Goa’s fastest Konkani composer making waves from Dubai

“I am blessed. God has been very kind to me in most unexpected ways and forms,” said the thankful 59-year-old Goan. He boasts of a bountiful blessing that came to him in the form of this inborn talent of writing down a song in minutes on any incident happening around and each of his songs has a message. “I don’t know from where the words come. I am only the medium, creator is someone else,” says the humble songwriter, singer and producer of 100 albums in his musical career of over four decades.

Back in the Gulf, Edwin was awarded the title of ‘Master Composer’ by the United UAE Oman Community in 2011, and the Razzmatazz 360 Degrees Abu Dhabi conferred him with the ‘Fastest Composer’ title for the speed with which he composed Konkani songs and releasing them on YouTube before 24 hours of the incident. After hitting a century in albums, Edwin now is crowned as the King of Konkani albums. His 100th album seems to be a ‘ladies special’ as it has all female singers. With his first cassette being released by Roseferns in the 1980s, it was Roseferns again to be his guest of honour at the recent release of his 100th album earlier this month.

Maintaining novelty in his work, Edwin has albums beginning from alphabet A to Z – Amori to Zabab di Modi. His 100th album had all females – singers, musicians, actors etc. He was instrumental in getting Clement D’Cunha to set up the first recording studio in Goa in 1994. The studio started in 1995 and thereafter many studios have been opened but the credit to encourage the setting of the first studio goes to Edwin.

With umpteen awards under his belt, his journey saw consistency and continuity. Never letting his enthusiasm die, he kept his fiery spirit of writing alive and that’s how his songs won the hearts of many, especially in the countries where he did his shows. Though he continued to sing, act and write in Goa, the first show that gave him popularity out of India was in Dubai in 2007 dedicated to the memory of Alfred Rose.

“Our entertainment show was a blast. I wrote all the songs. It was for the first time that I sang a comedy kantar then. The audience enjoyed it so much that I had to sing it seven times on demand. There was no looking back after that first show. I did many shows. Later we formed Dubai Trio with Anthony and Manuxin and did many shows. Simultaneously I released 65 albums till then,” Edwin shares.

Edwin took a break after his brother’s demise. His friends Mario Menezes and Ben Evangelist boosted his dampened spirit and compelled him to start afresh with new zest and zeal. Eksuro album got released. Edwin continued his singing career in Dubai and got worldwide fame. He was invited to do shows in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Muscat.

“I used my weekends for shows, never ever took leave in my 24-year job for any show or remained absent even for a single day. My boss supports me and my Keralite colleagues are very encouraging,” smiles Edwin who got permission to go on Thursday to do shows. He was punctual at work and joined his work soon after his show got over.

Edwin was to join seminary but it was not in his fate. But through his songs, he continued to preach the word of god as he had promised himself that though he may not join the vocation but he will spread the preaching of God through his work, his songs. So many of his songs have a deep spiritual message and these were much appreciated. “Half of my albums are devotional and I have not raised the price of my cassettes which remained Rs 40 for decades,” he discloses.

Edwin gives the credit for making his songs more popular to YouTube, “I joined YouTube in 2005 but had not a single video then. So I mixed my audio songs with video footages and uploaded them on my channel, though I knew no editing. But these kantars on YouTube gave me instant fame in Goa and across the globe and among three generations - grandparents, parents and the youngsters.”

He updated himself, the internet gave him fame worldwide. When he began making videos in Dubai he decided to make an album ‘Dubaichem Goemkar’ and had to spend 1000 dirham on shooting it which in today’s currency is Rs 21,000. He spent the amount but thought of learning the nuance of editing himself and that album became the turning point in his life. Thereafter he learnt to edit though he did not mention his name on the albums initially. But as people began appreciating his editing skills he was motivated. He began doing video shootings and editing too. Today he is a videographer with multiple cameras, does his own videography and has more than 10 such albums to his credit. He even helps others, shoots for them and does editing free for them in Dubai. Edwin now wants to devote his free time to teaching his secrets to youngsters and make them allrounders in music.