Goa’s Reggae-style ode to the firefly

Goenchim Noketram, an internationally acclaimed Goan Folk and Musical troupe, has released the video of their second song from the album ‘Goa-Tuzo Mog Mhaka’, titled ‘Piki-Piki Kazule’. The 26 members of the group have blended their voices to create this Reggae style hit for the Goan audience
Goa’s Reggae-style ode to the firefly
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 Goenchim Noketram, a Goan folklore and Musical troupe founded by Marianela Gina, is back on the music scene with their second video, ‘Piki-Piki Kazule’ from their album ‘Goa-Tuzo Mog Mhaka’. Goenchim Noketram had released their audio CD of seven Konkani songs with varied rhythms and styles of the different countries that the group was invited to perform in. After the huge success of the video of their first song, ‘Goa-Tuzo Mog Mhaka’, which had a Soca rhythm, they were encouraged to come out with the video of their second song.

Gina conceptualised and directed the video and has written the lyrics, composition and vocal arrangements of the song. “The song has been sung by all the members of Goenchim Noketram. The music of the song is by Mukesh Ghatwal and the videography as well as editing has been done by Patson Barbosa. In fact, Ghatwal has done the music of the entire album and Barbosa had done the video of our first theme song ‘Goa-Tuzo Mog Mhaka’ too. It’s the same team back in action for ‘Piki-Piki Kazule’. The role of the young girl is very aptly played by young Sephera de Matos Sequeira. Her innocence and sparkling eyes compliment the song and its purpose,” says Gina, a chemistry lecturer at GVM’s SNJA Higher Secondary School, Ponda, by profession.

“This song is in Konkani but has a reggae rhythm, bringing about a confluence of Goa and the Caribbean Islands where we were privileged to have been invited to perform in 2011. When the lyrics of all the seven songs were penned in 2017, they were a reflection of my experiences of growing up in a beautiful village. This song ‘Piki-Piki Kazule’ was about the fascination I had for the firefly as a child. I did notice that their population had decreased; however, I did not know that they were endangered until a couple of months ago. Then subsequently, I did a bit of research and found out how important they are to our ecosystem and the various reasons for their human-forced near extinction. That’s when I decided to come out with a video of our song to create an awareness to save the firefly. We do hope that our small endeavour will go a long way to save the firefly. It was the need of the hour to try and do our bit to save the firefly,” says Gina.

Goenchim Noketram has used the influence it had of the 19 countries they visited for their international shows besides shows in Goa and India. The songs in the album are influenced by the different countries and their musical genres. With seven songs in the album, two songs are Goan songs, the Mando and Dulpod ‘Dis(u) Kazaracho’ and Konkani duet ‘Ambadeachem Mogrem’.

The video has been produced by Schubert D’Silva from Sharjah/Chinchinim. Goenchim Noketram plans to bring out the videos of all the remaining songs from their album, one at a time.

Herald Goa
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