DEATH OF MOTETS IN GOAN CHURCHES.

DEATH OF MOTETS IN GOAN CHURCHES.

After many years I happened to be in Goa during the recent Easter. In fact 10 days before Easter, I reached Goa and remembering my old days of attending the Holy week where I used to sing Motets in the Church as a Choir Boy and also listening to others singing, I attended the entire Holy Week services. But to my regret, there was not a single Motet on a single day in the Church. According to my information, this is the trend in many of the Churches in Goa now. Currently there is no traditional “Mestiri” in many of our Churches to play Violin or traditional Church acoustic “Orgao”. Candolim Church had one of the best available Orgaos played by the then Candolim Church Mestiri Agostinho D’Souza who served Candolim Church for 40 long years and the same Orgao was destroyed and turned into pieces on 18th August in 1948 when one of the Towers of our Church was collapsed. In one of his beautiful songs the legendary tiatrist Alexinho de Candolim making mention of this sad incident said “Torre moddon ekan ek Organvancho churo zaun ghelo”. Now everything on Electric Organ and in most of the cases the organists do not understand Solfa system, they play on Chords system. What a sad state of affairs of our great tradition!! It is mutilated and orchestrated by people who are totally ignorant of our old great tradition of Motets. In very few places in the World Motets culture exists and maintained and Goa is one but sadly it is dying now and in some villages like in my village it is already dead. R.I.P. Motets. The great Motet singers from our village as I saw them singing and sometimes I also sang with them as a small kid were Maestro Isidorio (father of tiatrist Young Menezes), Alexinho de Candolim, Simao Seco, Gonsalo Bostiaum Fernandes and my own musician uncle Dioginho Vaz.

Regretfully, not even All India Radio Panjim in its late night programme on Maundy Thursday played any Motets earlier recorded in Latin and later on in Konkani. Before, All India Radio Panjim used to have this programme regularly every year and people like me used to listen to this programme with full attention. Many of the Village Choirs under their Mistiris used to record their Motets at Panjim All India Radio and later on Panjim Radio used to air them in its programmes. I remember in 1959 our village Church Choir recorded 3 Motets at Emisora de Goa, Panjim, one of them was “Filius Et Jerusalem” which was the most beautiful and sorrowful Motet to listen and to enjoy its music though words were in Latin. The second Motet was “Simon Dormis”. The beauty and greatness of Motets lie not in knowing the meaning of the words but in minutely listening to its sad tune and serene music where Clarinet, Violin and Double base are the main essential instruments. Who plays these instruments now in our villages? I doubt any because Parochial Schools of the Church are dead and gone. R.I.P. Parochial Schools.

When we recorded our Motets then at Panjim, I was the youngest member of our Choir led by our Church Mestiri Santan D’Souza while the other members of the Choir as musicians were Andre Cursino and Gonsalo Bostiao Fernandes and singers were myself, Antulo Machado, his sister Filomena Machado, our Church Pe. Cur Pe. Marcus who is in USA now and one more Filomena from Candolim Ximer i.e. Filomena Pereira who is still playing a good role in our Church in lending her beautiful voice for daily Church services. That was the glorious Choir Candolim Church had and as its member I was playing my role appropriately otherwise our Mesiri would throw me out because he was very strict and second in ranking as Mestiri in Goa during that time. Though there are different versions of the origin of Motets yet it is still not certain to prove who actually originated Motets. Solfas originator is still unknown, that is certain. From the beginning till mid sixties, Motets were rendered only in Latin but in Sixties when the Liturgical system was converted into Konkani, that means in one’s mother tongue, Motets were also translated into Konkani. Though Konkani version sounded well yet due to the loss of its originality, the beauty of original Latin Motets was lost. In some cases the original beauty of Latin Motets remained intact or enhanced as in the case of one excellent Motet “Raianchi Bhettkantti, Diun Tachea Hathan, Ken’neo Tacheo Korun, Jinsanvar, Hai Mojea Jesu”.

