Goan treat for ears
REFRESHING TUNES
The Indo-Portuguese Festival, held at The Alliance Francaise last week, opened with the screening of the Portuguese movie, Singularidades de Uma Rapariga Loira.
The movie is the romantic tale of a man taken by the charms of a beautiful girl and the hardships he goes through to marry her only to realise that she was a thief in the end. A charming yet funny movie, it was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone present. Anish, an IT professional said, “It was refreshing to see such cinema which otherwise is impossible to get your hands on to.”
The movie screening was followed by a small break, where people got together and discussed everything under the sun. But what everyone was eagerly waiting for was the concert by musicians Chico Fonseca and Sonia Shirsat.
People didn’t have to wait for long. Chico started the concert with a Konkani and Portuguese song called Goa, that described the beauty of the place. He followed this with a beautiful song called India, which spoke of a soldier who had fallen in love with a girl. Chico kept the concert light and peppy with his humour.
Soon, it was time for Sonia Shirsat to take the stage and she started with a Brazilian number. Chico also joined her. They were accompanied on stage by Maxwell on the keyboard and Sarah on the violin.
To see four of them creating beautiful music was magical. Sonia started with the Goan Mando, which is the traditional music of Goa. Mando is a musical form, which is sung in a special manner, accompanied by a dance form using fans and hand-kerchiefs.
The first song was a Konkani one, which spoke about the other side of the shore and the audience were captivated by her beautiful voice, which filled the entire room. “It felt like being on a Goan beach,” said Sandhya, a student.
Sonia continued with two more songs before paving way for Chico again. The crowd got together and clapped as he sang the song Deccani, which had become popular with the Hindi movie Bobby.
He then sang the Lodna, which is usually sung at weddings, to give blessing to the bride and groom.The concert ended with a song, which Chico dedicated to all the mothers in the world.
