When Dr Jose Pinto from St Cruz read that the Mhadei River
supplies nearly 55 percent portable water to the villages of Goa, he felt there
was a need to show how Goans relied on the river just like a mother and child.
He took the idea forward and created a great team of singers, musicians and
actors to bring this song to life. Produced and conceptualised by Dr Jose,
‘Mhadei Song’ will be released today on social media.
“This song is not a protest or an agitation. It is an
awareness song on how the Mhadei River has provided fresh water to Goa as a
mother. It highlights our relationship with a mother and how we are now slowly
killing her and finally we will be putting her in the coffin. The river has
been naturally flowing for centuries and that flow should not be diverted as
the water will be trickling in Goan villages. The idea for the song struck me
almost a one and a half month back. I convinced Boney to work on the music and
Hema Sardessai is for the first time playing a role,” says Dr Jose Pinto, who
plays the flute in the video.
The cast of the seven minute long song includes Hema
Sardessai as the mother and David de Sa as the son. The song is composed by
Boney Alex Dias of Band Ambassadors and the video is also directed and edited
by him. The three verses of the song are sung by Shalisha Fernandes, Nikhil
Franco and Boney Alex.
The four-year-old band, Band Ambassadors, is formed by
vocalist and lead guitarist Boney Alex Dias from St Cruz and comprises of
Shalisha Fernandes (vocals and guitar), Nikhil Franco (vocals), Jonas Sequeira
(drums), Dane Dias (bass) and Meyrick Fernandes (keyboard). “We had earlier
worked on original songs like Carnival theme song in 2020 and the Sao Joao song
in 2022 and this is our third original song and first on the environment. Dr
Jose had a major role in convincing me to work on this song as there are other
Konkani songs on the Mhadei issue. The problem of water scarcity is so grave
that it requires more awareness. The lyrics are penned by Dr Jose and my
brother Francisco Dias. The lyrics inspired me to compose the music and we used
guitar solos,” says Boney, who leads the band that plays multi-genres.
The song is mixed by Mickelly Luis Rodrigues and mastered by
Aditya Naik at Sanjeevan Music Studio, Panjim. The post production and editing
is by Kreativisualz.com Studio and Enrique, Karan and Kenrick were the
production assistants. Chrisly Carvalho is the cinematographer for the video,
which was shot in four different locations, Dr Jose’s 400-year-old mansion in
St Cruz, Fernandes Mansion in Chandor, another heritage home, the green fields
of Fatorda and the Amboli Ghat.
Hema Sardessai is always supportive of saving Goa’s way of
living in harmony with nature and she is definitely vocal about the importance
of Mhadei. Speaking about her acting role in the video, she feels that its
significance to the issue made the emotions flow seamlessly. “There were two
reasons I played the role, one was the most beautiful thing, Mhadei and
secondly to promote deserving Goan artists. It was a fun experience shooting
the song and there were no retakes. The song was shot within a day at Fernandes
Mansion in Chandor. David is awesome and we made a great son-mother duo,” says
Hema.
For the video, Hema had to sleep in the coffin to show the
death of the mother. Though the visuals are quite heart-breaking, the shoot was
certainly quite the contrary. “We Goans love our afternoon siesta and when I
was told the coffin is placed for the shoot, I confidently pranced into it. As
there were still some technical details to be sorted, I calmly took my
afternoon nap in the coffin and I was so composed with David patting me on the
head that I didn’t know when the shot was taken. We had such a hearty laugh
when I woke up and I told the crew that I felt so safe like I’m right in the
arms of Jesus. I’m sure David will not have anymore fear of a coffin,” laughs
Hema.
The song will be uploaded on Jose Pinto production YouTube
channel, where Dr Jose hopes to upload many more projects. Father of Ahrenisha
Pinto, who plays tabla for Isha Samskruti and Aadita Thea Pinto, a classical
Hindustani singer for Isha Samskruti, Dr Jose plans to bring more creative
projects to the fore.
