Thanks to Alito Sequiera who is in charge of energizing the Visiting Professorship program of Goa University, the faculty and students of S. S. Dempo College of Commerce & Economics got a chance to savor the eloquence of the vocal maestro and Padma Shri Shubha Mudgal
Unsurprising, as she happens to be the daughter of two English Professors of Allahabad university, the very charming Shubha Mudgal has an impeccable command of English and a very very deep understanding of music, not just Hindustani Classical of which she is a maestro but of many many others. Her lecture was interactive in a way which no other speaker who has spoken in this college has done for a long long time. She didn't just give analyses of pieces of which she had prepared beforehand (which were brilliantly done BTW) besides showing how popular music is influenced by the classical, but she invited the audience to come and share their own music which they had on their phones, with her and then she invited them to speak on those pieces. Just as everyone was ready to start sharing all sorts of pieces of music with her, like a great show-person she chose to close (and nobody seemed aware that we had crossed college closing time). Everyone was left wondering when she would come next. Padma Shri Shubha Mudgal proposed that she would lead a team that would map all of Goa musically, using the students. This was an interesting idea which she would perhaps execute in one of her future visits to Goa. Towards the end Principal of Dempo College Dr Radhika Nayak came up with an infectiously enthusiastic idea of singing something Goan for Shubhaji and about ten of the teachers led by their own musical master and impresario Dr Pravin Gaonkar and student's favorite Prof. Shashikant Morajkar came up with an impromptu rendition of Ulhas Buyao's Chandnyache Rati where the students also joined in. All in all an intellectually stimulating experience which was a lot of fun too. Cheers Augusto -- Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal Moira, Bardez Goa, India E pinto...@gmail.com P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350