----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>To: Goanet <[email protected]>Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2025 at 02:59:28 AM ESTSubject: [Goanet] How an 86-year-old music store has helped Kolkata stay in touch with ‘everything musical’ By: Pratyay Nath Published in: *Scroll* Date: November 30, 2025 Source: https://scroll.in/article/1088867/how-an-86-year-old-music-store-has-helped-kolkata-stay-in-touch-with-everything-musical
The Braganzas of Kolkata are famous for their music store. For almost a century, they have been making, selling, repairing and hiring out musical instruments and stocking music books. This is not their only identity. They have also been contributing to the city as performers, music teachers and facilitators of internationally recognised Western classical music examinations. Their story starts in 1959, when a young Goan musician named Francis Braganza went to Burma (now Myanmar) in search of a livelihood. He found employment in a band in Rangoon (now Yangon). But as the clouds of World War II gathered over the country, many Goan musicians migrated to Calcutta (now Kolkata) to join the city’s vibrant music scene. Braganza was among them. Though Calcutta was also threatened by the war, the lure of performing in the bustling city proved to be a great attraction for these musician émigrés. In Calcutta, Francis found work at a music instruments store called Menezes and Co. It was owned by his uncle, who had migrated from Goa some time before. Soon, Braganza started his own family store, Braganza and Co. His brother Thomas joined him. Both of them had been trained in Western music in parish schools in Goa (which was a Portuguese colony till 1961). In some time, their youngest brother Joseph Braganza came to Calcutta too. World War II energised the city’s music scene. Since Calcutta was a military base, several lakh Allied troops passed through. They used to frequent the city’s restaurants and pubs. The presence of these new clients prompted the owners of these places to offer jazz music for their entertainment as well as for Bengalis attuned to Western music. In addition to bands formed by Indian musicians, the city also attracted performers from Europe, America, and South East Asia <https://tajmahalfoxtrot.stck.me/post/5282/Burmese-jazz-refugees-trek-to-India-1941> . The Braganza brothers came from a family of musicians. The pianists “Baby” Menezes and Tony Menezes and the vibraphonist and pianist Anto Menezes were their cousins. Decades later, Anto Menezes would play with singer Usha Iyer (now Uthup) and would arrange music for sitar player Ananda Shankar’s outfit. Some members of the Braganza family used to teach music in Catholic schools in Asansol, Kalimpong, Shillong, Madras and Lucknow. Other cousins were musicians in Colombo, Delhi and Bombay. With this background, it wasn’t surprising that the Menezes brothers, alongside running their store, also began to perform in bands in hotels and nightclubs. The 1940s was the age of big band jazz. Francis was a drummer at the Central Hotel. Thomas played the saxophone and the clarinet at the Grand Hotel under the African-American band leader Teddy Weatherford <https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/kolkata/citys-weatherbeaten-weatherford-dirge-of-negligence-at-jazz-geniuss-grave/cid/2065043>. Their youngest brother Joseph Braganza used to play the saxophone and the piano. Anthony (Tony) Braganza, the son of Thomas, now co-owns the store with Dicky Braganza, the son of Francis. He said that Calcutta continued to retain its taste for jazz for several decades after the war. Sitting in his store on a hot summer afternoon, he recollected that after working at their store all day, his father and uncle would go home for supper and then perform music in hotels till midnight. They would then jam at the Golden Slipper nightclub till the wee hours of the morning. “When did they sleep?” Tony exclaimed. Tony Braganza said that his father Thomas was a gifted carpenter. He turned this skill to making musical instruments such as guitars, mandolins, bongos and drum sets in their small workshop. Thomas Braganza was also an innovator. He came up with the brand True Tone, under which the company sold its guitars and other instruments. He coined the slogan for their company, “Everything Musical”. This started appearing on Braganza’s visiting cards and instruments, and found a place on the store signboard, where it remains in embossed letters. Braganza & Co. prides itself on providing instruments to prominent musicians. Director Satyajit Ray, who composed music for most of his films, had a piano from the Braganzas on a long-term rental. When AR Rahman played in the city, it was the Braganzas who supplied the piano for his show. Catholic schools in Darjeeling and Kalimpong still rent violins and pianos from the Braganzas for teaching music. But perhaps the store’s greatest contribution lies in making instruments available for rent at affordable prices. This tradition started with Tony’s father and uncle; they wanted to put music in the hands of everybody who wanted it. Renting out pianos and violins at affordable sums allowed many people in Calcutta to try out in Western music and provide music lessons for their children. At one point, Braganzas were renting 200 to 300 violins to its customers. This went a long way in democratising Western musical instruments in Bengal. Francis and Thomas Braganza’s efforts at promoting Western music in Calcutta had a profound impact on the city’s music scene. In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the musicians playing in the orchestras of the Bangla movie industry had been trained in these Western traditions, no doubt by teachers such as the Braganza brothers. These musicians brought a knowledge of Western harmony to the film studios, helping music directors synthesize Indian music with Western music to create memorable tunes. In addition, these musicians made the use of Western notation a standard feature of the Bangla industry, a important innovation since the Hindustani music tradition was mainly oral. The use of Western-style scores made the recording process more efficient. In the 1970s, however, the Braganza family took a hit, Tony Braganza said, because government policies clamped down on jazz, rock, and pop music in Calcutta. This was a way to prevent what was considered to be the unwelcome influence of Western culture. High taxes were levied on music performances in hotels and nightclubs. This prompted many establishments to stop hiring bands. Many outfits folded up. As members of the Braganza family lost their jobs as performers, they switched to teaching music. But in recent decades, as the market for instruments expanded and diversified with liberalisation, their fortunes have revived, . This has allowed the Braganzas to realise their dream of selling music instruments from major brands from all over the world. The store also has a thriving online presence <https://www.braganzamusicals.com/?fbclid=IwAR0wrEeE7Qzw-pO3_uafg42MOJ0axer8lNVCAhZb2tFaSf_r9GzlFzvvNWk> . Finally, the Braganzas have also promoted music in eastern India as crucial educational facilitators. Tony Braganza is the International Representative in Kolkata of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London, which conducts exams that test capability in Western classical performance and theory. During the last 24 years, he has expanded this network from Bengal to several places in northeastern India, including Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Sikkim, Assam, as well as Nepal. Is there a decline of Western music in the city? Tony Braganza, a pianist himself, disagrees. Younger people continue to come to his store in search of quality instruments, he said. What he finds heartening is that a lot of older people are coming to the Braganzas to buy instruments to reconnect with their passion for music. With that, Braganzas ensures that Kolkata continues to have access to “everything musical” in the world of Western music. *Pratyay Nath is an associate professor of history at Ashoka University. He is the author of the book Climate of Conquest: War, Environment, and Empire in Mughal North India (2019).* *Anusmita Bhattacharyya interviewed Tony Braganza for this article.*
