04 Oct 2022  |   05:57am IST

Celebrating true heritage at Matiechem Fest

Matiechem Fest saw the village of Pilerne come to life with live music, dances and a wealth of knowledge as the villagers pooled their talent to create a unique fest. The Festival of the Soil brought likeminded together as they enjoyed the flavours of Goan cuisine and heard the beats of the ghumot and coconut shells

Dolcy D’Cruz

 

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unday was a sunny day in Pilerne, quite literally for the scorching sun but also with the warmth of the unity of the villagers, who worked together to organise their first people’s festival, Matiechem Fest. The festival was held with much planning and preparations which was evident with the way it was organised in a very systematic way with smiling faces all around the place. Everyone from the 13 wards of the village were given responsibilities and right from the tiny tots to the elders who were seen on their toes, either performing in the programmes, setting up the stage or serving food and water at the venue.

Curated by Marius Fernandes and Gwendolyn de Ornelas, the festival held in association with villagers of Pilerne, at the St John the Baptist Church precinct, Pilerne. Besides the great music and food and the educational talks, the festival had many firsts to its name.

“A world record was held at the fest with 640 percussion instruments like kottieos, ghumots, mandallam, etc played at the same venue, at the same time and judged by the adjudicators Eric and Joyce Pinto of Pinnacle World Record Goa. O’luv, the Konkani pop star, especially composed a song for the festival, ‘Matiechem Fest’ and it was performed in the mandd in the segment Ghumtacho Nach. Another highlight of the fest, was the launch of the Pilerne Startup, a weekly market that will be held every Thursday. The Pilerne Art Socio Cultural Association (PASCA), and Pilerne Ghumot Girls Group were also unveiled at the fest,” says Marius Fernandes also known as Goencho festakar.

Pilerne Arts- Socio cultural Association, Pilerne was officially registered and announced at the fest by parish Priest Fr Derrick Fernandes. Global Goa Girls Ghumot Group headed by Dr Ornelas was launched at the festival and the third birth anniversary of the Ghumot, the state instrument of Goa, which was declared Goa’s heritage instrument, was celebrated at the fest. The Pilerne Sunshine band was another new addition along with the Pilerne Theatre group headed by director Edmer Barreto. The Pilerne Brass band and the Pilerne Art corner were also launched.

The festival began with the village ‘passoi’ (flag march) with brass band, street play and Konkani skit, and fugdi street dances. There were several well timed performances to keep everyone entertained for the fest. Mando was presented by students of Chubby Cheeks School, Pilerne, Fugdi was also performed by Shree Ganesha group, Pilerne, The Pilerne/ Saligao Seminarians did a football skills exhibition and performed a choral piece while Kotti Zumba was choreographed and performed by Zeeba, a resident of Pilerne. The wards were clubbed together into five groups which presented lovely representations of the Goencho Poder Goencho Render, Goenchi Guirestkai, Goenchi Mati and Goenche Vavraddi. All were dressed to the T and made the event very lively.

On stage events included Bolcãocheo Gozalli with historian Prajal Sakardande sharing information about the village, talk by horticulturalist Miguel Braganza, and music performances by Konkani singer O’Luv and percussionist Carlos Gonsalves. ‘Goencho Festakar’ , documentation of some of the festivals in the form of a book with foreword by Dr Gwendolyn De Ornelas and designed by caricature artist Vaibhav Salgaokar was released at the fest by Dr Prajal Sakardande.

Marius Fernandes was also recognised for his work of social responsibility by the Goan Diaspora across the world and Goa and was presented with an award by Gavin Dias, General Manager of Goa Tourism Department. Ghupoteen, a new women friendly percussion musical instrument, was launched at the fest which now completes the Ghumot family which includes the other three instruments, ghumot, mandallem and ghumoteen. Many well known Goans supported the peoples’ fest were seen mingling with the crowds including Miguel Braganza, Alexyz, Clarice Vaz, Simone Rego, Avertino Miranda and Dr Gustavo Pinto.

Pilerne welcomed nearly 1000 visitors for the day long festival and everyone left with huge smile and great memories.