It took just three hours from the time of announcement for people to claim all
available passes to the 16th Monte Music Festival; this show the appeal of the
festival, the status of one of Goa’s most renowned music festivals. Organised
by Fundação Oriente along with Cidade de Goa, the annual festival will be held
from February 2 to 4, 2018 at Chapel of Our Lady of Mount, Old Goa and its
courtyard.
“Every year, we select artistes with a different focus. Last
year our focus was on voices from India and the theme was Indian Divas. We
receive around ten proposals from different artistes throughout the year and we
add our own ideas and work according to the budget that we obey to. It is a
fine balance. Some performances are very good and we try not to repeat the
acts. It is an annual event and the only time we get to showcase the musical
talent of the Portuguese artistes to our very own audience; it has to be
something new,” says Director of Fundação Oriente, Maria Inês Figueira.
Fundação Oriente will be completing 30 years of operation on
March 18, 2018, which makes this edition of Monte Music Festival even more
special. On the opening night of the festival, Dancing Sculptures will be
performed by traditional Odissi dancers Mitali D’Souza and her two daughters,
Diya and Risa, at 6pm at the courtyard, followed by Konkani Hymns of Goa
Revisited by the Aradhon Choir, conducted by Omar de Loiola Pereira, at 7:30pm
at the Chapel. On February 3, Manipuri Folk songs will be presented by Mangka
and The Laihul Ensemble at 6pm at the courtyard and a Cappella through the
Ages, Choral music by the Bangalore Men conducted by Jonas Olsson.
One of the masterpieces of the festival will be the Fado
performance by Pedro Moutinho on vocals, Andre Dias on Portuguese guitar, Tiago
Silva on Fado guitar and Daniel Pinto on bass guitar, which will be held on
February 4 at 6pm at the courtyard. The concluding performance of the festival
will be Variations on a theme with the Trio Inferno Marialena Fernandes on
piano, Barna Banfi on saxophone and Mareike Jankowski on mezzo soprano at
7:30pm at the Chapel.
Internationally
acclaimed Portuguese fadistas – Pedro Moutinho accompanied by Andre Dias, Tiago
Silva and Daniel Pinto will give voice to 25 poems that explore the various
dimension of fado, a much awaited performance of the Portuguese soulful genre.
“After their performance in Goa, Pedro and the musicians will be performing in
Mumbai on February 5, which is also organised by Fundação Oriente. Besides
Mitali D’Souza, all the artistes are performing at Monte Music Festival for the
very first time. The Chapel concerts require passes due to the church seating
limit, which is 300 people only. After announcing the passes are available at
the office, within three hours, all the passes were out. The courtyard concerts
are open to a larger audience and hopefully the number of the audience will
also grow annually,” concludes Maria Inês.
