Wind of Fire: The Music and Musicians of Goa

Much has been written on Goan music and musicians. This book, therefore, is not the first on the subject. Nor does it address itself to the specialists and the cognoscenti. Its intended audience is much wider: the general reader whose interest in Goa was excited by India's extraordinary decision to use force to dislodge the Portuguese in December 1961 and kept alive by the books and press articles that followed the event.

Denis L. Cottineau de Klougen, a French priest and the author of 'An Historical Sketch opf Goa' published in 1831, writes with a mixture of awe and regret: "Th city of Goa is famed throughout the world: few men are ignorant of its name, its geographical situation and its title of capital of the Portuguese Asia... but its local history ... the manners of its inhabitants, the different classes into which they are divided, are all very little known, or have been erroneously represented."

A notion prevails that Goan folk music is a blend of Portuguese music and that Goa owe their musicalness oto the Portuguese who conquered it in 1510. Few would know that it was a Dutch priest, Harve Barzen, who first introduced Goans to western religious music. Even fewer would know that Goa produced some of the most accomplished singers and musicians of Indian classical music. Kesarbai Kerkar, Mogubai Kurdikar, Kishori Amonkar are all Goans.

This book seeks to establish that Goa is indeed' an oasis of many cultural incarnations.' The book also profiles some of the outstanding Goan musicians and vocalists both in the Indian and western idioms. Each section has an introductory note on the characteristics and evolution of the various cultural movements and historical vicissitudes which took Goans all over India and the owrld. The profiles are visually backed up with photographs which were obtained from old family albus and the archives of the Kala Academy of Goa.

M RIO CABRAL E S , a graduate from the Portuguese lycee, is a well-known journalist and prolific writer whose articles on a variety of subjects have been published in several national and international newspapers and journals.

H is a recognised expert on Goa's ethnology, folk history and culture and has researched the scripts of a number of feature films and documentaries.

He has also written the history of the Port of Mormugao 'The Song of the Golden Gateway'; in collaboration with photographer Jean Louis Nou, another book entitled 'Goa'; and in a series of four volumes, 'Great Goans', which present a fascinating account of the lives and times of those individuals whose accomplishments are an enduring legacy.