Espectáculo em Bengalore

Ekvat Group
Date : Sunday, June 05, 2011 07:00PM
Venue : Chowdiah Memorial Hall
Address : 16th Cross, GD Park Extension, Vyalikaval
Phone No : 2344-3956

Goan music was one of the first musical styles in India to be influenced by Western traditions. According to Jose Pereira and Micael Martins’ book Song of Goa: Mandos of Yearning, the Portuguese encouraged the newly converted to learn Western music as a way of protecting them from Indian cultural influences. This gave rise to forms of song and dance like the mando, which will be performed this fortnight by the Ekvat Group from Portugal.

The group takes its name from one of the four basic themes of the mando: utrike, the lover’s yearning for union; ekvott, the union attained; villap, desolation out of despair and fobro, a narrative of events. The performers dress up in traditional costumes and play Western instruments like the violin, bongo and mandolin. They sing Konkani folk tunes, one of which was adapted in a song for the film Bobby called “Na Mangun Sona Chandi”.

Some members of the group first performed the traditional songs and dances from their native Goa as students at universities in Portugal in the 1950s. “Living in distant lands creates a longing, a search for one’s roots and the desire to keep alive one’s roots,” said Jose Furtado, vice president of the cultural group Casa de Goa. That was a time when upper caste Goans were encouraged to migrate to Portugal and its colonies like Mozambique and Macau for better opportunities. Brahmins were also the only section of Goan society who performed mandos. These days, however, annual mando contests are held in Goa. Anyone who wants to perform can do so.

As for the Ekvat Group, only five of the 25 members today are originally from Goa. Seventeen of the rest were born and brought up in what was once Portuguese East Africa, and the remaining three members are of Portuguese origin. “The Goans born in Africa had very little or no knowledge of Konkani,” said Furtado, although they may have heard Goan music as children. By reciting the lyrics, explaining their meaning and using phonetic transcripts of the more difficult Konkani words, the young performers learned how to sing and dance just like their ancestors did. It seems like tradition has come full circle – from India to Portugal and back again. Aditya Kundalkar .