East Indian Music
Brief notes on the origins and musical traditions
If there is any aspect of East Indian life that can be said to be responsible for keeping our language and culture alive, it is East Indian music.
The energetic ghumats, the lively and sometimes soulful brass bands and the vibrant orchestras, church choirs, music is interwoven into our lives in the gaons and gaothans.
Our songs are folk songs sung at engagements, weddings and social gatherings, sorrowful hymns sung by the Veronicas and the Papiyas during the season of Lent and joyful psalms and songs sung by the church choirs, and party bops and melancholic dirges expertly played by our brass bands.
Our songs are also duets and solos – serious and comedic, the urti gaani (lively songs), and ballads sung at the East Indian Singing Competitions popular at Versova, Aarey, Bandra, Juhu, Manori, Wadala and Uttan (among other places in Mumbai).
At the wedding reception for Bernard Pereira (Vasai) and Regina D’souza (Bandra) in Bandra East, 1981, an East Indian band from Kolivery Village, Kalina rocked the crowds. The couple recall the band’s name to be St Roque Band.
To experience a true-blue East Indian Singing Competition online, head to the Chimbai East Indian Koli Samaj Sanstha’s YouTube and view the videos for 2018’s competition.
From a conversation with musical stalwarts like the talented Tixeira family from Juhu, Mumbai, it was illuminating to discover that another artistic tradition flourished before the wildly popular East Indian Singing Competitions arrived on the scene – Comen. Described as a musical and highly dramatic form of theatre, Comens were made up of an entirely male cast, and each village boasted of its own troupe who would stage performances on a regular basis. From their descriptions, Comens seem to be very similar to the Gondhals, another Maharashtrian performing arts style. However, the East Indian Comen was did not have a devotional aspect to it (as practised by the Gondhali community).
East Indian singer Cedric Tixeira performing in Bombay in May 1970
Comens slowly died out once orchestras came into the picture – somewhere in the early 30s. By the 70s, East Indian Singing Competitions took over as the primary social experience and musical tradition for the East Indian community of Mumbai.
Our community is fortunate to have the singers who helped shape East Indian popular music continuing to produce and provide the community with hit songs.
A cassette of ‘modern Koli geet /songs’, Mobai Karancha Masala / the Mobai people’s masala produced by Venus, arranged by Babush and featuring singers, Cedric Tixeira, Jane Tixeira, Hazel Parikh, Harold and Sudesh Bhosle
To find CDs and recordings of East Indian music, visit your nearest church feast and look for a stall selling CDs and other East Indian paraphernalia. If it’s a church in an East Indian dominant neighbourhood, you might even find them stocking some CDs in their church shop. There are also a growing number of artists with their channels on various music streaming platforms, making it easier for those preferring online playlists or living abroad to access EI music from the original artists.
Ghumat players and lok-geet / folk song collective Ghumat Gang performing in 2018 at a Vaadval East Indian wedding in Vasai.
Look up popular East Indian songs and singers on YouTube and patronise channels belonging to the original artist. Unfortunately, many pirated EI music channels abound who upload music without the artist’s permissions and as a result negatively impact their livelihood.
Listed below (in no order or preference), are some artists and music channels to get your feet moving:
- Crompton Texeira
- Rhythm Beats
- Valentine Machado (channel maintained by his family)
- Notes and Beats
- Ghumat Gang
- Rhythm Vasaikar
- Francis Gigool
- Elvis Multimedia
- Hector, Cedric and Jane Tixeira
- Yung Clyde
- Maxwell Fernandes
- Hazel Parikh and the Village People
- Myra Dcarmo
- Hyacinth D’souza Music
- Charlotte D’mello
- The Pacifiers
- Fusion Beats
- Cronan Music Channel
- Elvis Multimedia
- Takkar Music Channel
- Maharashtrian East Indian Christian Federation’s (MEICF) Channel
- Nancy Netto
- Club Boys Manori
- Valley Matthews
- Koliz Music
- Ezabella Music and Entertainment
- Eview Music
- Unity Productions
More on EIMC’s East Indian Music Collection
- Currently this collection includes photos of East Indian singers, performances, recordings of songs sung by women at wedding ceremonies, recordings of ghumat players, scans of singing competition flyers, and interviews with:
– Cedric Tixeira, Jane Tixeira and the Late Hector Tixeira
– Crompton Texeira
– Late Valentine Machado
– Ainsley Pereira of Ghumat Gang - View posts till date on #EIMCMusic on Instagram
- The collection and lists shared are a work in progress and additions and suggestions are welcome
East Indian Memory Co. 
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