The Goan catches up with Colin D’Cruz, one of the state’s most prolific bass players to find out more about the man behind the music.
Though born and brought up in Bombay, Colin D’Cruz is a local lad through and through.
Born in to a familynot inclined towards the arts and without any formal training in music does notmark you out as a candidate for success. Despite these odds, Colin D’Cruz has goneahead and created his distinctive mark in the world of music.
His influences werenot artists of international renown and repute. Instead, it was something far moreprosaic. When he was three, he attended a wedding along with his father, and returnedhome completely mesmerized by the band. Bitten by the musical bug, he started listeningto various genres of music. Till date he maintains that the only way to improveas a musician is to listen to more music. It’s the best form of education.
At age 15, he wasgifted his first guitar. Though he was not formally trained, he went on tolearn by ear. He said “I had no ideawhat I was playing at the time, but I knew I had picked up a melody.”
Over 35 years, Colinhas played in almost every avenue in the music industry. Starting off as amusician in a band that played in the hotels every evening, he moved on toplaying bass guitar for some of the biggest names in the Indian music industry.He travelled the world with Sonu Nigam, Asha Bhosle, and Shuba Mudgal. In 2008he called time on that part of his career and moved to Goa.
Today, Colin D’Cruzworks out of his studio based at home. This, he says, is probably the ‘bestpart of his career’. He produced a local talent like Zezinho, whose albumreached number 23 in the World Latin Charts. He invites aspiring artists,irrespective of age, to drop by his studio, and record their compositions forfree. He believes that music is an art form which requires expression and sayswith pride, “There is no better feeling than being able to give back to acommunity that has given me so much.”
