I DON'T QUITE recall when this reached me, but the date on the cassette cover says 18.11.[20]10. That must have been the time when Mervyn Maciel spoke at the Goa Book Club in Panjim.
After lying around on my paper-cluttered desk for a long while, Ricky gave a clue when he mentioned that the Margao Electronics would be able to convert the aging cassette into a digital file. Taking the chance, I did drop it over. Mervyn Maciel, one of the singers on the Jock Sequeira-led initiative, was thrilled when I surprised him with the link. ********************************************************************* See cassette cover: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/8917181432/sizes/l/in/photostream/ *** Listen to music: https://archive.org/details/suk-ani-duk *** Other mostly Goa recordings: https://archive.org/details/goa1556 ********************************************************************* Suk Anim Dukh (Joy and Sorrow) calls itself 'Songs of Goan Life'. There's a photo of the singers on its cover, shot in either East Africa or probably the UK. This gives hint of this initiative -- an attempt to keep Konkani alive among the diaspora community, notwithstanding challenges of distance, language loss, and what not. The lyrics are by Jock Sequeira, and vocalists are Jock himself, Sibila Pinto and Mervyn Maciel. Musicians are Adolfo Saldanha (violin), Alfredo Figueiredo (Portuguese guitar), Denzyl Sequeira (guitar) and Derrick Sequeira (keyboards). By email, Mervyn shared with me that this cassette was done some 20 years ago (a few months before Jock's death). He wrote: "He was suffering from cancer and we wanted to 'hasten' the making of this tape. You will notice his voice is not very clear; otherwise he had a wonderful and powerful voice." It was recorded in Jock's home in Wimbledon with the help of his two sons (Denzyl & Derrick). There was no proper sound-proofing, and the like. "The musicians were our local Goans.Jock was a multi-talented man who did his B.A.B.T. from St. Xavier's in Bombay. Was a prolific writer too both in English and Konkani. Good friend of Lucio Rodrigues and and many others," as Mervyn explained. He went on to say: "The songs produced on this cassette were originally struck as 78[RPM] records by HMV in Bombay. We don't have any of the records and had to do most of the recording from memory. Jock moved to Kenya in 1946 and taught in various schools in Mombasa. Was much liked for his oratory and interest in encouraging debating societies/elocution etc. He rose to become EducationOfficer in Kenya and later moved to England where he taught for many years in London schools. He passed away in December 1993." Jock happens to be Mervyn's cousin. Unfortunately, while converting the recording, some of the songs seem to have got skipped from the cassette. Commented Mervyn: "Wish we can get all the songs uploaded, especially those about my Dad's death at sea and the others about caste, etc. Also, Jock's farewell to Goa in that song, "Vetam, vetam, vetam".Sorry to have set you extra homework, Fred." Anyway, let me try on my next trip to Margao... And if anyone would like to share old Goa-centric resources (music, photographs) with others online, please get in touch and we'll see what best can be done... While on this point, if you have any images or inputs for a write-up on Ahmadi Goans (in Kuwait), please get in touch with aerogirl123@hotmail.comwho is collating information on the subject currently. Any help will be acknowledged. *** Listen to music: https://archive.org/details/suk-ani-duk *** -- FN Land +91-832-240-9490 Cell +91-982-212-2436 f...@goa-india.org Goa,1556 titles: http://bit.ly/Goa1556Books2 Links to my books: http://fredericknoronha1.wix.com/fngoaindia