During those days, Church Parochial Schools were the nurseries for the creation of gigantic singers and Solfists. Because of these schools Goa produced great musicians who dazzled the world with great pride. In India Goans are rated as best in music and any great Bharati Musician is afraid of Goan Musician. Sadly the Parochial Schools which were the nurseries of Musicians are gone into extinction now.

In 1958 one International Musical troupe- Orchestra – from Karachi visited Goa to hold Concerts in Panjim. Incidentally and surprisingly one of its members playing Trumpet was my neighbour Alexinho Fernandes while the rest were all non Goans and non Indians from different parts of the World. Before migrating to Karachi this Goan great musician was a student of Candolim Parochial school but later on after learning Music “Arte” and Violin his father took him to Karachi where he turned out to be a genius. Legendary maestro Johnson – the leader of the band “Johnson and His Jolly Boys” just went mad after seeing our Goan musician playing his Clarinet so beautifully for the Karachi Orchestra.

As a matter of interest our yesteryears great musician and a genius in this field Antoninho (Anthony) D’Souza from Siolim was the product of Church School. He was the music director of Emisora de Goa even during the Portuguese time when competition was so stiff. And because of his exceptional talent he was taken to Portugal somewhere in 1958 where he excelled extremely well thereby flying the colours of Goa and Goan Parochial schools high in Portugal. Once I saw him writing Solfas like Shorthand writing. Where are these great Goan musicians gone now? Why Goa is not producing such great stalwarts in musical field now? Is not there any way to revive this great Goan culture and tradition? Definitely there is and Church can do this. Church must introduce Music as one subject in Church Schools and parents must impress upon their children to take up this subject. Music should not only be made as passion but also as profession which is very lucrative now. Will somebody listen to my advice and plea? Church is having enormous financial resources to handle this subject. Our Panjim Altinho Church gurus must instruct every Church down the line to initiate this programme and now is the right time to implement this programme. If nothing is done now then this great tradition of Goan Catholic Church will be lost forever and nobody will ever remember our past which was really great.

Like Esperanto, Music is also an international language which if one learns as per the Solfas written in 5 horizontal lines, any person from any part of the world can read it and play. The knowledge of music eradicates all the barriers and a real musician knowing music thru Solfas is an international person. Goa in the past produced such internationals and Goan Catholic Church was instrumental in producing such internationals. In view of this, I feel our Catholic Church must revive its past forgotten tradition. It was said “Catholic Goan was an international figure”. Truly Catholic Church made him such and the same Church can make him international again. Let Goa Church leadership take up this issue on top priority and maintain our local tradition of producing innumerable musicians.

A. Veronica Fernandes.

HEARTY THANKS & GOD BLESS YOU ALL

The managing committee and members of Kuwait-Goa Tiatristanchi Sonstha (KGTS) - Kuwait, Guardian Angel Club (Sanvordem) - Kuwait, Goan Welfare Society (GWS) - Kuwait and United Friends Club (UFC) - Kuwait, Wish to thank the Almighty God for the successful surgery of our beloved friend/member Jose Rod. We would also like to thank Goa-World.com. Gulf-Goans e-Newsletter, Goanet.org, Goancauses, Goan-NRI, Goa.Kranti and other internet forums and all the kind hearts who prayed. Please continue your prayers for his complete and speedy recovery.

Once again a big 'Thank You' and may God Bless You All.

CAJETAN DE cajdesan@yahoo.com

G'BYE GOA: DHANGARS/GONVLLIS by Valmiki Faleiro.

G’BYE GOA: DHANGARS/GONVLLIS.
By Valmiki Faleiro.

After a millennium of peaceful existence by Mhars in Goa, arrived a pastoral tribe, theDhangars/Gonvllis. They, too, came from South India. And subjugated the Mhars. Dhangars had mastered the skill of domesticating otherwise productive wild animals, particularly cattle, goats and sheep. The story is told of how, when the Dhangar sage,Tapa, propitiated god Khandoba with his own daughter, the original ancestor and his descendants were granted the gift of domesticating and husbanding animals.

