By Gasper Crasto
Doha, Nov 16: Being a former territory of Portugal, Goa has a dominant western music culture in Goa with the use of instruments such as the violin, drums, guitar, trumpet, keyboards, etc.
Goa has also produced a number of prominent musicians, singers, beat-groups for the world of music.
One of the Goan bands that is going to be in international focus will be R99. Yes, that’s the name of the band, having been formed just a couple of years ago.
The band will be part of a mega celebration of World Goa Day dine and dinner festivity at Doha Qatar’s 5-star Holiday Inn Hotel on 22nd November 2019.
The event is organized by Goan Welfare Association under the leadership of its dynamic President Simon D’Silva.
For the first time in history, a Chief Minister of Goa will be attending a World Goa Day showpiece.
A number of GCC delegates and dignitaries from Goa are expected to attend; while some celebrated artistes and singers are geared up to perform at the event.
About R99 and its band members
R99 started as a 4-piece band but added an extra member to add more dynamics and essence to the type of music that they play.
The band is a family team; band-mates of R99 consist of:
RUSHZ BARACHO – DRUMS
Rushz is probably the only girl-drummer in Goa at the moment, there could be more learning the trade but Rushz is currently the only girl among professional drummers in Goa having done her 7th Grade learning the Trinity Syllabus.
R99 band is named after Rushz. R stands for Rushz and 99 is the year she was born.
Rushz is the daughter of Milan and Ximeon Baracho.
MILAN DULOBI BARACHO – KEYBOARDS AND VOCALS
Having taken up learning keyboards at a very late age, just about 7 years back, Milan has done enough justice to her talents establishing herself as a steady keyboardist along with being the female vocalist of the band.
ANSON FERNANDES – KEYBOARDS
Anson is the additional member added to the band this year purely on account of his talents as a very good keyboardist. It probably comes from the fact that Anson is a keyboard teacher himself to a number of students who admire his style of playing.
XIMEON BARACHO – LEAD GUITAR AND VOCALS
Also known as Simon, he is the oldest member of the band and ‘Band Leader’.
Ximeon has been playing his trade for more than 40 years now. Known for his vast experience and being a member of popular Goan bands of the past, Ximeon is a slick lead player known to make his guitar play to his tunes.
SANTAN FERNANDES – BASS GUITAR AND VOCALS
Santana as he likes to be called, being a big fan of his namesake Carlos Santana (famous Mexixan and American musician of the 60s and 70s), started his music career after school and has been playing for more than 30 years now.
Having played in Mumbai, Goa and Dubai, Santan is among the most internationally travelled member of the band.
Santan is easily among the steady bass-guitarist of our times along with being an amazing vocalist.
UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION
R99 has a combined experience of about 100 years between the members having played live music for different bands in time.
Their USP (unique selling proposition) is that ‘R99’ plays their music every bit LIVE!
They do not use any bit of sequencing or looping for any of their songs which speaks about the hard work put in by the group in many hours of band practice.
R99’s repertoire of songs range from jazz, pop, rock-n-roll, reggae, classic rock and a lot of the latest numbers in both English, Hindi, Konkani, Marathi & Portuguese.
The band is well-equipped to play weddings, corporate gigs, events, beat-shows, parties, pubs, restaurants and wherever ‘Live Music’ is needed to entertain.
And they stand by what they dish out, pure entertainment, pure live music straight from their hearts.
The band is sure to rock at the World Goa Day 2019 at Qatar.