There’s a touch of Goa in Christmas carols this year

PANJIM: Christmas carols are getting a Goan touch. Why should a Goan be always dreaming of a White Christmas? For Goans in Goa well, there is no snow in the tropics, and most Goans have experienced Christmases that have been warm, except for the little nip in the air felt while going to and returning from the midnight mass, so it remains a dream. But for expatriate Goans now experiencing a white Christmas in Canada or the United Kingdom, wouldn’t they be dreaming of their warm Christmases they have had with loved ones in Goa.

And this is exactly what one Goan in Portugal, dreaming of a warm Christmas, has decided to sing about it. Pop star Remo Fernandes has uploaded on Facebook a video of himself singing ‘Warm Christmas’, whose lyrics have been sung to the tune of that evergreen ‘White Christmas’ but in which he dreams of a land where ‘coconut trees glisten and children listen to hear that bullock cart in the sand’.

Remo is not the only one to upload videos of Christmas carols. The social media has got quite a number or Goans caroling in English and in Konkani. These aren’t videos of impromptu groups singing and shot on camera phones, but especially produced videos by singers who are already known in the music world.

There’s Akshada Bandekar whose website welcomes you with her singing ‘A Christmas Song’, on YouTube you find Nadia Rebello and Reiniel Martins singing ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’, on Facebook there’s O’Luv with a Konkani carol ‘La, La, La… Ballok Zolmola’. And there are many more. These are just a sampling.

As Goans sit down for their festive lunch this Christmas Day, it need not be Jim Reeves or Roger Whitaker singing from the radio or from the music system. Emanating from handheld devices and laptops could be sounds of Goans singing Christmas carols, giving a Goan musical touch to the Goan menu on the table.