MANDDO, MANDDO FESTIVAL AND ME.- I.

It was somewhere in 1956/57 when I was a small boy,  I saw first time in my life the Manddo sung and danced at the palatial  residence of a Pinto family popularly known as Serva Bhattkar,  situated next to the Candolim Tinto.  History tells one of the persons involved in Pinto’s Revolt against the Portuguese rule was the son of this house. The occasion was the celebration of the Wedding of one of the young family members of Pinto family.  I was at that very young age deeply impressed  by the way they sang the Manddos and Dulpods and simultaneously danced with perfect geometrical type of steps and also with rhythmic timing backed by the rich costumes of males and females, the latter wearing  maxi dress and matching Hats.  From their looks, presentation and accent of the language one could easily notice that they belonged to the upper segment of Goan society – feudality.  Incidentally, one the musicians  playing Violin for this item was my maternal uncle Dioginho Vaz a proletarian who was very close relative of the great Mandoist the late  Cruz Noronha.  Both of them had vast experience of Manddo who on some occasions shared this knowledge with me later on.

The word “Manddo” was derived from the Konkani word “Mandd”  which means a group of persons. Manddo song is always associated with a “Dulpod” which actually is the “Dor-re-pod” in Konkani but  it was ignorantly converted into the “Dulpod” from the Dor-re-pod which is on  fast  pace while Manddo is on slow pace.

The first Manddo Festival in Goa was held immediately after the invasion of Goa by Bharat under the Nehru’s Congress government against the wishes of Goans.  For this reason Congress was kicked out by Goans in the first general election and similarly Congress will be kicked out in 2017 election if old guards and defeatead candidates are not denied election tickets.

During the early stages of Mando festivals held in Panjim, Dr. Willie and Bernardo Fernandes (father of Remo Fernandes) played a pivotal role in the promotion of Manddos in Goa.  I started going to watch this festival from 1970 when I was a College student and when the ticket charges were Rupees Seven, rather a big amount at that time and from my village if I am not mistaken, I was the only person from the proletarian segment to attend this grand festival which otherwise was the firm monopoly of higher echelon of Goan society. During those days for most of the attendees of this festival means a sort of honour while for many it was a display of their social status since Manddo was considered as the monopoly of the elite Goan community and for persons like me it was just to quench our thirst of watching something richness of our folklore.  

The attendees during those days used to wear rich dress like men either Suit or at least a Neck Tie.  Early Manddos were composed by high caste Brahmins Bhattkars as well as by the non-Brahmins Bhttkars which can be easily noticed by the terminology used in such Manddos and Dulpods against Brahmin Bhattkars.  One closer example to justify this statement is of my Uncle Mr. Vaz who was an expert in Manddos and Cruz Noronha but they were proletarian Munddkars.

TO BE CONCLUDED.

 

A.Veronica Fernandes,

Candolim, Goa.

Tel: 7507394349.

TIATRO "GRANDPA" BY COMEDIAN SALLY.

 

TIATRO "GRANDPA"

 

 

Charminng Antonette de Maina

 

 

On 26^th of this month in Panjim at Kala Academy A/C Hall, at 10.30 in the morning, I saw the Tiatro “GRANDPA” written and directed by Comedian Sally.  Though it was a nice Tiatro, story wise as well as comedy yet it was very sad to see only a small number of attendees attending it. 

 

Com. Joana in the centre and Com. Agostiho to her left

 

The main story was good related to the revenge and envy in the family in which three well-known directors namely Mario Menezes, Pascoal Rodrigues and Comedian Agostinho played major roles in addition to the important role played by the director of this Tiatro, Comedian Sally.

 

Marcus Vaz singing his solo 

 

Tari as usual was the centre of attraction in his role as the abroad based son who was ably assisted in his role by pretty looking Antonette de Maina as his wife.  The role played by a small boy as their son was fantastic.  Very accurately and admirably seasoned artiste Pascoal Rodriges played the role of Grandpa.  He was very nicely depicted as a prisoner in the Prison Cell. Again, as usual Roma did justice to her role by very appropriately playing the role of a Nun.

 

 

 Mario Menezes and Sally

In the comedy part, Comedian Agostinho put his input well by being witty and sarcastic and he was ably supported by other comedians well especially by comedian Joana.

