If you ask musicians about the number of instruments they play, they can count that number on their fingers. If you ask Marwino Antonio D’costa, he will tell you how he learned his 16th instrument and is on his way to find the 17th!
Marwino began his quest for music when he wanted to play the guitar in church even as his father Elvino would always play Don Williams’ and Jim Reeves’ country music at home. When he was nine years old, Elvino taught his son his first chords on an acoustic guitar, and little did he know that Marwino would go on to play in churches across the state one of Goa’s leading wedding choirs, Grace. A big fan of Don Moen’s Integrity Gospel music, one of Marwino’s signature performances in the choir is his use of the Thailand Pan Pipe Flute that’s made out of bamboo known as Wot. “Whenever I visit a foreign country I like to check out the musical instruments at the stores especially those that have a strong tradition during such a visit to Bangkok, the store manager played this traditional instrument. I liked it and I got it to Goa," said Marwino. When Marwino speaks about how he has learned to play an instrument, it is like listening to someone tell you a love story. He then picks up an Armenian flute made out of apricot wood that was gifted to him by his fellow Curtorkar Vince Costa, a singer and songwriter who has collaborated with Marwino. Known as Duduk, it has a 3,000 year old rich heritage; Marwino uses this instrument when playing folk music.
It is this fascination that has pushed Marwino to research and experiment, and then share his experiences with peers, as he tries to master the new instrument. “I make it a point to sit and talk to people who know the genre, listen and watch them play, understand their music culture and then I practice these instruments for about three to four months,” said Marwino while adding that he has shared videos of his performances on social media. Drawing an analogy to how one dresses up for a party or an event, Marwino stressed on the need for the right preparation and respect in order to learn and imbibe these new styles and how later on these, these are tools at your possession and you can use them wherever its adds that unique flavour to the musical ensemble
Furthermore, Marwino’s strong classical training has also provided him the background and experience in playing across genres. He gives the example how his work with a fusion band YUVA, led by Kunal Raikar, helped him to work with Indian instruments. Marwino has secured a distinction in choral assessment at the bronze level by Trinity College London. At Kala Academy, Marwino completed his third grade in concert flute and second grade in classical guitar. Moreover, he has received training in electrical bass guitar up to the eight grade at the Rock School and similarly up to the fourth grade at Axl School of Music.
The 31 year old’s adventure with music has taken him around the globe to places like Singapore, Copenhagen, Warsaw, London, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Muscat, Nairobi, Bali for foreign tours and across India for his domestic shows. Incidentally his first tour was with one of Goa’s finest fadistas, Sonia Shirsat, and her team to Singapore. “Among his many qualities, I noticed was his willingness to learn. Marwino is supremely talented and picks up any instrument and style of music whether it’s a choir, whether it’s Fado, whether it's rocking on stage with the band he is with, he can do justice to it all,” said Sonia who has also performed with Marwino for a couple of other concerts in Goa.
His friends will tell you how Marwino can express himself in English, Konkani, Portuguese and Hindi. “I fell in love with the bass guitar when I first heard Remo’s album, O Meri Munni, where the bass lines in that album was played by Victor ‘Pequeno’ Alvarez from Loutolim. He was one of the best in the industry,” added Marwino, while demonstrating Pequeno’s famous slap bass technique.
While he holds a diploma in civil engineering, the finalist for Voice of Goa (in 2006) chose to follow his passion and take up a full time career in music. He has been recording with artistes, including Konkani singers, and now plans to record his own original musical instrumental tune. Besides this, he has also donned the hat of a music teacher for the last decade having taught over 300 students. Marwino has also collaborated with a lot of groups such as Crescendo, Seby and the Wings, Fantasy, Truly Yours, the gospel band Faith and artistes like Silvia, among others.
Over the last couple of years, Marwino has made his mark in the industry with one of Goa’s best bands -A26. “Marwino is one of the most dedicated musicians that I have come across throughout my career. He can pick up any instrument of his choice and master it. Not all musicians are gifted and talented the way Marwino is. There is hard work and perseverance that needs to be put in and Marwino is one such musician that balances all that and this enhances our performance," said Lester Rodrigues, founder and leading vocalist of A26.
Marwino is open to all genres of music but has great interest in smooth jazz, funk and ballroom. He can play the fretted, fretless, acoustic bass guitar, the acoustic steel and nylon guitar, the melodica, the electronic keyboard and keytar, the soprano and tenor recorder and a wide range of flutes such as the concert flute, Dizi (Chinese), Suling (Balinese), Pip (Thailand), Chanter (Scottish), IrishTin/Penny whistle, Indian Bamboo Flute, the American native flute and of course, the Wot and Duduk.
Marwino has gained a considerable following and if, by the year 2020, Marwino may very well know 20 instruments, no one would really be surprised!
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QUOTES
When I was 15 I used to go serenading at numerous starred hotels. Later on I used to play as replacements for any bass players inconvenience in various bands. I have done years of classical training at various institutes and it was my flute teacher Suzanne at Kala Academy and Roque Lazarus of Axl School of music that encouraged me to take up the flute which came naturally to me. I want to tell the youth that they should believe in themselves, to be confident and passionate, and love what they do and fight the negativity they may face.
Music was always there in the family as our forefathers are all musicians and music composer. Lot of mandos and dulpods were written by my great grandfather Ligorio da Costa. Tambde Rosa Tujem Polle is one of his hits. When it comes to folk music, I learnt a lot in terms of music arrangements, the lyrics and how it is sung and this was a big influence as I would sing for Mando competitions with our group Cutroimche Salkam. A lot of inspiration also came from Agostinho da Cruz, Agnelo Mascarenhas and Victor Da Costa in the Curtorim church.
