pay off? How did audiences respond?
Many a times they were called back on stage, "We once played
at a beach and, while getting down the wooden stage, the
crowd was cheering so loudly, we felt like rockstars," they
recall.
At Canacona, in the extreme southernmost part of
Goa, for the feast dance, they remember a huge
crowd. "When we performed Venus [by Shocking
Blues] in Moira, the people just ran onto the dance
floor. There was so much of movement on the floor."
"People showing us the "thumbs up", smiled and cheered. I
think audiences were quite excited to see a girl drummer too.
She was terrific and of course there was the all-girl tag."
They recall it all today, some two and half decades later:
"The very thought that we were the only all-girl
band at that time, performing and expressing our
talents. Signing two big contracts soon after the
Moira feast dance, which was our first show.
Getting on stage with fog and lighting. Playing in
front of large crowds, the nervous adrenalin rush."
But all good things come to an end. So how did Casual
Encounters wind up? Some members moved out of Goa to further
their careers and it was difficult getting replacements,
specially in terms of musicians.
It ended abruptly.
Yet, it was a unique moment in time, a different world, time,
place and feel, they recall wistfully. "Recreating it won't
be the same."
Behind every successful man... Oops, got that wrong, and
revealed my bias while saying that. But, being from outside
Moira myself, I couldn't help wondering who Salazar D'Sa was,
the music mentor whom so many people had such good things to
say about.
A question online brought only more praise and memories about
the man who has since migrated westwards.
One of the members of the bands (not just one band, mind you)
he mentored, got in touch with him.
He wrote back, in a letter shared with me: "Thank you for
getting in touch with me. I really enjoyed the write up.
Brought back great memories. Those were exciting times in my
life and yours too.
"Desmond Machado was the one who first got in touch
with me to form an all girls band when he was
elected the president of the Moira club. He said
that it was his dream if he became the president
and that I was the only one who could help him form
the first all-girl band."
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