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The
Passing of another Goan music legend – Joe Gomes
The
passing away of the great legends of the era has become an all too familiar
phenomena these days. Another legend of the music industry – Joe Gomes passed
away peacefully on 21 October
2011.
Born
on15 January 1926, from the island of Divar, Ilhas Goa, Jose Antonio Gomes
fondly known to all
as Joe Gomes, finished his Portuguese schooling and left the shores of Goa to
find his fame and fortune
outside Goa.
Joe
learned the ropes from his brother the late Johnny Gomes who helped popularize
contemporary western music in Bollywood. Both Joe and Johnny doubled up on the
alto saxophone and the clarinet as
well as played the violin. It must
be mentioned that both brothers made their mark in more than one field of music
at the same time, be it the jazz/dance band scene, western classical, Hindi
films and even Konkani music.
Joe’s
first break in the music industry came with a multinational quartet consisting
of two Goans, a Frenchman and a Belgian in the mid-1940s. He started his
career in Ranchi, then
moved over to Kashmir, Mussorie, Dehra Dun and landed in Delhi in 1953, where
he joined the band of Rex Alvares in 1953. From then on he played in Delhi’s
restaurants and hotels led by British band leaders of those times. The jazz
sound of the thirties and forties was 'swing' and the vehicle
for expression of such music was the big band, at the vanguard of which were
the bands of Duke Ellington, Benny
Goodman, Artie Shaw and Glen Miller. The swing era endured right
into the fifties and was kept alive by the likes of Chic Chocolate, Johnny
Baptist, Cyril Sequeira, Ken Mac, Hal Greene, Goody Servai ad Joe Gomes. Joe
was fondly
nick named the Benny Goodman of India by his peers.
In
the mid to late 1950s, Joe moved to Bombay and joined Chic Chocolate's band.
When trombonist Maurice
Concessio broke away from Chic to form his own band, Joe joined Maurice as his
lead alto sax player. At the same
time he moved into films, mainly as a player with his brother Johnny who was
the music arranger for then famous music directors such as C. Ramchandra and
Chitragupta.
In
1962 during the Sino-Indian war, the brothers went to NEFA front along with C.
Ramchandra to entertain the troops. There Joe almost lost his life due to the
pranks played on the group by the famous Indian Film actor and comedian
Bhagwan.
In
the late 1960s Joe joined “The Sundowners” led by Richie Marquis at the Sun N
Sands Hotel at Juhu, Mumbai where he played for 12 consecutive years. In
1980, Joe led his own band the
famous “Eclipse 80s” where his daughter Lydia crooned and son Manuel Gomes
played
the tenor sax and who continues his legacy in music. Joe had three records
by HMV to his credit – a
rare distinction – all were collections of popular film tunes – labeled as
Journey
’77, Golden Sax and Joe Gomes featuring arrangements by Enoch Daniels. Also
an instrumental from the hit
film Bobby bears his stamp. He
featured on the lead alto sax in the Foot tappers Big Band at the Jazz Yatra in
1984. Joe played actively both in
the western and Indian music industries till the late -1990s.
The legacy of many of the musicians of Goa who have passed away lives on
to date. Joe leaves behind his loving wife Lourdine, two daughters Elizabeth,
Lydia and a son Manuel along with their spouses and grandchildren.
The family can be contacted in Goa on phone no: 2904113