The tribe name Dhangar probably comes from ‘Dhenu’ (cow, in Sanskrit) or ‘Dhan’(wealth, which until the monetary age, was measured by the number of animals one possessed.) Dhangars believe they descend from royalty, perhaps because the kingdom of Holkarwas founded by one of their own. Indo-Aryans, however, believe that Dhangars are an admixture of Sudra fathers and Vaishya-Kshatriya mothers. Dhangars worshipped Mother Nature – including the human reproductive organs, the female organ being ‘Gan’ or ‘Gandh’ (Bavka Devi) and the male counterpart, in the form of an erect stone, called ‘Tonko’/’Topo’ or ‘Moko’/’Makhaji’ after the banana plantlet.

Makhaji is also called ‘Rakhnea Dev’ (shepard’s god), transformed by Indo-Aryans into Betal, the deity with the huge phallus. Interestingly, the temple demolished to make way for Margao’s Holy Spirit church, was dedicated to ‘Damodar Makhaji.’ It was said to be the most beautiful of the town’s 13 temples. The temple name also tells the story of how the later age Indo-Aryans took over not just the villages and fields of the tribal settlers but also their temples and deities, and made them their own. Their leader, Ram, who wielded a ‘Parashu’ (axe), had only told them to respect deities of the locals. An inventory of confiscated properties of the Damodar Makhaji temple showed one as possessed by ‘Roxo Goully,’ who performed rituals at the temple.

Gonvllis had a marked association with various temples and rituals in Margao, a Brahmin village in the Indo-Aryan era. Even today, the Shigmo of Zambaulim must necessarily begin with Gonvllis dancing in the front yard of the temple, throwing ‘gulal’ (vermillion) at one another. Another fact: while members of all other castes and tribes were, in varying numbers, converted to Christianity during the Portuguese era, not a single Dhangar ever was –they lived in the hills and forests, where the missionaries did not reach! Local communities were regulated by the seniormost male, called a ‘Budhvont’ (the wiseone.) All issues affecting individuals or the community were adjudicated by him. Males, at least until recently, sported earrings and the ‘shendi’ (a tuft of hair on top of the head)and wore their headgear in a manner distinct to the community.

Gonvllis were socially superior to Kols, who arrived in Goa some centuries later butsubjugated the former. After Goa’s integration into the Indian Union, Gonvllis were re-designated as Dhangars, a similar tribe widely prevalent, but not officially recognised as a Scheduled Tribe in India. Only in the late 20th century did the local government call for a study of the community by Goan sociologist Dr. Bernadette Gomes. Chased to the hills and still largely undeveloped, only two from this community in Goa came into some prominence at the turn of the millennium – Shakuntala Karwat, the first to graduate in law, and Chandrakant (“Babu”) Kavlekar, the first to be elected to the Goa Legislative Assembly.

A part of this tribe is believed to have evolved into two rough classifications: the patriarchal, which integrated into the Naik-Bhandari (toddy tappers) caste, and the matriarchal, identified with the caste of temple servants (Bhavins, Kalavants.) Mhars and Gonvllis were the first to settle in Goa. Both originated from South India. All other non-Aryan tribes that followed in later centuries – Asuras, Kols, Mundaris andKharvis (Mundas all) – came from the north, from about the same geographical region of Chota Nagpur, in present day Madhya Pradesh/south Bihar plains.

PS: Some feedback: “Matters little if Mhars arrived in Goa 10000 BC or 100 years ago.Today, 1 year brings tenancy rights and 1 day of domicile fetches a Ration Card and an Election Card. Goans have just voted their ‘best from the worst.’ We will deserve what we will get. But these elections were truly ‘free’ … no cash distributed this time!”(ENDS.)

The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column .