Spreading cheer through music

Spreading cheer through music
Preetu Nair discovers that in even in a world of selfishness, there still exist people who go that extra mile to make the lives of others worth living


For the inmates of the home for the aged at Old Goa, it was a day like any other. But it changed when a group of young musicians along with their elderly teacher came to serenade them.
There was live music that evening and when the musicians played the melody of the Konkani hit song, Goddacho Pao senior citizens jumped with joy and joined in the singing and dancing. But the highlight was when Carlos Martin a 101-year old lent his voice to a love song that left the ladies in the room blushing and giggling with joy.
It was an evening that music teacher Antonio Peregrino da Costa and his seven young students will remember for a long, long time.
“You may be depressed or sick but music does have a tremendous therapeutic effect. People nowadays are becoming increasingly materialistic. No one has time for others. Our effort is to bring a smile on the faces of one and all,” said Antonio, who along with his students regularly plays at old age homes and orphanages in the state.
Their fees: a smile on the wrinkled faces which yearn for friendship. “It is lovely entertainment. I love music and it’s fun to get a chance to sing and dance again,” said the aged yet vivacious Martin.
At 76, when Antonio takes to the fiddle the young and old take to the floor. The tall, thin, fair, ever-smiling gentleman, is the local representative of the associated board of the Royal School of Music, London.
Often it is the bleakest of times in one’s life that brings out the best in a person and turns lives around. That is what Antonio would have you believe. Living in Brazil, he lost his wife and came to stay in Goa in 1981.
A musician, he started training young guns to play the violin. When a group of philanthropists asked him if he would like to play music for the aged, his instinctive response was ‘why not’? He had been doing it in Brazil and doing it in his homeland would definitely bring him more joy.
And so began the unique experiment of playing music, along with his students for the pleasure of the aged. “We brighten their day, make them happy and they shower their love and warmth on us. When we play the violin, they dance and sing along with us and create a festive atmosphere,” said Antonio.
Encouraged and humbled by the experience, Antonio and his pupils now play for orphans and spastic children. “Music is pure and through music you can spread love and goodwill. My love for music coupled with my love of people inspires me to do what I am doing,” said Antonio.
He emphatically states that he and his students are not doing anything unique. Probably they are only doing simple things uniquely.
So why does he do this? His answer is simple. “The youth should realize that the adage ‘love your neighbour’, is not just about loving your immediate neighbour but it is loving all and doing something for them, irrespective of caste and class,” said Antonio. So whenever an organizer asks his students and him to play for the underprivileged, they are more than willing to oblige.
And how did he realize the magic of music? Long ago in Portuguese Goa, he had his first brush with possibilities of how music can heal and help connect. “In my youth, I used to go serenading with my friends to woo girls and win the hearts of the elderly on their birthday. It was music that linked us. Music made us happy and with this happiness we could sleep well. We had lived life fully,” said Antonio.
The real difficulty for him lies not at the beginning but at the end, when it is pack-up time and his fingers slowly stop flying across the violin. “The children or aged are never tired. They want to sing and dance throughout the night. They complain that they hardly get a chance to enjoy and have fun,” said Antonio.
But prayers and promises do help. “Before we leave, we always get together to sing a prayer thanking God for his kindness,” added Antonio. This musician, it is clear, aims to be in tune with the rest.

2008 May 19 Times Of India Goa