From the editor’s desk :-

Dear Konkanni music lover,

The month of January 2004 need to be remembered and should be written as ‘Golden Month’ of the year 2004 in ‘Konkan Calendar’, because of an exciting and a memorable event which took place in Dubai and which made all of us Konkans residing in and out of Dubai proud. Yes, I was talking about the ‘Konaknni Drama’ competition organised by ‘Daiji’s’ and their glittering 5th Anniversary celebrations. To add more glamour to the function there was present one of the greatest sons of Konkan, a perfect ‘wordsmith’ and one of my close friends ‘Dr.Austin Prabhu’ from USA. I also read in the news that Dr.Austin delivered a heart touching and electrifying ‘Chief Guest Speech’ which will be remembered forever. I should not forget to congratulate the recipient of this year’s ‘Daiji Puraskar Award’ the veteran Konkanni writer Shri Jerry Kulshekar. ‘Manesth Jerry Kulshekar,  you rightfully deserve that accolade’.

Coming back to Konkani Drama Competition, my congratulations to the winners of Konkanni drama competitions.  I also appreciate and congratulate all the participants for their enthusiasm and great efforts.  It was a beautiful idea to organize Konkanni drama competition in order to bring out hidden talents from the Konkanni World. Though physically I was not present at the function due to some unavoidable personal reasons, surely I was mentally present there. I read the reports of the program avidly and enjoyed every bit of it and felt how nice it I would have been if only I was there.  Hats off to all Daiji’s and Daijin’s for organizing such a memorable event. Surely this event will not fade away so easily from the memories of those who were present there and will definitely last for ever.

Now, let me take you to my music world.  In my routine hunt for a superstar to present to you in this exclusive music column, I found yet another superstar!  He is one of the great legends of Konkanni music, a well-known radio artiste, popularly known as a ‘parrot’ of Konkann.  He is the composer of those great Konkanni hits like – ‘baayl aasaa gavaanth’, ‘sukh samsari hogdayillem’, ‘poishe asaat’, ‘maay’, ‘bhikaari’ and so on.., who is none other than Shri Lawrence Saldanha, a resident of Mumbai, the great commercial city of India. 

I am sure you will enjoy listening to this sweet music chord.  Let’s meet next month, same column and same site.  Until then, bye!

Yours in Do..Re..Me..Fa..,

Gerry D’Mello

“KONKANN KEER” – SHRI LAWRENCE SALDANHA

The evergreen singing parrot of Konkann world, “Konkann Keer” Sri Lawrence Saldanha, flew away from Mangalore to Bombay in his boyhood and became a singing sensation there, creating musical waves in Konkanni.  Even now at the retirable age of 65, the producer of “Enchanting Konkanni Melodies” and internationally picturised video film cassette, dreams of organizing a grand pop-band musical extravaganza of foot-tapping Konkanni music!  A versatile singer, Sri Lawrence Saldanha, who has given many live electrifying musical performances in India and abroad, can captivate and enthrall the audience with his lively Konkanni, Marathi, Tulu, Kannada