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The great Goan mandó over the years The people of Goa are known to be talented musicians and they have created many types of songs in Konkani, which make up a rich heritage of popular music and poetry. These include the dhalo, dulpod, duvallo, khell, fugdi, kunnbi songs, mandó, palnnam ,talgarhi, ovi, vers, teatr, zagor, zoti, etc. Each of these express one or more aspects of the life of the people; each has a function and beauty of its own. For example, dhalo is a Hindu marriage song; dulpod are impressions in song about Goan, mainly Christian life; duvallo is a pregnancy song. However, of all the known popular types, the mandó is a unique creation of the Goan musical genius. The imagery and the creativity of the Christian folk poetry in Konkani are fairly rich in all the varieties of its songs, namely ovis, deknnis, mandós and specially dulpods. They illustrate the social pattern, customs and usages, and the intellectual levels of an epoch extending from late 19th century to early 20th century (1870 to 1930). The folksongs were composed by the upper bourgeoisie, a class that was fairly educated, civilized and lived the Portuguese pattern of western culture of the time. Origin: How old is the mandó? Was it the song of the people before the arrival of the Portuguese? Or was it brought by the Portuguese? Or is it a blend of Eastern and Western music? The mandó is not a very recent creation, but it is not a very ancient one either. It is not known when the specific form and style was first fashioned in Goa nor is one aware who the first composer is, which village he hailed from, what the words and tune were, and in which year it was composed. Though it is difficult to trace the origin of the mandó, it is possible to outline the historical process that led to the birth and development of a style of music, stemming away from the traditional Indian style, and under the impact of European music showing itself at first as a conscious imitation of the western style, but finally, with growing experience of Goan style, of which the mandó is the choicest blossom. The Portuguese had established parochial schools in which the students were taught music. In the beginning the music teachers were the priests themselves, who as Padre Mestre trained the students in singing religious hymns and to play the violin. Later, the mestres were appointed from those who had been trained by the Priests. These were responsible to disseminate the knowledge of music amongst the Goan youth. It would not take long for the Goans musical talent to come to the fore and they start experimenting with composing music. Once the Goan mastered the art of composing tunes in the western style as musical setting to hymns in Latin, Portuguese and Konkani, it was but a step to try his hand at numerous weddings, social gatherings, festivals. Being gifted with a tuneful ear it was but natural that he should spontaneously give expression to his joys and sorrows in a multitude of simple tunes. The influence of western Church music is very strong in Goan secular music; in the phrasing of the tunes, in the plaintive tone, in the use of the minor mode and in the very style of singing in two voices. In the view of Prof Lucio Rodrigues, the Goan composer performed an artistic miracle by creating the mandó. To quote "A miracle cannot be explained; it is to be discovered for oneself, and understood. If I had to venture on an explanation of this miracle, I would use an analogy derived from the science of optics, polarisation. The Goan composer polarised the apparently discordant, incongruous, irreconcilable muscial vibrations of East and West. On a plane which can be visually, if not aurally understood, this is symbolised by the traditional use of the gumott and violin as the inevitable instruments to accompany the singing of the mandó. If the heart of the Goan had to sing his love, it had to sing it in the language of his heart and that was the mother-tongue, Konkani." Present status: The golden age of the mandó has passed. We are not what our grandfathers and grandmothers were; and so, the mandó may not mean to us the same thing as it meant to them. Of course, the mandó has never been dead as a song, sung since its heyday. Thousands of Goans who have migrated to the four corners of the world have carried it with them in their hearts and still sing it at all community gatherings. But if it lives on, it lives as a legacy of our glorious past. Like the Viennese waltz with its sumptuous and sweeping movements, expressing the flowing rhythms of the age that gave it being, the mandó, with its slow motion and rich resonance, registered truthfully the spaciousness of the bygone days and ways in Goa. Conclusion: As already mentioned the experts in the field have said that the mandó will not remain the same with the change in times and the present generation cannot relive the lifestyle of our fore fathers, but let us try to maintain what the composers of the past left for posterity. It is not only by organizing the mandó festivals or heritage programs, but a policy has to be evolved to document the mandós and dulphods, both with words and notation, so that posterity will be able to know about our rich heritage. -- May your God be with you. Gabe Menezes. London, England
