Furtados opens a supermarket of instruments in Juhu <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2009/feb/furtado.jpg" align="right" border="1" />ACROSS Metro cinema lies a place that a number of the city's people with an inclination towards music know exceedingly well. This is where I bought my first guitar, age: 16 Furtados. I'd go often to buy a pair of strings, pick up a few picks, hoping I don't get hit by a whizzing vehicle as I adjusted the guitar on my back... this was when both the stores (now BX Furtados and LM Furtados), a hop away from each other, were bursting with all sorts of instruments: guitars: acoustic, acoustic with amp options, electric, bass you name it... there'd be the quintessential longhaired musician, with eyes closed, adlibbing with their graceful fingers. Drums, keyboards, books on musicians and books on chords, instruments that I didn't recognise all of them waiting for someone to set them to rhythm. Then LM turns into a showroom solely for pianos, while the other is still its former eclectic self. "The piano is the kind of instrument that requires that kind of space," says Phillip Rodrigues, managing director of Furtados Music. He's not referring only to quantity, but also the quiet grace needed for the temperament of this instrument. So if south Mumbai had its very own Furtados what about the suburbs? Come last Sunday and Furtados Music teamed up with Yamaha to launch the Yamaha Music Square a showroom that will house a "supermarket of instruments" in Vile Parle-Juhu. All part of Furtado Music's now two-year-old plan with Musee Music (a leading music store in south India) and Pace Communications to spread the word of music. "We wanted to extend the retail chain across the country," says Rodrigues. What began as a family-business with two stores in Mumbai and Goa each, is now evolving into a modern entrepreneurial company that has already set up outlets in Pune, Bangalore and Mangalore in the year 2008. Due to it being one of the most prolific musical outlets in India, Furtado's doesn't bear the brunt of not finding takers for western classical instruments. "It's such a nascent industry (Western Classical). Earlier, it was restricted to Parsis and Christians, today it's an aspiration for so many people to play it," says Rodericks who believes Western classical music still has a stronghold in India. When asked about the increasing popularity of keyboards over the piano, he replies, "Parents nowadays say, 'Let my child start on keyboards, but later progress to a piano.'" However, issues of space and maintenance do not contribute to making a comfortable situation for smaller musical instrument distributors, who're opting to display keyboards over pianos in their stores. A big part of Furtado Music's initiative is to provide musicians, especially young talent with enough space to explore, hone and display their skills. Although Rodrigues commends Pune a Furtados store is located in ABC farms a place brimming with live music avenues, he thinks that, "There's still a dearth of places where musicians can perform here in Mumbai. We want to give youngsters more space. At the new showroom, we even have two sound proof demonstration rooms, one for acoustic and one for electric."

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Furtados opens a supermarket of instruments in Juhu

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