NPR (National Public Radio, of the US) had this interesting programme with
Kiran Ahluwalia on ghazals. Kiran went on to explain the meanings of her
Urdu verse, suddenly extending the audience for an ancient form of music
that is otherwise known only in north India, Pakistan and maybe Iran. Or
among expat Indian audiences of a certain (probably elderly) age-group.
Perhaps it's time for Konkani too to package itself for
wider audiences, instead of being restricted to the
traditional market-share. And, by this, I don't mean
changing it irrecognisably. But simply going in for
explanations of the form and content, translations of
literature and more... that would make it comprehensible
to many more.
Tomazinho Cardozo made an interesting point the other day, when he spoke
about the so-far limited audiences of the tiatr and Konkani films of the
past (mainly popular among Catholic audiences in Goa and, to a lesser
extent, among the diaspora). It probably underlines the point.
Incidentally, Kiran's group was using an acoustic guitar, not a sitar or
sarangi! She argued that the guitar has been used in Indian music for
the last 30-40 years. Guess she wasn't looking at it's longer role in
Goan music, even if All India Radio sometimes (almost dismissively)
terms it as "Western-style Konkani music". FN
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Frederick (FN) Noronha | Freelance Journalist | Mobile +91 9822 122436
Tel +91.832.2409490 | http://fn.swiki.net | http://www.bytesforall.net
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