'Undra Muja Mama', new book takes a close look at the dulpod Goanet
A new book on Goan music will be released this weekend. Undra Muja Mama (Folk Songs of Goa: An Anthology of Dulpods) is authored by scholar-artist-musicologist Dr José Pereira, the late maestro Micael Martins, and the US-based priest-musician António da Costa. It will be released on October 9, 2011 (Sunday) at 5 pm at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao. This collection brings together some 150 dulpods (with lyrics, English translation and score), and presents Goa's popular dance songs depicting vignettes of life in traditional Goa. The dulpod is a dance song that originated in the aristocratic mansions in Goa after the introduction of ballroom dancing in the early 19th century. They portray an idyllic world which in our own lifetime has vanished past recall. Says the book: "Inhabiting this world were characters like the advogad (lawyer), alfiad (alfaiate, tailor), beatinny (devout spinster), bikari (beggar), firngi (paklo, White man, Portuguese), forvoti (sawyer), harvi (fisherman), iscrivaum (scrivener), inglez (Englishman), kolvont (temple dancer), marinheir (seaman), maskany (fishwife), mistis (mestiço), padri (pad vigar, pad cur, patiu; priest, vicar, curate), poskany (female merchant), render (toddy tapper), rendenny (toddy tapper’s wife), roper (clothier), sonar (goldsmith), tanddel (ferryman), and tovoi mest (carpenter)." Specially visiting Goa for the launch is co-author António da Costa (b. 1943), a priest, psychotherapist, and musician. He received his musical training in Goa, and Bombay, and then in the USA at the prestigious Julliard School of Music and Columbia University. Inspired by his parents’ love for traditional Goan music, he began his work for its preservation from the age of 16 and broadcast over Radio Goa (later All India Radio) for several years with the assistance of choral groups he himself founded. Currently, he can be contacted in Goa on +91-9821423245 or at +91-832-278 6370 or via mai...@msn.com The function at Margao, which is open to the public, will see a special performance of dulpods and a presentation by the co-author. It is being held in association with Ravindra Bhavan, the cultural centre at Margao. Last year, another book was published titled 'Song of Goa: Crown of Mandos'. See details at http://bit.ly/rqah4t To release it, a prominent Goan intellectual and scholar, Dr Jose Pereira, had then visited Goa. Dr Pereira (b. 1931) is Professor Emeritus of Theology of Fordham University, New York, where he lectured on the History of Religion. The third co-author credited for compiling and collating material that went into this culturally-important work is the late Micael Martins (1914-1999). Martins was Goa's outstanding composer of classical music, who began studying music in his parish school and then at Bombay. He led film orchestras in Bombay, and began collecting traditional Goan songs, both art and folk, back in 1933. He collaborated with Jose Pereira in recording Konkani songs from 1954, compiling as many as 11,000 numbers. The 220-page paperbook is published by Goa,1556 and Broadway Publishing House. See: http://bit.ly/nav4hI http://bit.ly/n8WMhb