SOUNDS OF STRINGS OF A BYE-GONE ERA By Mafalda Mascarenhas mafmasc at eth.net
Saturday is a good day to enjoy a musical evening at a panoramic and heritage site. If you feel like listening to Portuguese guitar or, for instance, you prefer the sitar or, otherwise, you want to feel the sound of Vivaldi and Bach, go to Old Goa. The Monte Music Festival, at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount, will present later today a Portuguese Guitar Recital, by O. Noronha, C. Menezes, D. Mehta and F.S. Cotta, at 5 p.m., at the amphitheatre; a Sitar Recital by T. Radhakrishna from Bangalore, at a sunset performance at 6 p.m. and finally, at 7 p.m., the chapel will open its doors to receive the Goa State String Orchestra, directed by Nigel Dixon. PORTUGUESE GUITAR: Orlando de Noronha, Carlos Menezes, Franz Schubert Cotta and Devang Mehta are all accomplished guitarists. They recently participated in a Portuguese guitar workshop conducted by a Portuguese guitarist, Eduardo Rodrigues, a disciple of Mestre Antonio Chainho (maybe today's best Portuguese guitar player). They have come together specifically to perform at the Monte Music Festival, giving body to the "miracle", as Lucio Miranda called it after attending the above mentioned workshop, of the rebirth of this instrument in Goa. It seems that many years ago you could find some Portuguese guitar players in Goa, but they surprisingly vanished. Some instruments could be found in Goan homes, but there was no longer any one to play them. Today the scenario is changing and these young artists are giving their precious contribution to it. The Portuguese Guitar Recital will present four different types of pieces, namely, fados of Lisboa, fados of Coimbra, Goan folk songs and other Portuguese songs. Songs as Fado Corrido, Fado Mouraria, Fado Menor, Balada do Mondego Balada de Despedida, Sobit Udentech Polongar (Mando), Sobit Amchem Goem, Coimbra and Casa Portuguesa can be listened to before the sunset. It seems that the Portuguese guitar is more likely the result of a fusion between the European Cittern (used throughout Western Europe in the Renaissance and probably brought into Portugal in the XVI century) and the English Guitar (brought into Portugal in the XVIII, through Oporto). This may explain the different construction, structure and tuning of the Coimbra Guitar - with its roots in Oporto - and the Lisbon Guitar. The Portuguese guitar was "quite sufficient to entertain an audience, avoiding the inconvenient need to invite an orchestra", so it took quite a relevant social and musical role, ever since the beginning of the XVIII century. In the XIX century, a great change, and the one that most contributed to the known specificness of the Portuguese guitar, occurred: an anonymous constructor applies to the Portuguese guitar the heads of Spanish guitars of wire. Today, it takes between 2 and 5 years for the "birth" of a guitar, because it is all hand made. The art of constructing Guitars is very rare since there are just 3 constructers in Portugal. Its technique is based on the soul of the one who plays it and in the energy the guitarist puts into the instrument when he plays it. SITAR RECITAL: T. Radhakrishna is a well-known name in South India. He has been playing the sitar from an early age and has learnt from several eminent musicians. One of them was Ravi Sankar, who accepted him as his disciple after witnessing the devotion and hard work he puts into his practice. T. Radhakrishna has several awards and citations to his credit, despite not being full time into music. He is a leading figure in the Travel and Tourism industry. STRINGS ORCHESTRA: The Goa State String Orchestra (GSSO) was formed last year and one of its aims is to contribute to the fight back of the "tidal wave of western commercial pop culture" and its pop music. This "wave" is threatening Goa's tradition of Western classical music, unique in India. So, GSSO intends to contribute in nurturing this cultural heritage of Goa. The GSSO is an independent autonomous body comprising 14 players. The orchestra consists of experienced musicians as well as the most talented of today's youth, all of whom have reached at least Grade VIII performance standard (Trinity College/Associated Board). The Goa State String Orchestra is essentially the same combination of instruments that were regularly available to Antonio Vivaldi. The orchestra aims also to inter-react with Indian classical musicians and incorporate both disciplines. The members of the GSSO are Myra Shroff, Gorreti Vaz Pinheiro, Sany Cotta and Emilio Pereira as first violins, Bernadette Diniz, Eshvita Nazareth, Judy Fernandes and Ashley Rego as second violins, Tryphon Fernandes and Celina Andrews as violas, Teresa Figueiredo and Vasco Dias as Violoncellos, Anthony Vaz as double bass, and Nigel Dixon (continuo) as conductor. The GSSO will play for us 18th century Western classical music. This evening?s programme will include Sinfonia da Camera, by Franz Zavier Richter, Spring Concerto (The Four Seasons), by Antonio Vivaldi (Gorretti Vaz Pinheiro will be the soloist on the violin), Air in G (from Suite no. 3 IND), by J.S. Bach, Concerto Grosso Opus 6 no. 12, by G.F. Handel (the soloists are Sanya Cotta, violin, Ashley Rego, violin, and Teresa Figueiredo, violoncello). The show will end with Symphony no. 1 in G for Strings, by C.P.E. Bach. Today the air at the Monte will reverberate with the sounds of strings of a bye-gone era, of romance under the stars and a combination of East and West. A treat for all music lovers. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
