"Yours truly, Imelda"... has signed off - Imelda Dias

"Yours truly, Imelda"... has Signed off for good.
Imelda Dias, the most popular radio announcer in the State.
Imelda played for all of us via the radio
on the programs 'Your Choice', 'Latin Rhythm', 'Your Favourites' and more

He has taken you
Because he did not want you to suffer
But you will be always loved and remembered

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Replicating the words of Imelda

I remembered my Dreams
....fulfilled and unfulfilled,
the beauty, pain and glory of it all
which made my LIFE what it is today
Then I will gradually fade away
"leaving footprints in the sands of time"

As time is closing in one must suffer to know
and through knowledge grow.

How long is forever.....Eternity

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Imelda Tavora... a (prominent) voice from Goa's airwaves

If you were around in the Goa of the 1960s, 1970s (and even a bit of the 1950s and 1980s), you couldn't possibly have missed the voice of
Imelda Dias Tavora. Author, radio-announcer of the yesteryears Imelda talks about her three books and her days in radio in Goa.
Poona-educated Imelda compares working in Goa and in Portugal, in the post-1961 era with the pre-1961. As she walks down those tumultous
years of the 1960s, Imelda is misty eyed when she thinks of her work, and recalls it with nostalgia. Today, radio is disappointing, says an
outspoken "Your's Truly" Imelda (that was her favourite sign-off phrase on Sunday afternoons and Friday nights, after the much awaited
Western music programmes). Everyone would remember her as the Your Favourites lady!

Imelda Tavora... a (prominent) voice from Goa's airwaves

Imelda jotted her feelings over the years, and finally put them into a book... and two. "My life has been an open book," she says. Her
grandparents roots are in Anjuna. She finds today's radio broadcasting disappointing... She narrates her story (also written about in her
book) of how she got into radio in the first place, quite unexpectedly... and went on to be a voice to reckon with across the
decades, and in two continents (and beyond!)

Imelda Tavora... a (prominent) voice from Goa's airwaves (of the yesteryears)

Imelda shares her views on changes in Goa... the past decades she knew... She undertook the untypical step of going in for a divorce in
the Catholic Goa of the 1960s. Here she talks of her shift to Portugal around 1961, and return thereafter. She also reminds us of some other
prominent announcers of her times. And she talks about her plans for a forthcoming book. "There's lots to write," says she.  Her memoirs (in
two volumes)

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Goanet Digest, Vol 6, Issue 757

Message: 2 : Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 13:22:28 +0000
From: roland.francis@gmail.com
To: goanet@goanet.org
Subject: [Goanet] Imelda Tavora RIP

Hearing her voice announcing programs and music on Emissora de Goa and later All-India Radio, Panjim, on hazy Goan afternoons sitting on a long-armed chair with breezes stirring the branches of coconut and mango trees in a pristine and undespoiled village in the 1960s count for me as memories that will remain forever.

Thank you and goodbye Imelda. You made going to Goa on holiday in summer such a treat for a Bombay boy.

Roland.
Toronto. 

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News as reported in Goa Net          --  

http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2011-August/211992.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/4465750616/

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News as reported in Goan Voice    http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/

Death: Imelda Dias e Tavora

9 Aug: Panjim. IMELDA DIAS e TAVORA (Born 1928). Wife of late Augusto. Sister of late Alba/late Guilherme; late Agnelo/Christine and Aires/Maite. Mother of Magarida/late Fernando da Costa; Francisco/Vrida Godinho; Maria Ana/Arun Aggarwal; Carlos/late Tithi Battacharjee/Anuradha Kashyap & Luis/Judy Pinto. Grandmother to twelve. Funeral on 10 Aug at St. Inez Church. For Imelda's chat with Frederick Noronha go to http://bit.ly/Imelda-2

Memoirs … of a voice from the airwaves

PRINTED WORD / On books in and about Goa

First published in Gomantak Times, Aug 2, 2007

by Fredrick Noronha

This is about the most bizarre thing to do while encountering a book: try to read it from the ending! That’s just what I did with the autobiography of someone you might know, a lady called Imelda Dias. So one is still trying to put the pieces of the jigsaw together; but it was an interesting read.

Most of Goa of a particular generation — those around here in the 1960s and 1970s — would probably remember the name “Imelda” (or even Imelda Tavora). She then was the most popular announcer in the State, at a time when radio was the unquestioned king of all the mass media. (Forget about TV, which didn’t exist here yet, and newspapers were far smaller.)

So I began reading her book with the Epilogue. This chapter took me to my schoolboy days in the 1970s, and the music that Imelda played for all of us via the radio. It came through loud and clear on Sunday afternoons. It came on Friday nights. It came in the afternoon siesta time on weekdays.

All the names of the programmes sounded so very fresh — ‘Your Choice’, ‘Latin Rhythm’, ‘Your Favourites’ and more. Many readers would probably even recall the sign-off name “Yours truly, Imelda”.

This book is about the Goa that was, touching a bit on colonial Goa and the period just after 1961. Those were times of change and uncertainty. But they were nice times too, in a way. Imelda’s book tells the story of the Catholic elite of the times, the nostalgia with which it looks back, and life in the “good old days”.

Subtitled “An Autobiography of a Woman Ahead of Her Times”, this is also a story of a woman going against the trend, settling for a divorce in the 1960s, and facing the patriarchy of Catholic Goa of the times.

It’s a book edited by Margaret Mascarenhas, editor of ‘Skin’. Spiced with the gossipy details of Panjim’s life in the 1970s, parts of the book are very engrossing. But one couldn’t believe all one read, even if this only incited one’s curiosity to learn more of those times.

