A friend, Helene Derkin (now Derkin-Menezes), charmingly narrates her
experience of falling in love with the windsurfing champ Derek Menezes in
Goa, how she encountered the Goan band, and what a dance at Colva was like
in the 1990s. ("From the Outside In," in Inside-Out, Goa,1556 and
GoaWriters 2010). Point of the story: it can be hard work to get cover
versions right too!QUOTE Then out of the blue, I hear Western music blaring out nearby and frown in annoyance - don’t want to be reminded of home. I recognise the song, it’s in the top ten back in the UK. Derrick says the dance must have started and Fi and I exchange glances – we are sure we’re in for some very staid and dreary music as we drive up to the venue, but, by the sheer volume of what’s being played, that is obviously not the case. The dance is called ‘Noite de Fama’ traditionally held on the day of the Colva church feast. I walk inside the cloth barrier vowing not to be so judgemental. What I thought was recorded music is actually a live band called Lynx, we are astonished – how can a bunch of Goan guys sound exactly like Take That one minute and Big Mountain the next! The crowd is throbbing, these Goans are certainly not shy about dancing and not the foot-shuffling-arms-flinging stuff we know – this is the real deal. Around us in the most diverse fashion statements, in a rainbow of hues from saris to puff sleeve ensembles (not the designer labels and street fashion we were used to seeing), people dance. Partners dance ballroom style, and dance well – neither of us has ever witnessed anything like this before. All this is happening under a blanket of a million stars. Back home you feel like a lottery winner if you can go out in the summer without a coat on and here we are in the middle of the night revelling in the balmy weather in our sundresses. It’s a beautiful night, great music, good food, fine company - great conversation and lots of laughing. We all dance under those stars. The sun is just waking up as we get back to Joets. We go back to our room though I am on too much of a high to sleep, my mind is on the tall dark handsome man who has swept me off my feet... ‘Oo Baby I Love Your Way’ reverberates in my head as I relive our slow dance together.ENDQUOTE -- FN* फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا +91-9822122436 AUDIO: https://archive.org/details/goa1556 <https://archive.org/details/@fredericknoronha> undefined
