I am thankful to God for the tremendous lift that He has given the jazz movement in Goa, and I am delighted to have been in a position to give so much to it. When we first started working on the development of jazz in Goa in the year 2001, you could hardly get a handful of people for a jazz event. And it was because of this that my dear friend George Fernandez, Goa’s top pianist, challenged me to take that situation by the scruff. And lo, it happened, and today, jazz is virtually the mainstay of the music movement in Goa, something that would have been inconceivable some years ago.

But there is a lot more to be done. Despite the proven track record of the musicality of Goans, we can only boast of a few musicians who have reached the top. Where is the support that musicians get from the powers that be? Is it not time that we have music as part of the school curriculum? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have musicians from Goa who make it big across the world?

When I was talking to a well-known Portuguese Film maker here in Goa, he surprised me when he said that the musicality in Goans is far greater than that in the Portuguese. And when I asked him why, he told me that that answer is the subject matter of his research. He went on to add that we Goans are amongst the best in the world, which should be painful news for us considering that we do not have many trophies to show!!!

We get more and more depressing news of jobs being scarce in Goa, and that young wannabes have to leave our shores for better prospects. With tourism being the mainstay of the economy here, it would be in the scheme of things to encourage musicians, not just to play in bars and restaurants, but to play for concerts, movies, festivals etc. But for that, like in every other sphere of life in Goa, the political establishment too will have to pull its socks up, and for that to happen, we in the media will also have to do our bit in taking these thoughts into the mainstream.

Goa is so beautifully placed between the cultures of the East and the West. The resulting fusion is something that could have only been made in the heavens. The time has now come for that to bear fruit on terra firma! The Time is Now!