>Ghmyrtle at 13:13, 16 September 2021

2021-09-16T13:13:27Z

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{{Short description|Indian jazz guitarist (1936–1996)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
'''Amancio D'Silva''' (19 March 1936 – 17 July 1996) was an [[India]]n [[jazz]] [[guitarist]] and composer, known for his own recordings and his collaborations with other musicians in Britain, notably [[Joe Harriott]] and [[Stan Tracey]].

==Life==
He was born in [[Mumbai|Bombay (now Mumbai)]], [[India]], to [[Goans|Goan]] parents. He took up guitar in his teens, influenced by American jazz guitarists such as [[Charlie Christian]] and [[Wes Montgomery]] whom he heard on the radio, and soon began performing with local jazz groups. By his early 20s he had formed his own group, including saxophonist Braz Gonzalvez and pianist Anacleto Naronha, and toured around India. He met his future wife Joyce, an [[Ireland|Irish]]-born teacher, in [[Shimla|Simla]]. He gained such a reputation as a musician that the then [[Maharani]] of [[Jaipur]], an ardent jazz lover, became his benefactor and bought him his first quality guitar, a Gibson.<ref>[http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/supplement/AmancioDSilva.html Goan Voice UK: supplement on :AMANCIO D'SILVA]</ref>

In 1967, he travelled to London with his family, primarily to seek medical treatment for his son Stephano. He and Joyce had two other children, Maria and Francesca. He worked as a cleaner, and also as a musician at the "[[Prospect of Whitby]]" pub and at the Spanish Garden Club in the [[West End of London|West End]], and began living in [[Ealing]]. [[Jonathan Miller]] introduced him to record producer Dennis Preston, who set up a collaboration between D'Silva and leading British musicians [[Don Rendell]] and [[Ian Carr]]. This resulted in the [[EMI]] album ''Integration...introducing Amancio D’Silva'', which received critical acclaim as a unique fusion of jazz and Indian music styles.<ref>[http://www.amanciodsilva.com/index.html Home]</ref>

The next collaboration, in 1969, was the album ''Hum Dono'' with Jamaican-born saxophonist [[Joe Harriott]], for which Amancio wrote the majority of the compositions, and which again met with critical support.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Jazz|first=All About|title=Amancio D'Silva: Konkan Dance album review @ All About Jazz|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/konkan-dance-amancio-dsilva-vocalion-review-by-chris-may.php|access-date=2020-07-31|website=All About Jazz|language=en}}</ref> This was followed by ''Reflections...the romantic guitar of Amancio D’Silva'' (1971), featuring orchestral arrangements by [[Stan Tracey]] of classic songs by [[George Gershwin|Gershwin]], [[Duke Ellington|Ellington]] and others. In 1972 he led an outfit on the album ''Dream Sequence'', by Cosmic Eye, an avant garde group including Alan Branscombe, Kashev Sathe, and [[John Mayer (composer)|John Mayer]]. Other collaborations around the same time included two albums with percussionist [[Guy Warren]], all listed below.

Amancio continued to perform, and record independently, new music with collaborators from the EMI albums and others. These included projects with Clem Alford, but also with the flautist/saxophonist Lynn Dobson amongst others. Living in [[Essex]] in the 1980s, he would play regularly at jazz clubs in [[Ipswich]], as well as a series of concerts at St. Mary's Arts Centre in [[Colchester]] around 1985, which featured amongst others Marcio Mattos on double bass, and also concerts at [[Norwich Arts Centre]].

As well as performing and recording extensively, Amancio also customised guitar pick-ups for well known rock musicians. He continued to perform until his health made it impossible in the mid-1990s, and also taught extensively, first at Jenako Art in London's East End from the mid-1980s to early 1990s and later at the Krishnamurti International School in Hampshire. In 1992 he was partially paralysed by a stroke. He and Joyce D'Silva remained married throughout his life. He died in 1996 following further strokes, and was buried according to his wishes at a woodland cemetery near Brighton.

==Discography==

===As leader/co-leader===
*''Integration...introducing Amancio D’Silva'' (1969)
*''Hum Dono'' (with [[Joe Harriott]], 1969)
*''Reflections...the romantic guitar of Amancio D’Silva'' (1971)
*''Dream Sequence'' (by Cosmic Eye, 1972)
*''Konkan Dance'' (recorded 1972/74, issued 2006)

===As guest===
*[[Guy Warren]]: ''Afro Jazz'' (1968)
*Guy Warren: ''The African sounds of Guy Warren of Ghana'' (1972)
*Clem Alford: ''Mirror Image'' (1974)

===On compilations===
*''Jazz Explosion: A Panorama of Contemporary British Jazz''
*''Joe Harriott Memorial Album''
*''Impressed with Gilles Peterson''
*''Impressed with Gilles Peterson vol 2''
*''Jazz for Meditation''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official website|http://amanciodsilvamusic.com|Amancio D'Silva}} – official site
*{{Discogs artist|Amancio D'Silva}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Silva, Amancio}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:Musicians from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Indian jazz guitarists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century guitarists]]
[[Category:Indian people of Goan descent]]

Amancio D'Silva - Revision history

>Ghmyrtle at 13:13, 16 September 2021