The prestigious Pt Manoharbua Shirgaonkar Bhajan competition organised by Kala Academy was recently held at Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir Ponda. Om Shiva Shambho Sangeet Vidyalaya group from Merces emerged as the winners of the contest, which witnessed a total of 12 bhajani mandal groups from across Goa reach the finals.
Singing bhajans has been a long cherished tradition of Goa. Bhajans are performed in various temples around Goa on specific days and also mark the celebrations of the popular Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
In the light of their recent achievement in the bhajan competition, one of the founder-members of the group, Vidhesh Pilarnekar, outlined how his group, and many others in Goa are striving to uphold the bhajan tradition in changing times and busy schedules.
“Our group was founded in 2002, and we teach and learn classical music,” informed Pilarnekar. “We practice after work from 8 pm to 10 pm everyday,” he added. The mandal currently has around 20 members, 13 of which comprised the bhajan group which secured the top prize in the competition.
The group undergoes formal training in bhajan singing in accordance with the ancient Indian Guru-Shishya tradition. “Most members of the bhajan group come from my own family and in the beginning we were trained by my uncle Keshav Pilarnekar but currently we are training under Vinod Naik from Ponda who is a veteran Bhajan performer” states Pilarnekar.
