Glimpse of the Greatness of Konkani culture for Bangaloreans on June 20
From Our Special Correspondent
BANGALORE, Jun 17: A rare treat and a glimpse of the greatness of Konkani culture awaits Bangaloreans when Mandd Sobhann, the Mangalore-based premier institution devoted to the propagation and preservation of Konkani music, theatre and culture, will be launching the inaugural function of its Silver Jubilee in Karnataka’s state capital of Bangalore at St Joseph’s Indian High School Auditorium in association with the Federation of Konkani Catholic Associations (FKCA) on June 20, Sunday evening at 6 pm.
Mandd Sobhann Gurkar Eric Ozario, former chairman of Karnataka State Konkani Sahitya Academy and a well-known Konkani musician, the inaugural function being held in Bangalore was aimed at involving the large number of Konkani speaking people belonging to Christian, Gowd Saraswat Brahmin and other communities as well as Konkani speaking people of neighbouring Goa, Maharashtra and Kerala settled in the country’s knowledge capital.
"The Silver Jubilee celebrations of Mandd Sobhann is being celebrated in a befitting manner by organizing the First-ever World Konkani Cultural Convention,” said Ozario, adding: ``It will be a 25-day festival being held at Kalangann at Shakti Nagar in Mangalore from November 25 to December 19.”
The 25-day extravaganza is planned with the involvement of over 60 leading Konkani troupes comprising more than 1,000 artistes drawn from different states cutting across caste, creed, dialect , regional and religious barriers to present Konkani folk, theatre, musical and dance performances. Ther will be a Konkani Film Festival, Food Festival, Youth Festival, Art Festival, Kavitha Fest, Konkani Bazaar, competitions in Konkani games, costumes and cuisine of the Konkan region and people, he explained.
The inaugural function of the Silver Jubilee celebrations and the First-ever World Konkani Cultural Festival being held in Bangalore will be inaugurated by Karnataka’s Tourism and Infrastructure Minister Gali Janardhna Reddy with eminent Konkani builder Dayanand Pai as the chief guest, said the Festival’s Reception Committee chairman Ronald Colaco.
"We are planning the inaugural function or Muhurtam months ahead of the main events in Mangalore in order to involve and motivate Konkani speaking people in different cities and towns to collaborate with the Mangalore celebrations,” said Colaco, explaining that similar preliminary programmes were being planned in other cities also.
A leading Konkani musical troupe from Goa will be the attraction along with the popular Brass Band of Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district at the Bangalore inaugural function, explained Ozario.
"Mandd Sobhann or beautiful stage was started as an experiment to search and foster Konkani identity in music in 1986. The experiment was gradually widened to encompass diverse fields and all aspects of culture,” said Ozario and pointed out that, ``It has now become a movement for the revival and rejuvenation of Konkani culture.”
Ozario said the organization had several firsts to its credit including staging of several mega events of national and international importance and had rightly earned a name and place for itself for putting Konkani on the world map besides enhancing the self-respect of all Konkanites.
Mandd Sobhann had organized the first-ever Baila Show to revive Konkani dance form in 1988, Manddo Fest involving 356 signers and 42 piece orchestra in 1991, Porob - the first all India Konkani cultural fest for nine days in 1992, Baila International involving arstistes from Sri Lanka and India in 1993, the first world Konkani convention in 1995, Punov – a show of a dozen top Konkani stars, Manddo Ustav with 954 singers and 25 piece orchestra in 2003, eight day festival of Konkani performaing arts in the Konkani Mahostav in 2004 and the first global Konkani Music Awards in 2009.
The biggest achievement of Mandd Sobhann, however, was the world-record breaking Konkani Niranthari programme of the world’s longest 40-hour-long with 1717 singers of 44 groups singing 645 songs in the marathon of multiple singers to earn the distinction of being featured in the Guinness Book of World Records in the year 2008.