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When these girls rocked Kochi

Priyadarsshini Sharma catches up with women who constituted some of Kerala's girl bands of the sixties and seventies. She finds out about the times when they rocked Kochi

STRIKE UP THE BAND Top The all-girl band,' Missing Links', with Shalet and Rita Paul, Sunila and Anila Mathew

The show must go on but it did not. Somewhere down the way the all-girl bands of Kochi wound up by the mid- seventies. Let the music play on... . But it did not.

Were the all-woman band groups in Kochi ahead of their times? And was being a woman not in tune? Whatever the reasons `those were the days my friend... We thought would never end,' recalls Pamela Anna Mathew, MD, OEN, who was a guest singer with the all-girl band group, `Missing Links'. This was not only one of her favourite numbers that she sang but is also a sentiment she shares. "By the time the band had got going, in which my two sisters, Anila as rhythm guitarist and Sunila as the drummer were part of, I had joined the family business," said Ms. Mathew, who went on to be the president of the Cochin Chamber of Commerce, of KMA and of CII, Kerala Council. Music had given way to work and the show had come to an end at least for her.

The first chord

But then it was `Loosers Weepers' (1969-'72) that struck the first chord in this trend. It was a time when women on stage were frowned upon. Recalls Lata Verghese nee Chandy, lead guitarist of the group, "It was unheard of for girls to rock in those days. People could not accept this so we thought we were losers and we would weep at our plight. That's why we named our group Loosers and Weepers. If we knew we could get so far and play outside St. Teresa's College and in other cities we would have given it a different name."

Shalet John, lead guitarist and singer of `Missing Links' says, "I don't remember who coined this name but then we believed music to be the missing link in the evolution of man. We used to play the introductory piece called the `Link Connector' just as the curtains would go up. Emile Isaacs of Elite Aces was the person who groomed us . We had music lessons with him but then all of us came from families, which were inherently musical. I remember that there was opposition from our relatives but my mother and Anila and Sunila's mother would come with us for the shows. We had complete parental support."

Parental support

And it was this complete parental support that got the girl bands going. "My father's only demand was to wear a sari and perform when outside the college, so here I was rocking in a sari at the Woodstock Festival at Thiruvananthapuram. My parents would accompany me to the shows outside the college," reminisces Lata. The other members of her group were Kumari Koshy on the drums who is now a Dean of a university in Canada, Shubha Sathyendranath the rhythm guitarist, Sheila Chandrasekharan as the bass guitarist, and Sheila Mammen who heads the English department in a Mangalore college.

'Loosers Weepers': Lata Chandy, Kumari Koshy (on the drums) Shubha Sathyendranath, Sheila Chandrasekharan and Sheila Mammen

"We were introduced as the Paul sisters (Shalet and Rita) and the Mathew sisters (Anila and Sunila). It all began from St. Teresa's College and we had the support and encouragement of Mother Sophie and Sr. Carmelita. We performed for Lunar Nights, for Miss Cochin Contest and the All Kerala Beat Festival. We used to charge Rs.1,000 for the shows. Those were very exciting times," says Shalet and recollects her meeting with pop icon Usha Uthup. "Usha was performing at Hotel Casino and was dressed in a gown with a Shirley Bassey hairstyle. I was taken up by the sheer magnificence of her stage presence that I ran up to her and took her autograph." Today Usha Uthup and Shalet John jam together whenever they meet up.

But was the city in tune with the girls strumming a new note? "I am not so sure," says Anila recollecting an incident. "At the All Kerala Beat Contest in Town Hall we could hear the hooting as we adjusted our instruments behind the curtains. We were all very nervous. But the minute my sister Sunila started playing the drums there was complete silence. Nobody could believe that a girl could play the drums so well. We came out trumps at the competition."

And so the eves drew applause and soon had quite a fan following. Another group was in fact called Heartthrobs. "Strangely there was not much hooting as we expected and we had quite a fan following," says Shalet, smiling at the thought. Says Sr. Carmelita, whom all these ladies owe this wonderful phase in their lives to, "those days it was uncommon to have girl bands. We had the first girl string band, maybe in the country. I remember the Law College boys would tease Loosers and Weepers and change their banner to Loosers and Sweepers. I asked the girls to ignore it and it died down. But all these girls had music in their blood. Emile Isaacs and Pinson Correya tutored them. Synchronising the alto, tenor the first and the second voices was what I used to do and of course encourage them. Cotton Fields was one popular number they played."

"We even began experimenting with fusion music which was a big hit. It was called raga rock," says Shalet John. So Big wheel keep on turnin, Proud Mary keep on burnin, Rollin, rollin, rollin on the river... ..the ladies crooned and music peaked a new scale in the city. But it was short lived. "It had to be. We all got busy with other things. Further studies and marriage came in the way and things came to a natural end," says Shalet.

Emile Isaacs who groomed these ladies said, "I can say one thing that these girls were hard working. They knew their music. There was no lip sync and tracks in those days unlike today. These girls were not bothered about their looks and figures as you find now. It was just pure love for music."

And so the girls had gone ahead and performed. They had followed their heart and faced the music wholeheartedly for We'd live the life we choose. For we were young and sure to have our way. La la la la...Those were the days... my friend we thought would never end."

Can we have an encore please?

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