JOSSIE

by Ivan Arthur

JOSSIE traces the unpredictable destiny of Talent. It is a biography set in small-town Mangalore, India of the 1920s and 30s and subsequently in Mumbai. Jossie Arthur, a bohemian character of immense talent, splices together opposing cultures in both cities, causing ripples among the groups and individuals with whom he interacted. The path of his own strange destiny becomes the subject of this true-life story. For a decade or two, he can be said to have revolutionised the musical taste and culture of Mangalore, his string trio melding the serious and traditional with the light and playful to become a rage of his time. With his iconoclasm and his magnetic personality he strove to smash some of the narrow walls that divided the religious communities of that time, particularly among the Protestants and the Catholics, two groups with diametrically opposing cultures.

271 pages, Hardcover

Published December 2, 2012