Prutha Goa

Sky High, Goa’s home grown band, has proven just how beloved it is with it endurance through the years. After twenty years of being in the music business, the band is still going strong with most of the bandmates now in their forties. Instead of taking it easy, these passionate music lovers have the aspiration of releasing an album of their original scores. The band came together when Blasio Pinto, Aurvile Rodrigues, Collins Dias, John Sequeira and Elvis Alves met through mutual friends and discovered their shared affinity towards music. In 2014 John Sequeira left owing to ill health and Anthony Fernandes took his place. Though some of the band members have regular jobs, it does not seem to deter them from coming together for band rehearsals. ‘We manage somehow,’ says Blasio Pinto, understating the zeal these men possess for music. He continues, ‘When you like something, you make time no matter what.’ It is when you see Sky High in action and watch the forty something Blasio, who is th

She arrived a little late, apologising at every opportunity. Cielda Pereira at my first meeting with her was far from my expectations of a famous singer; a demure, modest and down-to-earth person, so simple in her approach to life. One would have expected a few airs thrown about following the stupendous success of the Konkani film Nachom-ia Kumpasar , but there was to be none of that. Cielda’s earliest memory of singing is at the age of three in school, rendering 'My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean'. From then on she always found herself participating in some sort of singing activity or the other be it the mando, patriotic songs, group or solo singing. A student of Chowgule College, she competed in Voice of Chowgule’s without success at her first attempt. However, her participation in the next three years saw her take the title every single time. ‘Everybody knows me for Nachom-ia Kumpasar , but I had already participated in Kingfisher Voice of Goa (2013) before that,’ says the secon

Nachom-ia Kumpasar is one of those films that surprises and delights the senses, especially if you are an aficionado of Goan jazz music and the powerful and scintillating tones of Lorna Cordeiro. Set in the 1960's, the film has the authentic air of Goa and Bombay of the bygone era. A Konkani film of this standard is rare and it is no wonder the movie bagged three of the 62nd National Film Awards: for the best feature film in Konkani, best production design, and a special mention. The film is meant to be director Bardroy Barretto’s tribute to the erstwhile musicians of Goa who have had their music integrated with Bollywood melodies and have received little or no acknowledgement of their talent. It was to be a biopic focussing on the lives of Lorna Cordeiro and Chris Perry, until Lorna withdrew her consent for that. With minor alterations, the story follows along the same lines as the biopic might have. The movie finds Lawrence, or Lawry, trying to gain a foothold in the music scene