A letter from Mr. Dominic Gonsalves to Menin Rodrigues. ~
Regarding information not being accurately recorded in a few published articles.
January 4, 2012
First of all, I would like to wish you a Happy New Year 2012. I had great pleasure reading about the Goans in Pakistan and their contribution to the country.
It is indeed an awesome effort on your part to research the vast areas in which Goans have made a contribution and to honour them by making mention of their names on your site.
My email, in particular, refers to the section music and bands as I have made note of a few discrepancies that I came across. My aim is for you to have the correct information irrespective of whether it gets corrected or not.
Firstly, that my good friend the late Alex Rodrigues a great musician was never associated with either Alamgir or Sheikhi. I first started playing with Alamgir in the early 70’s and featured regularly on PTV’s Sunday Ke Sunday and Jhankar. Later on, I decided to play for Sheikhi too on a regular basis helping him out with a few compositions. If you would like to confirm that fact I would be more than happy to provide you with the contact numbers of both those artists.
Secondly, the late Felix Carvalho also a good friend of mine and a brilliant musician was never associated with Alamgir. The fact of the matter is that Felix who also played in my band was not into eastern music.
For your information, I was the first Goan to be employed (full time) by Radio Pakistan as Music Director (worked for 35 years) and Pakistan Television as a session musician as I am well versed in both Western and Eastern music.
I was also the first Goan to appear in a feature film “Dhamaka” in 1974 (opening scene with band on stage) starring Javed Sheikh. I also had the pleasure of playing along with Paul Gonsalves and The Duke Ellington Orchestra and Dave Brubeck Quartet. This was also misreported in Kaleem Omar’s article (Nobody in Karachi whistles anymore) published in 2006.
I was employed by the Metropole Hotel at the time. I am now 84 years old and my memory is as good as ever. I migrated to Australia in 2005 and was a bit disappointed when I read that article online. I have tried to get the contact details of Kaleem Omar but have been unsuccessful. If by any chance you have his contact details please forward that to me so that I can clarify the matter.
I still play the saxophone with the U3A (University of the Third Age) in Melbourne and jammed up with Don Burrows in Sydney a few years ago. I hope the information that I have provided you gives you more insight into the musical history of Pakistan.
Legendary Musicians of Karachi 
Wow, i must be dreaming. O yes sirs, i do remember playing at the Samar with Dominic G…..also had the honour of playing with Alex R / Cyril and others at hotel intercon Pindi…..yes, of course we have all gotta kick the bucket someday but the nice memories of persons who are now in God’s World cannot be erased…Happy New Year and God bless
Why am i not surprised, that aside from me there were no more responses…. Its because of anardys like menin rodrigues.. This site is for musicians of karachi and not stupid goans… Why was there 2 different clubs in karachi “the KGA and the Goan union club” i rest my case in calling people who do have an inferiority complex by calling them stupid…. Karachi was a beautiful city decades ago and we musicians just loved to play ….. We were all karachiites and not all of us musicians were goans.. Sumjah….. Merrrrry Christmas and a Happppy NewYear…. Would like to hear more from an excellent musician that i played with at intercon karachi… Ronnie Boy, the mike is in your hands… C ya
If anyone disagrees with me musicwise or otherwise, just remember that i speak for myself and alllll are most welcome to covey their views “good bad or ugly” to clarenceandrade7@gmail.com“