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Hi Cornel ! � Just a major correction before I reply to your email. I am assuming you are referring to Remy DeMello - the clarinetist� from Toronto. Remy is still living; however, he has been hospitalised for over ten years at a Toronto hospispital after getting a stroke when he was on his �way to prepare a young goan boy for his final music exams. � Remy and his two older brothers - Santan - trumpeter , and the late Jules - piano and accordion , started the DeMello Brothers band in� my home town - Iringa probably in the early fifties�with their uncle-Mathew on drums and Tony Fernandes on double bass. � They moved to Dar es Salaam in the mid-fifties- minus Mathew and Tony- and co-opted other musicians in their band including Joaquim Mendes - (ex Iringa) on drums. � Remy�- �who was equally comfortable on the saxophone, trombone and trumpet - later did a number of "stints" on the popular BI ships - SS Uganda and SS Kenya before moving to Kuwait. He migrated to Toronto in the nineties where he continued playing for various goan bands and teaching music to goan youngsters. � Santan, who is over 70 years young, continues to play in Toronto and their youngest brother - Francis - a great pianist and drummer - plays solo professionally at a Toronto nite club.� Earlier, he had his own band in Teheran, Iran before the overthrow of the Shah. Jules passed away recently in London. � The Tony Ferns jazz quartet consisting of the three brothers - (Tony on saxophone, Nerrie on piano and Hilary on drums ) and Polly Fernandes on double bass moved to London in 1962 to play professionally at nite spots in the English capital. � Tony, I believe passed away in the mid seventies and Nerrie formed his own band�which included his wife -�a Sri Lankan crooner. I was not aware that he was in Colombo but can now see the connection. � Hilary moved to Toronto and for a short period joined with Francis DeMello and another bassist to play jazz� at some Toronto nite spots.�(As a teenager�, I was fortunate to have acted in a concert in late 1961 in Dar es Salaam which featured the Tony Ferns band). � Judy Luis Watson - born in Dar es Salaam - has her �own group playing Blues and R &B with her husband and partner- Paul Watson. They� have won �several awards and are based in Maryland State near Washington. � They have a great website and it can be accessed�under the Goan� Overseas Digest thru the Goacom.com website.�Although I have never met her , last year I had some great email communication with her on� African music, Swahili songs and jazz music- particularly its enrichment thru influences��from other cultures ; i.e. Asian Indian classical music , traditional african music and Latino (Hispanic) music. � Judy comes from a family of great musicians. Her father - Jerry Luis played the accordion for the Jazz Swingers in Dar - the main goan band in the mid-fifties; while her late brother - Ian and sister - Jacinta� are accomplished musicians on their own right. � The caste system is part of our culture unfortunately, and although the prejudices have decreased tremendously thru education and varied exposures, it is still very conspicuous - albeit in subtle forms. You can be rest assured that many goan parents who belong to a so-called� "higher caste" continue to� state their misgivings if one of their children wants to marry a person of a so-called "lower caste". The normal excuse is that the person is not from a good family. � In the First World - the situation is getting a little different- for a number of reasons; including� parents not bringing any objections knowing that the kid will� marry�what-ever the reasons. � I gave the Nairobi example because it was very glaring; I am sure many so-called "low caste" folks� have� wealth of examples. And you can be rest assured it is very much "alive" in Goa. One's family's �true colors are clearly depicted when the subject of marriage is surfaced, or a relationship- that �has simmered between two people of different social strata- has come to light. � � rgds. � Tony Barros. Union, New Jersey. � � __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
