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In a scintillating finish to the first ever World Konkani Music Awards, new stars were unveiled at the awards night, in the grand finale. The entire Dr Shyam Mukherjee Stadium reverberated to the Konkani beats, rhythms and catchy vocals of performers. The award night saw nine artistes, across various categories perform, and the winners were selected from across the Konkani speaking world.
The competition drew a total of 150 entries from different parts of the world. The spotlights at the grand finale were the stunning acts by the singers and dance choreography by choreographer Tobby Fernandes and his troupe who lent their creative interpretations to the songs.
Konkani’s nightingale Lorna charmed the crowd with her popular numbers, while Hema Sardessai, Merlyn D’Souza, Shine On Duo and others added to the musical feast.
The award announcements were interspersed with a talk on the importance of native language by training coach, Jerry Almeida, after which illusionist, Clifford Parakh left audiences spellbound with his tricks.
Allan Vaz performed his hit single ‘Lojeanakai’.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant graced the function as chief guest. During the programme, Lorna Cordeiro was honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award, while Eric Ozario, founder of Mand Sobban was honoured for his contribution towards Konkani. Alfred Rose, Chris Perry were offered the award posthumously.
Other celebrities include, hit artist Baba Sehgal and judge for a competition Atul Churamani. The hosts were actors Luke Kenny and Nakita Fernandes, both kept everyone in good humour. The World Konkani Music Awards was conceptualised as a platform to boost talent from the Konkani music fraternity.
World Konkani Music Awards aims to build a community of singers and musicians across the world. Speaking about the journey, the venture’s founder Allan Vaz, said, “It has been a dream come true. I dreamt about this day since the time I worked in Zee. I would see other music industries boosting their own talents and I felt I needed to do something for Konkani. I thank all those who supported this dream and help make it a reality.”,
CA Agnel Dsouza and Arun Vaz, the lead promoters from the Transformatrix LLP Group said, “We are proud to be associated with this first of it’s kind, World Konkani Music Award event. Working to boost the Konkani music community has been an enriching experience and it will further enhance the growth of Konkani culture across the world. Our Group Transformatrix aims to work towards supporting and enriching the rich Konkani Culture and hold its ethos very high, globally. We would like to specially acknowledge the support of our esteemed sponsors from across the world, specially Ronald Colaco and family, Grace Pinto (Ryan International) and Anfarnd Group.”
