Page 35 - Seniors Today - March Issue
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audience would go “Ooh” and “Aah”. The
final coup de grace was when he was about
to take off the final piece of clothing and
he would turn around just in time, so that
his bare back would be exposed while the
spotlight shone on him momentarily before
turning the entire restaurant into darkness.
It was not long before we enthralled all
of Calcutta. Our signature opening tune
was The Savage by the Shadows. It was a
great show opener. Our repertoire included
the soul genre, Midnight Hour by Wilson
From left, Bashir Sheikh, drums_ Hemant Rao, lead
guitar_ Firdaus Enayati, manager_ Ralph Pais, bass and Pickett, Manfred Mann’s Do Was Diddy
Prabhakar Mundkur, keyboards and guitar Diddy, Steppenwolf’s Born to be Wild and
morning often with some cold litchis. many others. We were later to realise that
The Savages then formed a part of what Calcutta was ahead of Mumbai musically.
was called Cabaret Time at Trincas which People were already listening to Jim
lasted from 7.30 pm to 11.30 pm in the Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin in
evening. Cabaret was a form of theatrical their homes. Listening to this music was
entertainment featuring music, song, going to overhaul the Savages repertoire in
dance, recitation or drama in a pub, casino the future because of the deep impression it
or hotel. Even today, striptease, burlesque, created on our minds.
drag shows or a solo vocalist with a piano When the Savages finally left Calcutta, the
are often advertised as cabarets. There is audience were in tears. We did our last show
usually a master of ceremonies or an MC. with lumps in our throats. It had been an
The entertainment done by the ensemble is enriching experience that was going to leave
often oriented towards adult audiences who an indelible imprint both on our individual
drink and eat at their tables during the show, lives and our music. Our last song at our last
rather than dance. show was ‘So Long, Farewell’.
We cried and Calcutta cried. We will never
Enthralling Calcutta forget Trincas and Calcutta.
Cabaret Time when we were at Trincas
included a jazz band, Ben Ryder who
sang romantic songs in the Englebert
Humperdinck and Tom Jones genre (I think
his favourite was Please Release Me), Sam
the Sham, a magician who had learnt from
one of the great masters, Gogia Pasha or P
C Sorcar (I can’t quite remember), and of
course Holly White (Francis Fraser) who
did the strip tease. This was in many ways
the climax of the evening. As Holly took off L to R - Prabhakar Mundkur, Ralph Pais, Hemant Rao,
his clothing piece by piece, the men in the Bashir Sheikh
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #21 | MARCH 2021 35
