Young girls as well as older women looking beautiful intheir exotic and nostalgia-evoking Mando outfits “ tollpu and cutão, a longskirt and blouse with gold borders, complete with a dainty had-held fan “milled about on the lawns of Kala Academy on December 6. Their malecounterparts wore tuxes and formal coats. These were the participants of the46th Mando Festival organised by the Goa Cultural and Social Centre that washeld on December 6 and 7. There were 41 performances by groups from all overGoa and were spread over the two days.
“The first Mando Festival was held in 1965 by ClubeNacional. The Festivals that followed in the next five years were organised byClube Nacional together with the Konkani Basha Mandal before being taken overby the Goa Cultural and Social Centre in 1974, and we organise it till today,”said Octavio Rodrigues, committee member of the Goa Cultural and Social Centre.Back then they had started with around 13 groups whereas this year had doublethe number. The Centre provides transport reimbursement and refreshments asencouragement to the participants besides the prizes that each category “children, teenagers, seniors and senior citizens “ receive. “Though we receiveRs 1 lakh from the Directorate of Art and Culture, and Kala Academy provides uswith the auditorium, finances are tight,” continues Rodrigues.
While some of the groups that participated are veterans,there were several new groups too. The group Mando Mogi from Margão was formedin 1997 and has been participating for 15 years now. “We have members from allover Goa and as a group we have taken part in Goan conventions in the Gulf,Canada and outside the state such as the Guwahati International Festival inAssam,” says Pervis Gomes who heads the group. Selena D’Souza, headmistress ofthe Spring Valley School in Porvorim was present with her group of tiny tots “named Spring Velleychim Monkulim Fullam “ with the youngest of them from class4, playing the Gumot “ a drum made of an earthen pot. D’Souza says, “I havetaken part in Mando as a child and when I was a student I was part of theXavier College group, Xavier Collegicho Pangad. It is now nice to see mystudents performing the Mando.” D’souza, along with some other teachers andwomen from the village performed the Mando for a festival in Jaipur. There wereother groups such as Socorrochi Girestkai, Socorrochi Fultim Fullam fromSocorro and Candeichim Kirnnam from Pomburpa that made their debut in Mando atthis Festival.
The Mandé were divided into traditional, original and dance.Traditional meant that the group sang original lyrics of time immortal, whileoriginal meant that the Mando was a new composition. The effort that each groupput in was evident from the performance and it is this effort that will keepMando from dying.
