Songbird Erin recaps her halcyon days

By Mahes Perera

I'm always chasing rainbows
Watching clouds drifting by
My schemes are just like all my dreams

Ending in the sky...

They said she was a Judy Garland fan and 'I'm Always Chasing Rainbows was her theme song ...... she was singing and dancing from the tender age of five in Donovan Andree's Nigger Minstrel Show ...... she called herself, Dinah of the Red Tails Minstrels .......

But many have treasured memories of her as a teenager loaded with magnetic power who attracted audiences to the Orchid Room at Victoria Park and the Silver Fawn Night Club to watch her scintillating performances.

She sang with all the leading musicians at the time including Luis Moreno, Luis Pedroso and Mario Manricks. The Mascarilla Night Club at the Galle Face Hotel was a nightly packed affair with audiences waiting to catch her two shows.

When she turned 18 the opportunity to perform abroad came her way and with it she shed her Red Tails and became Erin de Selfa.

It is happy news to find that the person you are about to interview is a good conversationalist and that you don't have to pose a hundred questions to only get monosyllabic answers.“Erin de Selfa came about” says Erin, “When I was invited to sing at the Taj Mahal, Bombay. Cabaret acts are so different from being introduced on stage, singing before a microphone and then going off stage.

Concentration

The whole act revolves round you... you have to talk, the songs you choose have to be good 'lead ins’ – the concentration is on you so it has to be different. But that didn't bother me. I used to tell myself “Erin you are the greatest” and make my entrance. It may have been cheeky but it worked! So what followed after Bombay, was that I was invited to perform in Madras, Ahemadnagar, Secunderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Calcutta and of course the command performance for the Maharaja of Baroda.”

The goal to hit the bright lights of Blighty began to grow and the opportunity came Erin's way when she met Dorab Bevandi.

“He was performing a duo scene and gave me an introduction to Jack Hilton's pianist Bert Waller. The band was playing at Stoll Theatre, Kingsway and I did two shows called 'I Cried For You’ and 'For Crying Out Loud.’ With Jack Hilton's band I sang for the Command Performance for King George VI at Windsor Castle, and with the band for two years. Erin's eyes lit up with excitement as she related her moments when she sang with Edmundo Ros and his band at the Copacabana, Regent Street. She performed her cabaret act for six weeks and got a two weeks' extension.

Soon Erin was signed up to sing at Blue Angel at Berkeley Square, the L'Hirondelle for Joseph Mourat Productions and at the opening of the Casanova Club at Grosvenor Street.

“It was Josephine Baker the famous film star who opened the club,” Erin recalls 'and I had to sing a song which was specially written by Dora Maugham, niece of Somerset Maugham. It was called Soree and it was built around the sari I wore over a sheath dress. The punch line of the song went

'To strip it takes only one second flat
(takes off sari)

Now I ask what's so wrong about that!’
This was my closing number and I ended my act with 'Give Me Five Minutes More.’

Versatility

These productions are what we miss today. Cabaret acts were original and creative and demanded the best out of a singer. What's more, versatility in dance was important to enhance the act.

We have a lot of talent in our country. I've heard many of our young singers but I'm sad that the kind we in our time had to do, is not there now. I think that is important if you are in the entertainment field.”You were in New York too, was it tough?“You can say that again. I thought I knew everything I had to know. Through the William Morris Agency I had to rehearse with Tony Burello, the pianist of Frank Sinatra's. The man was a perfectionist. He built the act around me. He used to rehearse a song a hundred times and he used to tear me up in pieces. I thought he was a sadist. But he showed me how to live the lyrics of the song. I worked at the Mocambo, Hollywood after 'Lena Horne performed there. It was great.’

There must surely be one particular cabaret act that keeps revolving in your mind?

“Yes there is this act I performed at Theatre Lirico in Milan, Italy for the Italian producer Giganto. The show was called Suub and I was called 'Povera Perla Nero’ – the poor Black Pearl. There was this big water tank with mermaids swimming and in the middle a huge oyster shell. It opened and I stepped out and sang the song in Italian. It was fantastic and a huge success.”Talking to Erin de Selfa was most enjoyable. Her optimism, her infectious laughter, her quick switching of scenes in her career (I had to keep a fast chronological track of them!), her behind the wings anecdotes made us lose all sense of time.’That she was an outstanding singer and a legend in our music scene is now history. It was fitting to honour Erin de Selfa in the Golden Clef Music Hall of Fame 1994, conducted by the Sunday Observer.