This has a reference to an article “Long live the King on “Heraldo” dated 24 January 2016. The article was well written but some important events have been missed in the print. The Carnival celebrations existed in erstwhile Portuguese regime ably organized by late Vasco Alvares, ex-Chief Officer of Panaji Municipality and others. Later after the liberation, he along with Percival Noronha, Chico Fernandes and others were responsible to organize Carnival in Goa till 1967, the Directorate of Tourism took over and started to organize King Momo’s Parade. As per our information, late Vasco Alvares should be called “King of Carnival” followed by late Jofre Orneles Gomes, late Roberto Alvares and Armando Gonsalves.
In the late 1970s, we started organizing Carnival under Francisco Menezes, Victor Gonsalves and late J.B. Gonsalves, ex-MLA (Panaji) and I as the Secretary of the Committee. In the early 1980’s the Committee was headed by Silimkhan, Chairperson of Panaji Municipality followed by Domnic Fernandes with the help of late Wilfred D’Souza, ex-CM of Goa, who actually gave boost to Carnival from 2007 onwards.
I was the President of Panaji Carnival Committee for 12 years till 2011 and I alongwith Napoleon D’Souza and other Committee members actually revived the dying traditional Carnival with a meagre Budget. What we see now is a Commercial Carnival and it is no longer “People’s Carnival” and organized and participated by the people of Goa. Carnival has actually died in Goa with dishonest people involved in organizing it.
Today’s Carnival is organised by Event Managements and politicians and therefore not a traditional Carnival of yesteryears. People in the Carnival Committees are more interested in making business than organizing traditional Carnival with honest people in the committee kept out from decisions.
What surprised me to read in the said article is that some people themselves call “King of Carnival” when they are not. Some people have given an impression in the said Article that they were the whole and sole people who kept Carnival alive in Goa when we have not heard of them till 2008. People who sacrificed their time are not highlighted in the said article the name of which I have indicated above.
Due to commercialization of Carnival and in order to organize a traditional Carnival of yesteryears we have formed “Panaji Traditional Festival Committee” under me in 2006 wherein we organize traditional 3 days Carnival programmes in the open Air Kala Academy, Panaji during Carnival and Sao Joao Festival on 24 June every year since 2006.
