Music starts from childhood. There is music in the cind there is music in the cry of a child there is music in the wind---- these were the introductory words of ex Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly and renowned tiatrist Prof Tomazinho Cardozo of Candolim, at the two day SECOND AKHIL BHARATIYA KONKANI SANGEET SAMMELAN being held at the EDC grounds Near KTC Bus Stand Panaji on 7th & 8th February, 2004.
A respectable crowd converged to witness the deliberations which commenced at 1853 hrs (IST). Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar the man in hurry because he is the "knows all & does all himself " CM and had to attend a public meeting of his rightwing Hindu fundamentalist party in his home towm Mapusa late evening. Known for his penchant to ridicule the Konakni protagonist though he is a "kattar" Saraswat himself (or may be a ploy to win over the Bahujan Samaj voters Parrikar ridiculed the organisor Mr Tomazinho for providing him a broken chair, this invited guffaws of laughter from the audience. Another complaint was the strobe lights which he said literally blinded them from not only seeing who was on stage but at times the audience too were invisible. He preferred to stay on but left early. His cabinet collegue and Minister for Culuture Mr Ramrao Dessai was absent though he conveyed his greetings for the function. Rita Rose looking pretty and beautiful was on the stage to recieve a special State award posthumously in memory of late Alfred Rose. She castigated the past politicians for failing to consider State Awards to Goans settled outside Goa viz in Mumbai Kolkatta Delhi elsewhere as a clause in the policy of granting State awards restrict such awards only to those domiciled in Goa. She was however full praise for Mr Tomazinho Cardozo who impressed upon Mr Parrikar to amend the restricting clause and thereby succeeded in ensuring that hence forth Goans living outside would qualify for the awards. She said emotionally " though I am reluctant to accept the Award as she would have prefered the award being given during life time of Alfred Rose she after much hesitation and consultation with colleagues agreed to accept the award at the hands of the CM so that other Goan domiciled outside Goa would benefit. Pandit Bhaskar Chandravakar spoke in English much to the astonishment of the gathering but he excused himself as he knew that his Konkani may not be acceptable or understandable by all. Pandit Chandarvarkar came out with some interesting statistics. He stated that India a country of 100 crores and above had 55% of population below the age of 25 years (this could perhaps influence the LOk Sabha Polls due in April 2004)> He said music was of two kinds "margi" meaning universal and regional according to noted 8th century lyricist Mahamu Matang writings "Brahadeshi Sangeet". While Narad considered as the Patron Saint of Music found that sound of music all over the world or the Universe is same it is only the people of different regions that interprete and create different sounds and culture . Hence Konkani music which has travelled beyond the boundaries of Goa and all over the world whether in hindustani music etc finds the first starting notes reflecting the Konkani music. Therefore it must be remembered tha MUSIC comes first followed by LANGUAGE and it is music which reflects the culture of a region. Later next of kin musicians tiatrist who have left for their heavenly abode viz Alfred Rose, Jitendra Abhisheki Menaka Shirodkar Chris Perry Pandit Prabhakar Chari Robin Vaz were preseneted commemorative momentoes. A Rs fifty priced publication "Ghumotgaz" the traditional musical instruments of Goa was released for sale. Another book SONGIT DOULOT GOENKARACHO was also on sale for Rs.100 besides a brochure of Alfred Rose. Beautiful carry bags done by the Bailancho Ekvott a womens collective led by Auda Viegas Councillor of MMC was sitributed along with the "ghumotgaz* There were over 23 stalls Goa Handicrafts Goa College of Music Bailancho Ekvott AMAZING Goa eateries selling food and crafts music cassettes in Konakani and Konkani books and artistic designs on gramaphone records by Ms Umesh Mhambre, journalist. The entire ground was named after Alfred Rose nagar, and was tastefully decorated with caricatures of a Goenkar a "pudvi dontor" and saree dressed men and women at the entrance. The special hall indoor was named after late Robin Vaz where the next days deliberations will commence. The entire proceedings were telecast live by local cable operators. Ms Lorna Mr H Brittoa and Ms Alria Rose daughter of late Alfred Rose belted out their traditional Konkani hit songs much to the delight of the audience. Lorna and H Brittona were exceptionally great and their golden voices sounded truly music to the ears. they were called back on three ocassions despite time constraints the music had to stop by 10.30 p.m Mr Eric Ozario Director of "Mandd Sobhann" from Mangalore speaking to this writer was clear on one point that whether you take any corner of the country be it Cochin Mangalore Karwar Sawantwadi or Goa Konkani music is unique and there is unity. Its only at literary Konakani meets there are conflicts more because which script should be adopted. It must be noted that Karantaka there are two scripts Tulu and kannada in Cochin it is the Malayalam but slowly they are changing to Devnagiri in Goa it is Devnagiri the Roman script has faded but there are consistent demands to allow it for the same of the Cristaos. Infact Prof Tomazinho made a fervent appeal to the Konkani stalwarts of the Konkani Academy at the function celebrating the official language day 4 February 1987 that the sanskritised difficult to understand "swaach" Konkani should be made easy to understand and the language spoken in common parlance should be given the prominence. The stage was tastefully decorated but one wondered why the church was not depicted besides the model of the Mardol temple and the Banyan tree (Vodd). It is invariably a practice to display an "Igorje ani Devul" but this Igorje was missing, Was it a Hindutva touch that led to to this deliberate slip one wondered. Unlike the first such Sammelan which was held two years ago opp Fatorda Grounds (where the proposed Ravindra Bhavan is yet to come up though land has been acquired two years ago, the crowd at Panaji was a mixed crowd and the Saraswat Hindus who otherwise adorned the front benches were almost diluted in the near Cristao Bahujan crowd with a sprinkling of foreign tourists. Mr Jose Lourenco and Wilfred were prominent organisors. There was a reasonable crowd of around 1200 most of whom were unaware of what the programme would be like. Cristalina Po a resident of Dona Paula thought it was a Cantarancho Jelo but was surprised when a troupe of Ghumat and traditional goan music was on the stage --- "arre hem konkne ani cristaoache mixture mhu re" she said in surprise. However one can expect an excellent evening when the mangalore group of Eric Ozario and Wilfy Rebimbus enthals the audience with their excellent Indianised & Westernised Konkani music. from the EDC grounds GODFREY J I GONSALVES Borda Margao ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Education Special: Study in the UK now. Go to http://in.specials.yahoo.com/index1.html ########################################################################## # 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 # ##########################################################################