William D'Souza, mentor and a major influence on our artistes at Angel AV, started playing drums at the tender age of 12, was named Goa's best drummer in the Goa Today polls 1987. He started with a Goan band called "The Band", just after finishing High School. He has toured extensively with foreign and Indian bands and also as a solo performer. He has been influenced by and adept at Rock & Roll, RnB and Jazz. German fusion ensemble 'Embryo' influenced him to get into Carnatic music, who themselves were experimenting with various Indian musicians.
After his B. Pharm he enroled for a post graduation course in Mridangam (Indian Percussion) at the Karnataka college of Percussion Bangalore, with the famous Vidwan T.A.S. Mani as his Guru. He pioneered carnatic rythmns as a medium on western drums and also took up to experimenting Bharatnatyam dance tradition i.e. using adavu (notations of dance) and Kanaku (notations of mridangam). Now between freelancing as a drummer with various bands and conducting workshops, he is carrying on his studies in Carnatic music in Bangalore, it has become a vocation for him - a lifetime study.
Recently William D'Souza performed along with DJ Dheeraj at Planet M. It was an enthralling show from the man who has a verve for music and a passion for experiments. This was followed by an impromptu performance with Remo Fernandes. The crowd savored every moment of it and the man on the spotlight even answered a few queries from them. Another memorable performance for him was on the 7th of September, a jugalbandi of drums and sitar with a renowned sitarist Ustad Chote Rehmat Khan. Meet him at the forum or email: williamdrums@yahoo.com