Old Goa came
alive to the harmony of the recently held Ketevan World Sacred Music Festival, a four-day event inspired
by the life of St Ketevan, the Queen of Georgia, (whose remains were found in
Old Goa only recently). The festival showcased sacred music traditions from
different eras from the East and the West. The audience witnessed soulful music
concerts, workshops and conferences with artists belonging to cultures like
Western Classical, Carnatic, Orthodox Christian, Catholic, Sufi, Hindustani,
Jewish, Native and others from around the world.
The distinguished
soprano Natalia Lemercier from Milan performed as a soloist in the two biggest
concerts of the festival. The oratory ‘Passion Landscapes’, written for the
occasion, premiered at the festival and was conducted by the composer and
artistic director himself, Maestro Santiago Lusardi Girelli from Argentina. The
array of musicians in this programme also included the Goa University Choir,
awarded UK choir The King’s Barber, Indian soprano Rahul Bhardwaj, a string quartet,
dhrupad singer Vidya Shah and dancer Gautam Nima.
The Ketevan Festival
also witnessed the participation of dhrupad singer Pandit Ritwik Sanyal, from
Benares; the santoor player Jonathan Voyer from Canada, Leo Rossi (Italy),
Parvesh Java, Ignacio Monteverde and Dario Polonara (Argentina), Ektal
Children’s Choir from Goa and the Georgian Sakhioba Ensemble. The Goa
University Choir, in collaboration with renowned artists from France, Portugal,
Spain, Argentina, Germany, UK, Italy, Georgia and India, performed the
‘Misatango’ by the Carnegie Hall Resident Composer 2018, Martin Palmeri. This
was the closing concert of the fourth edition of the festival, an eclectic and
vibrating experience of music, ethnicities and traditions, where past and
present become one to propitiate coexistence between cultures.
The specialty of the
festival was that it took place around the different venues around Old Goa,
including St Monica, Our Lady of the Rosary, St Augustine Ruins and St Francis
of Assisi Church. Apart from these, there were certain additional performances
by the Bangalore Men (India), which conveyed the sacred theme of the festival
with their choral music. These social outreach concerts extended the reach of
the festival beyond Old Goa to various venues including the String Quartet at
Santa Cruz School, King´s Barbers at St Michael School, King’s Barbers at
Bethesda Life Center Boys Home in Santa Cruz.
The
fourth edition of Ketevan World Sacred Music Festival, 2019 was a major triumph
that Old Goa witnessed. The art of music was greatly appreciated around the
different sacred locations in Goa and the performers added more liveliness and
spiritual enhancement to the festival.
