Media Release
Doha, Sep 21: The stage is all set for the semi-final of the Gulf Voice of Mangalore-4 Qatar chapter. Qatar’s best 13 are well prepared and waiting for September 26 to set the Al Ghazal stage on fire. It’s going to be a tough competition, as stated by MCA's organizing team.
The judges are on their way from Mangalore. The MCA’s GVOM team has done its best to select the best 3 judges who are experienced, qualified and capable of choosing the finest 2 voices to represent Qatar and compete with the best chosen voices from Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia in the finals.
The eminent judges for Qatar semi-finals are:
Fr Stany Tauro
A great musician cool and calm as his nature, Fr Stany Tauro learnt music at St Joseph’s Seminary, Mangalore. He played guitar for seminary choir for 4 years, and has conducted church choirs in parishes and places where he served like Urwa, Milagres, and Father Muller Charitable Institutions. He has composed many hymns, songs and a mass. Fr Tauro has prepared and trained groups for singing competitions conducted by Konkani Natak Sabha, Mangalore. He has twice judged inter-parish singing competitions conducted by Konkani Natak Sabha, Mangalore. He had long served as administrator in Father Muller Charitable Hospital and Homeopathy College. Currently is the parish priest of Shirva Church.
Dr Prashanth Raj
Dr Prashanth Raj studied medicine at Government Medical College, Bellary and at present is practicing at Vamanjoor. Trained in Hindustani vocals and having sung in more than 100 albums of hymns and songs in Konkani and Kannada, he co-produced the hymn album 'Thujya Gharanth', composing all the tunes in that album. Dr Prashanth has two hits in Konkani movie 'Padri'. He has taken part in many inter-school, inter-collegiate singing competitions at state and national levels, and won the first place in solo singing in three consecutive years in inter-parish singing competition. He has given shows in Bahrain and Dubai and has been awarded by Konkani Kutam, Bahrain and Famad Pernal, Dubai. He has been the judge for semi-finals of GVOM 3 in Dubai in 2012. He recently performed in Abu Dhabi for KCO's Annual Meet.
Ashith Pinto
Ashith Pinto has been a sound engineer for 8 years at Sandesha Digital Studio Mangalore and has recorded over 500 albums, documentaries, jingles etc for all the Konkani legends and budding artistes. He is a bass guitarist and has played for more than 200 musical shows and more than 180 music albums with eminent Konkani music personalities. He has composed music for 10 music albums, one of which was awarded the best Konkani album at the Global Music Awards in 2009. He aas been playing guitar for over 16 years, and has worked as a guitar tutor and trained many students. He is presently working at Technicolor Bangalore as a quality control (QC) engineer.
Cyril Gregory Sequeira- CGS Tacode
The compere for the evening is none other than MCA’s own Cyril Gregory Sequeira, popularly called as C G S Taccode.
A well-known writer in Konkani who has written several stories, poems and humorous for the past forty years, his column in Raknno weekly named 'Pugyeto' was familiar among the Konkani pople. Among over 25 books by him, 'Sister Shobha', 'Dukam' and 'Kuniyegarachi Khun' are novels. He has written many humorous books like 'Pugyeto', Pokana', 'Bulbule', 'Sulsule', and his new humour work 'Thamde Gule' will be released on this occasion. He has written 12 social, comedy and radio plays. He worked as a sub-editor in Raknno Weekly and as an editor for Kanik and Umalo papers. He has received Goa Academy Award for his book 'Dukam', Konkani Sahitya Academy Award for 'Sulsule' and also been honoured with Daiji Dubai Literary Award. He is also MCA’s founder member and worked in the executive committee for the initial 2 years.
Award Presentation
This occasion will mark the presentation of MCA Kala Purashkar-2014 to prominent writer Catherine Rodrigues, Katpady.
Catherine Rodrigues is a multifaceted personality. She is not only a writer in Konkani, Tulu and Kannada but also involved in many other activities related to the above languages. She is a former ‘Upa-pradahana’ of Katapady mandal panchayat and present vice-president of Katapady Church pastoral committee. Her Konkani writings have been published in periodicals. She has won several prizes for Konkani short stories. Born in Katapady of Udupi district to John and Magdaline Rodrigues, she pursued her education in Katapady, pre-university course from SVS PU College, and masters degree in sociology from Mysore University and is currently running Preethi Tutorials in Katapady.
Catherine Rodrigues has been a prolific author in Konkani, Tulu and Kannada, a theatre director and social activist for over three decades. A number of her short stories, articles and poems have been published in various periodicals, magazines and special issues. Her serialized novels and short stories have won several awards, including Daiji Dubai Decennial Award. Catherine Rodrigues has written 12 dramas in Konkani, which have been enacted on stage, each one several times. 'Pauluchi Kitapat' drama has won Konkani Bhasha Mandala One Act Play Competition. She presented a short story before the invited audience at Vishwa Konkani Kendra in December 2009 in the programme organized by Sahitya Academy, New Delhi under their interactive scheme 'Meet the Author'. She has many more literary works done in Kannada and Tulu. For all her achievements MCA will bestow the MCA Kala Puruskar – 2014 on her. The Award consists of Rs 1,00,000 cash prize, a shawl, citation and a memento.
Event
Along with the GVOM semi-finals, the evening will also mark various performances from local talents Rupert Lobo and Preema Pinto. They will join the guest judge Dr Prashanth Raj to perform some beautiful songs.
Qatar’s famous dance group D4Dance will perform some mesmerizing dances to Konkani numbers.
Preema Pinto
Rupert Lobo
D4 Dance troupe
Joswin Pinto, ace musician from Mangalore will join Qatar’s 'Singing Birds Doha' to support the semi-finalists with splended foot-tapping music.
It’s a four-hour non-stop exciting entertainment, and organizers have arranged for snacks for all attendees.
The programme will begin at 4:45 pm sharp. Organizers have requested Doha audience to be present by 4:30 pm so as not to miss any part of the competition.
Entry is free but with entry passes only, hence reserve your seats now. Entry passes are available with MCA committee members.