Just two days
after announcing the details of the festival, the passes for the Monte Music
Festival, were all out. One of Goa’s most renowned music festivals, the Monte
Music Festival, organised by Fundação Oriente attracts a melange of music lovers who enjoy different genres
of music and dance. This year marks the 21st edition of the annual
festival which will be held on February 24 at the Aguada Port and Jail Complex,
Aguada and on February 25 at Entertainment Society of Goa, Panjim.
Taking over
as the director of Fundação Oriente, one huge and important task for Dr Paulo
Gomes was to get the right musical acts for the festival. Since it was his
first time, he was ably assisted by the team at Fundacao Oriente who have been
doing it for the past two decades. “We would have loved to have the festival at
the original venue, Chapel of Our Lady of Mount, Old Goa but since it is under
restoration, he didn’t want to disturb the work. Hopefully, next year, we will
be back at the Monte. This year, we have two venues for the two days of the
festival. We had to collaborate with the headquarters in Lisbon and it was our
responsibility to decide which performances could be selected for the two
days,” says Dr Paulo Gomes. Fundacao Oriente will be completing 35 years of
operation on March 18.
On the opening evening of the festival,
February 24, Tara Lily will perform at 5.30 pm followed by Kaleidoscope
performed by Attakkalari Dance Company at 6.45 pm at Aguada Port and Jail
Complex, Aguada. On February 25, Confluence will be presented by Ekchar at 6 pm
followed by the concluding performance of the festival, a piano recital by
Artur Pizarro at 7.15 pm.
Speaking about the passes, Dr Paulo says,
“The audience was waiting for the announcement of the festival. As soon as the
passes were announced at the office, they were all out in two days. At the
Aguada Port and Jail Complex, the performance will be at the jetty, which
allows 276 chairs while the Entertainment Society of Goa auditorium has a
seating capacity of 230. We even checked with Kala Academy but the auditorium is
not ready. The audience can still attend the festival but will not be able to
occupy a chair.”
Growing up in South London and coming
from a Bengali family, Tara Lily has always been immersed in a diverse cultural
and musical world. For her new project, ‘Last Flight Out’, Tara Lily takes
listeners on a journey around the globe, as she marries the sonic terrains of
East and West. She fuses together elements of jazz, Alt RnB, Indian classical,
dance and much more. The Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts is India’s
premiere contemporary dance organisation, and its performance wing, the
Attakkalari Dance Company, is an internationally acclaimed. ‘Kaleidoscope’, is
an exciting show consisting of seven diverse and captivating short performances
with exquisite classical dance numbers and electrifying contemporary creations,
all set to evocative music and performed by a highly talented and eclectic team
of dancers from Attakkalari.
February 25 will start with a bang as
Goa’s one talented singers and musicians will bring a union of power, ‘Ekchar’
to the stage. Ekchar is the coming together of six Goan musicians, Orlando de
Noronha (Portuguese guitar, violin and mandolin), Selwyn Menezes (violin and
mandolin), Omar de Loiola Pereira (guitar and vocals), Carlos Meneses (guitar)
and Franz Schubert Cotta (Portuguese guitar, violin and piano) with Sonia
Shirsat and Nadia Rebelo on vocals. They will perform ‘Confluence’ with their
primary focus on Portuguese music through Fado and Konkani music, Mando,
providing a unique Indo-Portuguese musical experience to their audiences.
The
concluding performance is by Artur Pizarro who won the first place at the 1987
Vianna da Motta Competition, the 1988 Greater Palm Beach Symphony Invitational
Piano Competition, and the 1990 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition. He
has performed internationally in recital and chamber music with the world’s
leading orchestras and a long list of conductors that include Sir Simon Rattle,
Philippe Entremont, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Sir Andrew Davis, Esa-Pekka Salonen,
Yuri Temirkanov, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Ilan Volkov, Franz Welser- Most, Julia
Jones, Tugan Sokhiev, Yakov Kreizberg, Yannick Nlezet-Seguin, Libor Petek,
Vladimir Jurowski, Ion Marin, John Wilson and the late Sir Charles Mackerras. In Goa, he will be performing a piano
recitals with pieces by Ludwig Von Beethoven (Sonata. 14 c sharp minor, op. 27
n. 2, Adagio Sostenuto, Allegreto and Presto agitato), Jose Vianna da Motta
(Ballada op. 16), Frederic Chopin (Scherzo n. 2 in b flat minor, op.31), Claude
Debussy (Suite Bergamasque Prelude, Menuet, Clair de lune and Passepied) and
Enrique Granados (Allegro de concierto op. 46).
A feast for the ears and eyes, Monte
Music Festival will have the same energy and vigour as its previous editions.
