Everyday Words & Love Songs

Raj Lalwani contemplates the intrinsic ties that bind the brass musicians of Goa to their faith, sense of identity and belonging in a dwindling culture.

- Raj Lalwani

The room belongs to Rui Lobo’s cat, Ceul. She creates music by walking over the keyboard and producing a single note on a guitar when she bites off a string. She sleeps on sheet music, eats sheet music and of course, plays with sheet music. Tom, on the other hand, perches himself on Francis Avezado’s shoulder as he tries to make sense of the seven brass instruments that are strewn around. His personal favourite is the piccolo. It is as small as him and he is not scared of it. Tom is Avezado’s pet crow.

These fringe characters are often as important than the ones in the lead, in the Marquezian world of Goa’s brass musicians. But it was the players themselves who intrigued me to listen beyond their immediate worlds, to see beyond their songs.