Konkani music on a pedestal: Olavo Rodrigues, Walter Menezes
and Elick Vaz make their way to Mangalore for the sixth Global Konkani Music
Awards.
Mandd Sobhann, an organization promoting Konkani and its
culture worldwide will be organizing the Global Konkani Music Awards ceremony
at Kalaangann, Makale, in Mangalore on December 21, 2014. The nominations for
the sixth Global Konkani Music Awards includes
three noted Goans, Olavo (O’luv) Rodrigues, Elick Vaz and Walter Menezes, for
the best music album, best music arranger and best lyricist category
respectively.
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Olavo Rodrigues has been nominated for his album, ‘Love You
Goa’, “I feel that the album, ‘Love you Goa’ was selected for its pop nature
and the mix of adding not just Konkani but also Portuguese and French- Konkani
songs. The Global Konkani Music Awards accepts the latest trends in music and
the other albums in the category are also pop album. The organization looks out
for Konkani music that is released not just in Goa or Mangalore but all over
the world,” says Olavo, who had previously performed live at the Global Konkani
Music Awards.
Olavo is currently working on a new single and a video on a
social issue. “It is difficult to produce a music album nowadays, because there
is hardly any sale which doesn’t lead to recovery of expenditure. Most songs
are easily copied and shared and the sales remain the same. It is better to
release singles and videos as you can gain popularity through social networks
and get live performances,” says Olavo.
Walter Menezes has written two books in Konkani, ‘Koddu
Sonvsar ani her kotha’, a collection of short stories and ‘Zoit ani her Kovita’,
a collection of poems. Konkani Audio album,
‘Zoit-Achim Fulam’ jointly produced by Walter Menezes and Elick Vaz
received the Best Album 2013 Award from Tiatr Academy Goa besides bagging the
Best Duet 2013 Award and Best Choral Song 2013 Award.
Interestingly, ‘Zoit ani her Kovita’, a book of 50 poems and
couplets was released when Walter turned 50 in 2008 while ‘Zoitachi Fullam’,
Walter’s first music album of eight songs, was released on his wife’s birthday.
Teaming up with Music Composer Elick Vaz who added music to
Walter’s lyrics, ‘Don Suknneanchi Gozal’ a duet was sung by Rajesh Madgaonker and
Annapurna Sakhardande. “The lover asks whether he should dive in the ocean to
get her the pearls and unmindful of the fiery ball of the sun, get her its
rays. The girl replies that the pearls will not matter much on her neck,
neither will the rays of the sun give her warmth. She reminds him that to win
her over she does not need a palace. But give me your heart and give me your
love,” explains Walter about his Konkani lyrics.
Elick Vaz is a part of the Goan
band, ‘Destiny’ and has worked on several tiatr albums, Konkani albums and
films. He was nominated twice for the Global Konkani Music Awards as a Music
composer and this time he is nominated for music arrangement for the song ‘Un
Petit Endroit’ from the album, ‘Love You Goa’. “I feel much appreciated when my
music is recognised. Most of the musicians in Goa are only music arrangers.
There are very few music composers that Goa has produced like Late Chris Perry,
Augustine D’Cruz, Mukesh Ghatwal. We have to start composing our own songs as
we are not getting a chance to showcase our talent and we are very far from where
Bollywood music has reached,” says Elick who plays the guitar, keyboards and
drums.
