It’s the second week of Advent and the Christmas season is gaining
momentum in Goa; it is now time to bring out the Christmas music. Doing just
that on a grand scale is the Amateur Dramatics and Music Society (ADAMS) with
‘Concert for the King’, an evening of Christmas songs and hymns performed by
top bands. Alfwold ‘Alfie’ Silveira has been planning the event and was waiting
for the right time when the desired bands would be free. “ADAMS has organised
different plays and musicals in honour of Jesus Christ in the past but we had
our last music concert eight years back. This year, we thought of kick-starting
the season with the concert on the Feast of Our Lady of Conception on December
8, 2016. The concert will be based purely on music,” explains Alfie.
The concert will feature A26, Saved By Grace, Chrysalis and Adams
Chorale. Chrysalis will start the evening with the hymn for Our Lady, ‘Ave
Maria’. As a jazz band, it will have its own renditions of ‘Drummer Boy’ and
other songs. “Chrysalis will sing five songs. All the groups in the concert are
professional bands and so they need little time to practise the songs. The
songs were given to each group; they then selected the ones they wanted to
perform. Many of the songs are all time favourites that will get the crowd
singing,” he adds.
Saved by Grace is a gospel choir comprising Braz Gonsalves, Sharon
Gonsalves and Darryl Rodrigues. They will be singing six Christmas songs and
carols. “Many prepare with social programs like making cribs and sweets but it
is also important to be spiritually prepared for Christ,” says Alfie.
ADAMS Chorale started out with six members when the program was being
planned. Over ten weeks, their number has increased to 30 members, with two
violinists, three guitarists, one drummer, one keyboardist and one saxophonist.
Their youngest member is nine-year-old Nicole Noronha and their eldest member
is Anthony Viegas, 69. “We had practices in a small room in the Don Bosco
Oratory and as the members grew, we shifted to a large classroom in the school
in Panjim. There were no auditions for the singers and it was open to all. We
put up a message on Facebook, inviting interested singers and musicians. The
chorale will be singing four pieces in Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass (SATB)
arrangements and two songs from my new album, ‘Christ is Christmas’. The
arrangements are new and modern,” informs Alfie.
A26 is one of Goa’s top bands and they will be playing seven songs. “I
had given them nine songs to choose from and they finalised on seven. It is
their own contribution to the Christmas season as they are playing for free for
the concert, putting in their valuable time and talent into the program. They
will also be singing the song, ‘Mary, Did You Know?’ as a tribute to Mother
Mary,” he says.
He further adds, “I didn’t want any overlap of songs and I strictly
advised the bands not to have any Santa Claus or reindeer on stage. For the finale, all the bands and ADAMS
chorale will sing the song ‘Silent Night’. It will be a different musical experience.”
Donation passes are available at Champs (Panjim and Mapusa), Furtados
(Panjim), St Paul’s (Panjim), Pedro Fernandes (Panjim and Margao) and T Centre
(Panjim). The passes will also be available at the venue and Alfie promises
that with a big open air auditorium, no one will be turned away. “The donation
passes are also reasonably priced at Rs 100 because we want families to come
and enjoy the music. The seating is enough for 1,200 people and we will be
having chairs for senior citizens,” he informs.
The proceeds will be offered to Sethu Child Development and Family
Guidance Centre. “Christmas is a wonderful season for giving and as Sethu has
been doing great work with its mission to be a bridge between children and
their families, their schools and their communities to foster their complete
development, we thought of donating our proceeds to the centre. Each
contribution will be a blessing for those connected to Sethu,” concludes Alfie.
‘Concert for the King’, an
evening of Christ centred Christmas music across many genres will be performed
at Kala Academy, Panjim on December 8, 2016 from 7pm onwards
