HOMESPUN MELODIES

COTTAS, GOA
If you ever hear music waft into your hotel room while you’re putting your feet up in Goa, follow it. Trail the sound of the violin keeping time with the mandolin and step into the dimly-lit arena where Miguel and Lisette Cotta and their children Chantale Marie and Franz Schubert Cotta are in full flow. As they stand and play, the music—popular instrumentals and memorable Hindi film tunes—wash over you. And when a rapt listener makes eye contact, they smile back. They understand that their music touched you.
The Cotta Family is something of a Goan institution. For the past 15 years, the group has been playing at weddings, church events and at five-star hotels. This is an amazing musical gene pool. Between all the four members, they play the guitar, the mandolin, the flute, the recorder, the piano and the cello. All members are trained in vocals as well.
And how has music woven their family together? “Music ensures that we’re close-knit in our collective sensibilities,” says Franz Schubert, who was trained in Portuguese guitar by Mestre Antonio Chainho in Portugal. An advocate by profession, he dumped law to live up to his name.
The quartet rehearses at home, each jam session an opportunity to improvise. Though music is a language they speak together, it doesn’t erase differences. “We have small skirmishes,” laughs Franz but as a family, they’re careful to be in sync. They have recorded three albums till date, a combination of Portuguese and Konkani music. The latest was Papianchi Xeratinn, a collection of old Portuguese, Konkani and Latin hymns, that released in 2006.

KHANS, DELHI
Queen elizabethhall at South Bank Centre, London, 1999. It was his first performance with grandfather Ustad Sabri Khan and uncle Ustad Kamal Sabri and ten-year-old Suhail Yusuf Khan was battling stage fright. He needn’t have worried. The music was in his blood and the audience’s overwhelming response reaffirmed that.
Since then, the trio has always performed together. Suhail, who represents the eighth generation of sarangi players in the family, remembers the day as a “scintillating experience”. Today, the 19-year-old is at ease at concerts, whether he is performing with his fusion band Advaita or family. The sarangi and the family name make up his identity. But it wasn’t always like this, says Suhail. “My grandfather didn’t think that I was capable of learning the sarangi. But when I showed an interest, he decided to take me under his wings,” says Suhail. When it comes to music, the men are in harmony. “There is a special connection. We have taught him all he knows. We can even predict his playing style,” says Kamal Sabri, who has worked with veterans like Ustad Zakir Hussain and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
How does it feel to be performing as a family? “It is a way of life. We’ve never considered an alternative because we have never felt the need. This is how things are meant to be and how they are,” says Suhail.

PINK NOISE, KOLKATA
Since 2006, former Skinny Alley vocalist Jayashree Singh has had her hands full, managing her family and the band: they are one and the same thing. With husband Gyan on bass, son Jivraj “Jiver” Singh on drums, and a little help from old bandmate Amyt Datta, Pink Noise is a homely affair.
Dealing with the domestics of sound has never been more rewarding as Jayashree puts the finishing touches to an early dinner and heads to the music room. The soundproofed room once hid Jivraj’s talents from his parents till Amyt chanced upon the youngster drumming. “One evening, three years ago, Gyan came back from work (he manages a hotel in central Kolkata) and we heard Jiver playing. We walked in and just caught on with the jam,” says Jayashree. The family rehearses in the evening, when Jivraj returns from college. Jayashree’s glad that he is in Kolkata for his studies. “It gave us an opportunity to make music with our son. He’s thinking of being a filmmaker later.”.
The chemistry is undeniable, the energy palpable and the music, unpredictable. At a Pink Noise gig, find yourself bopping your head to Jivraj’s edgy beats while Jayashree engages you with her wordplay. Gyan keeps to Datta’s side, his bass a faithful friend matching his family’s musical antics. The nu-jazz, experimental outfit will now head to the recording studio in May. “We’re waiting for Jiver’s finals. After that, we’ll start recording,” says Jayashree. Till then, the family will play in festivals across India.

KRISHNANS, CHENNAI
On december 6, 2007, just as Chennai’s kutcheri season kicked off, the Krishnans, a renowned family of violinists, staged a special programme, Parampara. For the 10 members of the family, including T.N. Krishnan, his daughter Viji, son Sriram, sister N. Rajam, nieces and grandchildren, performing on a single stage for the first time, it was a tribute to Vidwan A Narayana Iyer, Krishnan’s father, who had passed away at 99 in 1996, but not before passing on the skill to every member of his family. “It was thrilling for all of us to be playing together and also to know that we were all trained by that great person,’’ said Krishnan, now 80, relaxing in his elegant Besant Nagar apartment in Chennai. The December performance might have been an exception but the family—Krishnan, his son Sriram and daughter Viji— play together even otherwise.
Says 44-year-old Viji, “I remember grandfather once promised me a bar of chocolate if I played for 10 minutes. As a child, I had no concept of time and would end up playing for hours, even forgetting about that piece of chocolate.’’ Their joint performance both in the Shivaswamy auditorium in Chembur on December 1 last year and a few days later in Chennai was the culmination of Narayana Iyer’s efforts to ensure that the music lives on.
—Jaya Menon