Jazz Goa did it again, this time in style with 'Mother Teresa's Roses'. The 4th edition of 'Concert in the park' at Jardim Garcia de Orta in Panjim on the 10th of March was nothing short of spectacular and drew a record number of people to the park. The concert hoped to raise awareness about the charitable work being done by sister Christobel's trust, it sure did, and how. Theatre personality from Mumbai Annabelle Ferro wrote a musical depicting the story behind Sister Christobel, enacted by her two daughters Aaaliya and Mahiya with the sister herself taking the stage for a beautiful rendition of 'Wonderful World' accompanied by Sancho Menezes on piano. A cute song and dance routine by children from the home in Parra for good measure and then it was time for a historical moment in Goa's live music scene. The Phoenix Foundation Big Band from Germany took the stage to present the sound of a big band for the first time in Goa after over five decades. The twenty two piece band conducted be Frank Reichert included young musicians of the average age of twenty years and the repertoire included some funky pop songs and film sound tracks besides the usual bebop and swing standards one would expect of a big band. The huge crowd at the park was literally blown away with the absoloute virtuosity displayed by the German youngsters. The conductor Frank then threw in a pleasant surprise with his arrangement of local jazz musician Colin D'Cruz's composition 'Sangolda Serenade'. He invited Colin and Lester Godinho to join the big band on bass an percussion and delivered an unforgettable big band version of Sangolda Serenade. The band then featured world renowned Indian Classical virtuosos singer Ramamani and percussionist Ramesh Shotham who created some exciting indo-jazz big band fusion sounds that got a great response from the crowd with thunderous rounds of applause after each track. Show host Raymond Albuquerque who always obliges Jazz Goa's concerts in the park kept the crowd riveted with his sophisticated yet informal style of hosting an event. He then announced the Corporation of the city of Panjim's and Mr. Sanjith Rodrigues' decision to host Jazz Goa's concert in the park at least once every month. Raymond finally brought the curtains down on a concert that will linger on for a long time in the memory of whoever was lucky enough to be there.
