Due to the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic, all forms of entertainment especially Goans favourite – tiatrs and live musical shows have been severely impacted with brass musicians being badly hit. So a group of young enthusiastic Goenkar Konkani mogis (lovers) led by prominent musician Lenoy Gomendes of Sirlim-Chinchinim pooled their resources forming an organisation with the sole purpose of promoting original Konkani cantars (song).
Sans any government or local politician support, they staged it’s first event “Proximo Voice of Goa”, named after the organisation they formed, recently encouraging talented amateur Goan Konkani singers to sing their own original Konkani songs with tunes composed by them. “During the COVID 19 lockdown, there were several YouTube channel singing contests being held wherein the participant has to create their own video and send it to the organisers to upload on their respective channels incurring them an expenditure between Rs 15,000-20,000. Most die-hard Konkani fans hailing from the middle and lower income categories cannot afford such amounts. I am aware of this amount being charged as I had clients coming to my Lens Studio in Sirlim-Chinchinim to do their recordings. Hence, I decided to organise a contest wherein the participants would not spend anything with all facilities being provided to them by my studio. Besides, appointing proper judges since the judging of these online singing contests are based on the viewership of the participant’s videos which is a sheer injustice to the singers. Moreover, I am firmly against playback singing, lip-syncing and copying or lifting of tunes,” exclaimed Lenoy.
The ‘Proximo Voice of Goa’ was conducted with quarterfinals, semi-finals and final rounds after the participants sent in their entries recorded on their mobile phones. “There were over 150 entries received wherein the music was simple as they were amateurs not professionals. Based on their singing pitch and timing, the good quality singers were shortlisted to 61 singers for the live quarter final rounds held in the Lens Studio, Sirlim-Chinchinim. They were welcomed to sing any old Konkani cantars and these live auditions were recorded as well as judged by a panel of three judges comprising of Fr Elvis Godinho, Cielda Pereira and Avina Furtado. They selected 25 singers for the semi-finals held outdoors on a big stage with a live brass band in Sirlim- Chinchinim. The participants were accompanied by a live band comprising of musicians Nolvert Cota, Theo Alvares, Semy Braganza, Sergei Godinho, John Fernandes and myself,” informed Lenoy.
“These participants were encouraged to sing any old Konkani cantars with cooperation provided to them such as being permitted to practice in the studio where their voices were recorded. Despite suffering a loss in business as it was being conducted during working hours, I offered to assist them in composing original songs instead of the participants purchasing their songs from elsewhere. As I did not wish the participants should incur any unnecessary expenditure,” divulged Lenoy.
“The semi-finals were judged by the trio of James Vaz, Sergei Godinho and Andrew Ferrao who selected the best 15 singers in the senior category and five singers in the junior category for the finals. But for the finals, these participants had to sing their own original compositions as I believe in originality and I am against copying of tunes which most tiatrists succumb to. The participants were permitted to sing old Konkani cantars in the initial rounds because if they failed to be selected for the next rounds then their original compositions would go waste and so as not to discourage them,” revealed Lenoy.
Interestingly, Lenoy, who has over 300 musical compositions mostly in Konkani, besides some South Indian languages like Kannada, staged his first online Konkani musical show during the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic lockdown on the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Rosary in Navelim-Salcete on November 18, 2020. This was followed by another online Konkani musical show on the occasion of the feast of ‘Goencho Saib’ St Francis Xavier on December 3, 2020. “Unlike the musicians who play the keyboards and had a few solo shows, the brass musicians were getting frustrated sitting at home due to the pandemic lockdown. When I phoned them requesting them to play for my online Konkani musical shows, they told me that they had to check their instruments first,” quipped Lenoy, who is now working on composing the tunes of his next original song on protecting the environment “Xristi” having already written the lyrics of this Konkani cantar.
Though it’s been a year since the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown was enforced throughout the country, Konkani musicians are still struggling for their livelihood and such online events are presently their only source of hope to keep their passions alive.
