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Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Anthony Prabhu Gonsalves : A Profile
Humour came naturally to him. He had said ‘I come from the Gonsalves gharana’, alluding to the fact that his father who was noted musician along with 4 brothers and 3 sisters all into music. He started playing the violin at 3. At the age of 9, an assistant choir master. By the age of 12 choir master in his own right.
A master craftsman of verse & chorus. What set him apart from his Goan peers was his ‘deep’ passion for ‘Indian Classical Ragas’. A most sought after musician in the Hindi landscape in the 40s to 60s. A teacher by choice to the likes of R.D Burman and Pyarelal. This talented Goan was part of the Golden era of Hindi music. His belters with Shyam Sundar, Ghulam Haidar, Madan Mohan & O.P Nayyar are folklore.
A pioneer in orchestration in Hindi cinema. Old timers remember the sudden & mesmerising ‘Jugalbandi’ with the likes of Pandit Ram Narayan, Ustad Inam Ali Khan and Pandit Shyam Sundar when he looked up to them to satiate his hunger for the deep knowledge that he was looking in classical Hindustani ragas.
This helped in his music ‘arranging’ quality in orchestration to transform an Indian melody using western instruments, a path breaking phenomena. This made the composition of sound more taut & fuller. A unique style & genre of his own. Others took the que. from this new music and today we all call it Bollywood Film Music.
‘Melody is like a beautiful woman and orchestration is dressing her with ornaments making her even more gorgeous’, he said once. His legendary attempt to meld the symphonies of Goan Portuguese Fados, Cha, cha, cha & Mozart Themes with Hindustani Classical was a stupendous feat to showcase the richness of the country’s music to say the least.
Creations like the ‘Sonatina Indiana’ & ‘Concerto in Rang Sarang’ are transcender of music contours. World Indian Music, so to speak. A fantasy in the mind of a musician ‘par Excellence’ whose sense of rhythm & melody was beyond imagination.
This adventure saw him invited by the Rockefeller Foundation to the shores of Americas where he is listed as member of the American Society of Composers, Publishers & Authors. One fine Diwali occasion he a gave a fitting musical extravagance at the Syracuse University for performing arts that has stood deep into history. A performance that grabbed world attention for this amazing musician.
The passion to contribute more to Indian music was uttermost to this brilliant Indian musician when he ensemble 110 musicians for the first ever Indian Symphony Orchestra way back in 1958. It featured legendary artistes like Lata Mangeskhar & Manna Dey. However, audiences were nonchalant as the music was much ahead of its times and the Government rhetoric was palpable with arrogance.
His doors in Bandra Linking Road were always open for anyone who wanted to learn and contribute to music. There was no discrimination about his music. However, Anthony Gonsalves was a victim of such discrimination.
‘One life is not enough to master one’s subject’, Gonsalves had said. Chances are that it’s a fleeting reminder of an unfilled dream, yet so much musical brilliance.
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