Old Goa is no doubt being readied at a frenzied pace as the countdown to next month’s Exposition of the sacred relics of St Francis Xavier reaches its peak. An estimated 60 lakh to 1 million pilgrims are expected to begin arriving in a few weeks and preparations to accommodate and handle the crowds for this religious event have been in full swing. But far from the manual work going on at the heritage venue itself, village parishes all across Goa are also buzzing to a sound of a different kind.
As has been the custom every year, choirs from different parishes of Goa that sing at the novena masses during the feast of St Francis will be playing their part in the choirs this year too.
But the privilege of singing in the inaugural choir that will perform for the Solemn Pontifical Mass has fallen upon the South Goa villages of Raia-Manora, Ambora and Loutolim.
In the little village of Manora, sandwiched between Arlem and Raia, music emanates from the chapel late in the evening as a melodious mix of raw voices train under the sharp ears of the resident chaplain Fr Bernardo Cotta.
Composer and arranger of music, Fr Cotta is no newcomer in handling an Exposition choir. He arranged the music for the previous Expositions as well, the one in 1994, and 2004.
For the current choir, he has put together a group of 23 singers— seven sopranos, six altos, six tenors and four basses—drawn from the parishes of Raia- Manora, Ambora and Loutolim. Lending body to their voices will be the accompaniment of six violins, two violas, a cello, bass guitar, rhythm and bass guitar, keyboard, flute, clarinet and trumpet. The choir will perform for the Solemn Pontifical Mass at 9.30 am on November 22 when the relics will be taken in a procession from the Basilica of Bom Jesus to Se Cathedral.
Fr Cotta trained two of the three groups for a month telling them how to sing and teaching them their parts. Last week he began to put the three groups together. “We still need to work a lot before the big day,” he says, recalling that at the previous Exposition in 2004, the choir for the inaugural mass comprised of singers largely from Margao and neighbouring areas.
The theme this year is Bhavart Ekchar Rochta (faith creates communion). The lyrics for the songs have been written by Fr Lynn D’Sa and the music by Fr Joe Rodrigues. The vocal and orchestral arrangements have been done by Fr Cotta.
The choir will sing 14 hymns in all for the inaugural mass, among them some in Hindi and English as well.
Fr Cotta who comes from a line of musicians, says music has been in his blood. His father was a choirmaster and music always filled their home as Cotta senior brought his work home, something that helped open his son’s ears to its varying sounds. Which is why arranging the music comes naturally, and composing takes but a short while. It is necessary to understand the lyrics and sing from there, he says.
As conductor, his biggest challenge though will be to keep the people hooked on to the music and for them to sing along. “With new compositions, the problem is always to have people sing along to the music,” he says. But the choir has decided to keep a relatively easy rhythm that can be picked up by the public.
“People’s participation is very important. Melodies are chosen so that there is maximum participation from the congregation to what is being sung by the choir.” The hymns in Hindi and English have been added so that non Goan pilgrims will also get a chance to participate in the Eucharistic celebration, says Cotta.
Fr Cotta has fond memories of another major spiritual event hosted in Goa—the 1986 visit of Pope John Paul II—for which he was also chosen to be choirmaster. The choir for the open air event held at the Campal ground was huge with 200 members, and the pilgrims that attended ran into a few hundred thousand. The Pope descended from the altar and addressed the choir directly with the compliment: “Very good choir!”
“Practices for that mass were very difficult during that time as we had singers from the North as well as South of Goa. We would invariably be travelling up and down every day for two months just for practices,” he says.
Fr Cotta who believes it is important to surround children with music rather than focus merely on books and studies has made sure there will be compliment of fresh new young faces from different parishes in Goa. Most of those participating will be in the age group 18 to 25.
Review Bureau