Besides her boarding years in Pune (then still Poona), this story talks about life in All India Radio, what it meant to be a political refugee of sorts in Salazar’s Lisbon post-1961, and stories of love and romance from another era.

https://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com/2007/08/05/memoirs-of-a-voice-from-the-airwaves/
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Imelda Dias – Reminiscences of My Radio Days

[ Bevinda Collaco - Target: News ]
http://www.targetgoa.com/goodstuffd.php?id=2295

Dona Imelda is one of a fast disappearing breed of giants of Goa. Known as the voice of Goa’s radio Emissora de Goa, her voice was recognized in countries far away, like Mozambique, the Middle East and Portugal. She was appreciated in India and Goa too. That love for what she did carried across the airwaves directly into her listeners’ hearts.

IMELDA DIAS autographing her latest book Reminiscences of My Radio Days Pic: Bevinda Collaco I know. I have a relative who was hopelessly in love with Imelda’s voice through the 60s and 70s. I told him she probably looked like a rhino in real life. He said no, this voice cannot come from a rhino. He was right. Dona Imelda is beautiful even at this age, elegantly turned out with coiffed hair, pearls, arched eyebrows and a gentle smile. Plagued as she is by health problems, you know that this elegant woman comes from a different mould, a different time, when women were graceful, beautiful and strong. Words have been her calling since the beginning. Then, it was the spoken word, now it is the written word. Imelda has already written and published one book called Shattered Lives and a two-part autobiography – How Long Is Forever and its sequel To Love And Live Again. On May 10, Imelda Dias will release her third book Reminiscences of My Radio Days published by Third Millenium. The book is a fascinating first-hand account of the birth, survival and astounding success of Radio Goa re-christened Emissora de Goa. The station was received with delight not just in Goa and India, but in Africa and the Middle East too.

EASY TO READ DIFFICULT TO FORGET Dona Imelda’s latest book Pic: Bevinda Collaco Having just finished the slim volume Reminiscences of My Radio Days, I can say it is a must-have book for those in radio and indeed the wider field of entertainment and programming. It’s a must-have for those interested in the history of Goa, because Dona Imelda writes from the heart. She gives a valuable first-hand account of the turbulent times radio in Goa struggled through. It began with that first microphone in a coconut shell and a weak transmitter way back in May 20 1946, an exercise which gave birth to Radio Goa. Portugal, seeing the potential of Radio Goa added on more powerful transmitters and the baby grew into a giant – an interesting, fun and instructive giant that became of all things, hugely popular in India, outshining the boring and pedantic All India Radio. Radio Goa renamed Emissora de Goa was welcomed by the people of India who wanted international music along with Indian music, and clever programming for children and adults. The phenomenal success of Emissora de Goa had its own fallout with lots of letters written in newspapers all over the country about how the radio station was not good for India etc. However, as it turned out there were even more letters championing its cause and screaming encouragement. Rivetting samples of both are reproduced in this book. Then came the Liberation of Goa when the Indian army invaded the colony. The station was bombed; the staff had already been moved to Portugal. Even though she was given a good post by the Portuguese Radio in Lisbon, Dona Imelda returned to Goa with her children to protect her land and to be with her family. It helped that her job in the radio in Goa was offered back to her. “You take off from where you left off,” the Station Director told her. “Yes, Sir, I will do exactly that,” she replied. Little insights from Imelda tell one of the changed character of the radio in Goa, with the changed circumstances of Emissora de Goa renamed as All India Radio Panaji. Emissora de Goa was swallowed up by its competitor that had viewed its rising success with such suspicion. The original strong transmitters were taken away from Goa and sent to the northern borders of India since there was constant threat of war. Weak transmitters led to a reduction in the reach of the station. Listeners in India were incensed. The quality of programming suffered with the authorities frowning on all things Portuguese. Proponents of Marathi were trying to force Marathi on to the airwaves. This slim book is an invaluable documentation of the inside story of radio, not just in Goa but its impact in India and elsewhere. Publishers Third Millenium, also need to be congratulated on this book. Dona Imelda’s fan club was legend. The book even has a letter from a most avid fan – Remo Fernandes. Imelda’s move with the radio from Goa to Portugal and back to India has been written simply and clearly, without any flowery emotional excesses as could be forgiven in one who has been through such turbulent times. Her writing however is as elegant as the lady herself. She speaks with love of the warmth and encouragement she received during her short six month stint in Portugal. “From here in Emissora de Goa we were broadcasting to Africa, the Middle East and Europe. When I began broadcasting from Lisbon, people in Africa etc recognized my voice and asked how is it that the Goa lady announcer is heard here in Portugal? My colleagues said that I had come as an evacuee. And they replied, ‘So tell her that we listen to her’. You tell me,” said Dona Imelda with a glowing smile, “What more could you want out of life? That was the crowning glory of being in broadcasting.” She used to plan programmes, translate, read the news and also be the announcer and says she enjoyed every packed minute of it. She had taken an apartment close to the station and used to carry her work home with her. How did she manage as a mother of five? Her daughter Marianne smiled ruefully, “She was very strict with us.” I laughed. How strict could this gentle lady with the lilting voice be? “Oh everything was regimented,” she said. “I set fixed timings for meals, study and play. When they were naughty I would punish them by making them stand in a corner, or kneel down. They could not move away until I told them to.” Dona Imelda gifted me a copy of her new book Reminiscences of My Radio Days. I thought of my besotted relative and asked Imelda to write his name in it instead of mine, with her autograph. I know that is one devoted listener who will be very, very happy.