 

 Rosario de Benaulim sings his solo

 

In the Side Show part, Marcus Vaz’s solo in his recent trip to USA along with Samy Tavares troupe was very interesting.  Saby de Divar’s solo was applauded the most where he tears the government into pieces. He also rendered a trio along with his partners on FC Goa football team. Mario Menezes’ trio with his partners was very informative, so also the solos of Rosario de Benaulim and Pascoal Rodrigues.

 

Saby de Divar singing his political solo 

 

Congratulations to the director and his entire troupe for staging a nice Tiatro.

 

 Antonette-Tari-Young boy-Pascoal Rodrigues

 

 

                                             Seen are Antonette - Roma - Mario Menezes


A.    Veronica Fernandes
Candolim, Goa.
Tel: 7507394349.

CHRIS PERRY & LORNA CORDEIRO..

One of the main reasons for the popularity of the ongoing Konkani movie “Nachum-ia Kumpasar” is the songs rendered with her golden voice by the golden girl Lorna Cordeiro and all but one or two of these songs were composed by the golden mind of the golden composer Chris Perry with the golden musical score provided by his own genius only.  I heard Lorna’s first time recorded Konkani Album and also I saw her live singing on the Stage when she first time appeared on Konkani Stage at Mapusa in the Tiatro “Nouro Mozo Devchar” written and directed by her guide and mentor Chris Perry. During that time it was like a wave of Lorna when her voice appeared in Konkani Album.

Would Chris Perry attain such a name and fame without Lorna? And would Lorna attain such a majestic popularity without Chris Perry?  My both the answers are: I doubt. 

Chris Perry was an excellent musician, an excellent Trumpeter and an excellent Solfist but by core he was an excellent Tiatrist.  Only after finding of Lorna his Tiatro self came to the fore aggressively and came it to the fore not with crawling but with sprinting surprising everyone and silencing all other Tiatrists of that time. That he was such a magnificent composer of songs with appropriate tunes and with appropriate musical score was proved without any doubt by listening to all his songs rendered thru the angelic voice of one and only one Lorna. I don’t think these songs would create such a mighty effect if they were rendered by some other singer.

In this musical activity their chemistry worked very well and because of their perfect fusion there was revolution not only on Konkani Stage but also on Konkani movement as a whole.  Lorna’s voice even captured the minds, hearts and tongues of MG lobby and Marathi supporters in Goa thereby giving precedence for Konkani over Marathi which was very imperative during that time when the language issue was playing into the minds of Goans.

By signing a long term contract with her and later on denying her freedom to move her on her own way by citing her contractual obligation, did Chris Perry do good for Konkani musical art and serve the Konkani cause?  To promote Konkani cause especially at that critical juncture when we were fighting for Konkani recognition to get separate Statehood for Goa, Lorna’s presence on musical platform was very imperative to sway the tide in our favour. She thru her songs had the capacity to attract Marathivadis towards Konkani. But Chris Perry failed to recognize this important fact and remained adamant by sticking to the contract.  Heaven would not fall if he had to bend  down his rigid principle.

By being lenient he could have allowed Lorna to move on her own way separately at least for the sake of Konkani. But no, on the contrary he remained rigid to his contract only as if Konkani cause was secondary and Konkani cause was not his priority.  It looked Konkani cause did not exist for him because even by working in Dubai his financial contribution for Konkani movement was nothing, at least to my knowledge while UAE Goans have contributed so fabulously.  His participation in Konkani movement in Goa was as observed Zero, he did not receive any Lathi beatings from Rane’s Ghantti Police at Panjim Azad Maidan for demonstrating in support of Konkani, his participation in the Rallies in Panjim in support of Konkani was Nil.  He never participated in Hunger Strike at Azad Maidan for Konkani cause either.  If he was a part of Konkani movement he would surely tone down his rigidity towards Lorna’s contractual obligation and allow her own freedom in which case Lorna would enrich Konkani movement further by aligning with another Chris. In this way she would attain success but without her I doubt Chris would.

By being closer to each other for a short period Chris-Lorna duo attained so much and if it was not for their split, we would get so much more.  But unfortunately we were not destined to get more contribution of Chris Perry and Lorna Cordeiro. That is our tragedy.

 A.    Veronica Fernandes,

Candolim, Goa.
Tel: 7507394349.