Flash Entertainers

This is the story of
Flash Entertainers believe me I was there
This is how it goes it happened when I was a machine mechanic @ flash one day a man by the name of Manilall who lived in Temple Valley later became a tomato merchant asked me if I can fix his baja so I told him to bring it to the factory he bought it the next day I went home for lunch and quickly got back I fixed the baja it had a small problem so I started to play it walking down the passage was Nathia he heard the baja and he came in the workshop and he really started to play it hearing it came in Dhookan in those days we used to buy wax for the machines and it came in round gallon tins so Dhookan took 2 of those tins and started to play it like thablas hearing this walked in Roop and Dhookan’s elder brother I forget his name so Roop joined in and started singing
while this was happening here walks in Dicky Maharaj so everyone stops he tells them to carry on so the guy’s carry on the first bell rings to start work then comes the big man himself Mr SS Maharaj smiling he stands by the door and he says carry on so the guy’s carry on the the second bell rings so the guys stop and go in then the big man and Dicky says to me we have talent in our factory and the big man goes to his office so Dicky and I stand talking and he says to me go and ask these guys if they are game to start a group and if they say yes what instruments they need so I went and asked them they agreed I made a list and took it to Dicky so we got into his car and drove to Roopanands In durban we got a baja thablas majiras jhaal and got back before we got to the factory we stopped at saccrine and bought 2 bottles of blue top when we got back we offloaded and hid all the stuff in Dicky’s office and I went and told the guys not to go home after work but to come to the workshop not telling them the plan so after work they all came so we start talking about a group then comes out the instruments in the meantime I went to Narian’s cafe and bought a big block of cheese for bites so while the guys were tuning their instruments Dhookan says his elder brother plays the sarangi and he has 1so he goes and gets him so you can imagine with almost 2 bottles down what a jol it was
Around 3 in the morning with the booze wearing down and tiredness creeping in they stop then the discussion is about a name for the group quite a few names get bandied about then I say forget about all the other names there is just 1 name they want to know the name I say
Flash Entertainers
Because flash has sponsored every thing so it was only fair that we use that name
So that was how Flash Entertainers was born
So after a lot of rehearsals a wedding was coming up in Ottawa that was between John and Saras and that was the first contract just before the wedding out good friend Tommy donated his tenor banjo to the group then we had a problem because only Nathia could play the banjo and he was playing the baja so Dhookan introduced his younger brother Raj who could play the baja very well so he came in just before the wedding came Whitey box maker’s son in law and boy could he sing then came the wedding that night Ottawa was rocked like never before
Flash Entertainers took off with a bang
After that we got a contract to play in Estcourt this contract was brought by teacher Dhookan’s good friend then w e heard of a person called Mickey who played the Nagra most of us had never heard of such a thing so Dhookan went to see him he lived opposite the S O S garage in Springvale he agreed to come to Estcourt with us that was when Mickey joined flash
On that trip D S Maharaj also accompanied us
Oh yes I almost forgot just before the trip to Estcourt Mickey brought in Niranjan and Phalad they were thee DANSERS they were the first dancers to join flash so we went to Estcourt and let me tell you that trip was something else we actually finished of in Johannesburg and that my friends is another story and on that trip teacher with his violin became part of the group there were many other’s that came and went so the original group of Flash Entertainers was Mr Dicky Maharaj
Nathia, Dhookan Roop Dhookan’s elder brother Raj Whitey and myself
Then came
Mickey Niranjan Pahalad and Baboo Mickey’s b in law and
Teacher
There may be some things I have missed out if anyone can fill in will be appreciated
It’s been such a long time
This my friends is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth for God is my witness
Ps there was another band at that time called
Ottawa Young Serenaders which was run by D S Maharaj I am not too familiar with those members

Submitted via WhatsApp.