Hi Mervyn I would like to add a note on Goans in Malaysia as most of them were my mother's relatives.
My maternal grandfather Antonio Francisco Matias Gomes (born 1886 in Malar, Divar, Goa) accepted a contract in Kuala Lumpur to lead an orchestra in movie theatres during the time of the silent movies. At the time he was part of an industry of travelling orchestras that were playing in such movie theatres in India. He arrived in KL in Aug 31, 1913. To quote from The Strait Times of 8 Dec 1963 "To trace his life is to trace the early history of Western [classical] music in the country." He had 17 children (including my mother), and 73 grandchildren - 68 of which were born in Malaysia. One of his brother followed him and also formed an orchestra in KL, and one of son Francis had a famous orchestra there too. In all he had 400 descendants, many who have emigrated to other parts of the world, but mainly Australia. There were other Goans who migrated to Malaysia - so 90% were either my grandfather's descendants or were married to them. By sheer coincidence a number of my father's family (Nazareths of Moira) emigrated to Singapore in the 1920s. One of them Prof. Filipe Nery Nazareth became a noted Singaporean historian. So there was a small Goan community there too. Regards John -----Original Message----- From: Goanet [mailto:goanet-boun...@lists.goanet.org] On Behalf Of Mervyn Maciel Sent: July 15, 2021 2:31 AM To: Estb. 1994! Goa's Premiere Mailing List <goanet@lists.goanet.org> Subject: [Goanet] Subject: Re: Goans in Burma & Malaysia Hi Adolfo, I am not aware of any Goans in Malaysia, but certainly remember Goans who fled from Burma during the Japanese invasion. Some of these families landed in Belgaum(then British India) and I had several classmates who were in this category.. Mervyn Maciel
