Vivek Menezes
In an incandescent and still-ongoing season of the arts in Goa – it has extended across several different venues, festivals, concerts and exhibitions – the unexpected highlight was Concerto do Natal on 14th December at the Museum of Goa in Pilerne. It took place on a colourful Christmassy evening, beside an extraordinary 18-foot tree made from needlework panels by 25 local women who call themselves Crochet Collective, and delivered an unforgettable series of goosebumps moments as Oscar Castellino and The Timemakers performed holiday classics as well as an entirely new, spellbinding repertoire in both Konkani and Portuguese. I was especially blown away by Jinnen Mhaka Sogle Dile, a stirring new anthem of gratitude based on the late, great Manohar Rai Sardessai’s poem, an instant classic that will surely be enjoyed for generations. Castellino is an ebullient young star on the rise, based in London and increasingly connected to his ancestral turf. Although his family roots are in Assagao and Loutolim/ Curtorim, his formative musical experiences came via the vibrant (and heavily Goan) musical scene in Santa Cruz in Mumbai: “When attending church at the Sacred Heart parish, I would hear wonderful singers. One I remember in particular was Gus D’Lima, who had a fabulous tenor voice, and I remember hearing him as a child. That made a lasting impact on me. I also sang in the choir with Father Aniceto Nazareth, who would compose hymns. That showed me that somebody from India can compose hymns that are sung the world around. I also sang with Mimosa Almeida Pinto for the Christmas masses, where we would have a large number of people attending on the grounds. It was wonderful to sing there to large congregations. Santa Cruz can also boast of Patricia Rozario, who later went on to mentor me into the operatic world. My family always looked up to her and her achievements. When I finally met her, she heard my voice and encouraged me to move to London to train in opera. It was a great honour and a great moment for me.” Via email, Castellino told me “Goan Konkani and Portuguese music was a part of my upbringing. My grandfather introduced me to songs like Encosta Tua Cabecinha, Cadiza Za and Tambde Roza and sang Konkani and Portuguese lullabies when I was a baby. His name was Gabriel Pais (1919 – 2004) from Curtorim, the grandson of a Mestri. He would always write poems for us on occasions like birthdays. But despite this upbringing I never really sang in Konkani, and my first experience came at the Commonwealth Christmas Concert in London in 2020. The organizers suggested I sing something from my culture and I came upon a wonderful carol by Manohar Rai Sardessai and Micael Martins called ‘Mari Matek Ballok Zala.’ Although I had limited time to prepare, and felt I could do better justice to the language and to blend better my operatic style of singing to the nuances on singing in the Goan style, the listeners were very encouraging in their responses and this got me very excited. Carlo Rizzi, a leading Verdi conductor in the operatic world also thought that the Konkani language brought our something refreshing in my voice.” Castellino says “I love when my performances resonate with people, bringing out memories and emotions or just entertaining them thoroughly. I now saw an opportunity to achieve these responses by bringing my training as an opera singer, my creative skills in making melodies and my musical heritage together. In 2025, I unearthed some writings by my grandfather Gabriel Pais in Portuguese and Konkani and adapted them to a musical structure. I was also very fortunate to receive some of Manohar Rai Sardessai’s writings from his son Sunil Sardessai. My initial compositions those poems were met very warmly by his family, particularly my composition for ‘Ball Jezu Zolmolo’ a Christmas poem. I collected more writings by Sardessai, and some by my grandfather particularly in Portuguese, to create a Christmas concert revolving around these compositions interspersed with favourite tunes to create Concerto de Natal in collaboration with Museum of Goa. I created the ensemble Oscar Castellino & the Timemakers which includes some of Goa’s finest musicians Jason Quadros, Chelsea D’Silva, Nahil Flores and Senon D’Souza.” One of the joyful highlights of this MoG performance was the zestful participation of Umesh Sardessai, son of the beloved Lok-Kavi and Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the Government Polytechnic in Panjim, who told me that when Castellino “wished to set more of my father’s poems to music earlier this year, he got in touch with my brother Sunil, who referred him to me. We began work on ‘Ball Jezu Zolmola’ (Child Jesus is Born), a Christmas carol written by my father, and ‘Jinnen Mhaka Sogle Dile’ (Life Has Given Me All), one of my father’s popular poems about gratitude for what life has offered. I provided English translations to enhance his understanding of the texts, and after setting them to tune, Oscar sent the recordings to me. The melodies were soulful, and perfectly synced with the theme and text of the songs. We worked on the Konkani pronunciations and expressions. As I’m a lyricist myself, I shared my Konkani songs, and in the midst of our interactions, we decided to collaborate on the theme of Christmas celebrations in Goa. This led to the creation of the Konkani song ‘Ailim Natalam’, with lyrics by me. It was a pleasure and privilege working with Oscar, who, besides being a talented musician, is also a wonderful human being.” Sardessai says that his father once said “poetry is born when words start dancing”. Thus, “a good poem should possess this quality of music and rhythm. It should be like a ‘mantra’, an incantation that makes your whole being vibrate with the primeval sound. Through his creative presentations, Oscar brought to life what my father envisaged. It’s encouraging to see Konkani expanding into new musical frontiers.”
