Goa’s present, connecting the past with the future through 'mando'

December 11, 2024, the first day of the 57^th All Goa State Level Mando Festival brought just three groups to the stage competing in different categories. There was one troupe in the children’s category and two others in the teenager, traditional, original and dance categories – in all presenting eight mande.

Day 2, today, Thursday, December 12, has a larger number of groups competing – 8 troupes with 11 songs. There will be no dance category on Day 2.

Even sadder to see was that the number of spectators was few. The Institute Menezes Braganza Hall is not large, the chairs arranged for the evening covered a little more than half of the hall, with half of them unoccupied. 

A few people sauntered in and sauntered out, but the hall never got filled.

At a time when Goa and Goans are vociferously debating the loss of identity, culture, heritage, the lukewarm response to the Mando Festival leaves one to wonder whether we are paying mere lip service to protecting what we have inherited, whether we are happy making the right noises but ignoring what is actually of importance. 

The mando, unique in the world and deserving of intangible world heritage status, is a peculiar and unparalleled blend of Portuguese and Indian influence and has become a key part of the cultural identity of Goans, now performed mainly at select events, but earlier at weddings and community events.

Sung in Konkani, the lyrics, mainly narrative in nature, dwell on themes of love, longing, and heartbreak.

The music for has been around for centuries and, though fewer people are now performing it, the Goa Cultural and Social Centre, the organisers of the festival, are doing a splendid job of keeping the mando alive and thriving.

The first Mando Festival was held in 1965, organised by Clube Nacional, Panjim. For a few years, Konkani Bhasha Mandal teamed up with the club to host the event.

The Goa Cultural and Social Centre took on the task of organising the festival in 1974 and has been doing it since then, and today in collaboration with Institute Menezes Braganza, the Department of Art and Culture, Goa Tourism and Fundação Oriente, and supported by a few other organisations. 

There are organisations supporting it, there are groups performing it, but for how long, if the audiences are turning to other forms of entertainment? That is the question and perhaps the answer can be found in the lyrics that were sung on the first day of the festival.

While the mando has a slow rhythm, the dulpods that follow it, always take up burning issues, and the troupes competing in the original category did not fail in doing so.

On Day 1, while one troupe gave voice to the job scam that is among the most-debated issues in Goa, the other referenced the influx into Goa, with special reference to those arriving from Delhi.

It was nice to know that the sting that has been associated with the dulpod has not died down. In fact, one verse of a dulpod, in the original category, asked the question of where the coming generations would see the native flowers of Goa, such as abolim and others.

That made one wonder if the future generations of Goans will see the mando being performed live.

It is a relevant question, but there is a sprig of hope for there is the children’s category and teenager category in the festival, and some schools and colleges did enter the groups in these. 

Perhaps then, the future generation will see the mando performed live, but only if the Goa Cultural and Social Centre persists in organising the festival. They have done, and are doing, a wonderful job, kudos to them and best of luck to keeping this art form alive.