Many don’t even know that Carnival had reached a dead end in the years 1985 to 1987 when the Pastoral Committee at the Catholic Church gave out a call for boycott of the festivities since it was not Catholic in nature. The people stayed off the celebrations as a result, with 1985 being a Carnival with lukewarm response from the people, and with a total boycott in 1986 and 1987.The unique event that was conceptualized by us many years ago and which revived the Carnival in 1988. 'People's Carnival' as we called it, was about people of different walks of life participating in small groups of friends, family and relatives. No commercial floats were allowed, and themes that were close to the heart of Goa were encouraged. Whether it was the environment, or “No to Nudism” or “No to drugs and alchohol”....the themes were reminiscent of the themes that touched Goan hearts at that time, and which continue to haunt the Goan way of life to this day. Click here to read more
The first colour pages of Goa for The Navhind Times were done by us in 1990. It was the first time that colour supplements were introduced in Goa. Click here to read more
The lighting programme that lit up Panjim like never before in 2003. The Mandovi Bridge, Miramar Circle, The Gonsalves Mansion, the old Pato Bridge and other prominent buildings in Panjim were beautifully lit up. A competition was also thrown to the general public for the best lit House, office and building. Click here to read more
The “Liberate your Jazz” show that was held on the 19th of December 2006. The show was part of the Heritage Jazz series and was extremely well received. With proceeds of around Rs. 1 lakh having been collected for the National Association for the Blind, Goa Chapter, the show had much more than just heritage and music to look up to. Everyone had an emotive issue what with Babush Santana, a completely blind musician (drummer, violinist, trumpeter, vocalist, etc.) belting out songs much to the delight of the 400 strong crowd at the venue. Interplay, comprising Sonia Saigal, Harmeet Manseta, Karl Peters and Adrian D’Souza proved why they are the most sought after jazz band in Goa. They were simply superb, as they are always. But the pick of the night was the delectable playing by the Amit Heri Group comprising of Amit Heri himself, legendary drummer Ranjit Barot, sitarist Ravi Chary and bassist Karl Peters. Their performance was spell bounding and the crowd went berserk with the quality of music that they came up with. Click here to read more
Diwali a festival of lights, celebrates the triumph of good over evil, this Hindu festival which is celebrated with lots of enthusiasm and happiness was combined with the celebration of “fusion for peace” “Shanti” a fusion band, kept the audience enthralled by the breath taking performance as they created a magnificent blend of music that reached straight to the hearts of the audience. “Shanti” which means peace and a state of bliss, marked the release of their debut album. Its a fusion band formed by the highly gifted goan musician “sitarist” Yograj who leads the band The high point of their performance was the rendition of the theme song of the Hollywood movie “Mission Impossible” which sounded absolutely sublime on Indian instruments. The band concluded in a style with the patriotic song “Vande Mataram”. The other band that also gave a marvellous performance was Layatharanga. Layatharanga is one of the most prominent and enthusiastic music groups of India . The team specializes in "World Music" - a music form blending different styles from across the globe. Basing the foundation on Carnatic classical music, Layatharanga has gone on to amalgamate other music forms to produce a soothing and harmonious blend of music. Click here to read more
The Jazz for Peace show held in the streets near Gonsalves Mansion was an event that struck the heart, as an event of emotion, love, peace, togetherness and unity. Harri Stojka, considered to be the world's best Gypsy jazz guitarist, started the event with popular numbers from the Gypsy almanac, and then graduated into music that was composed by him and his teammates. Saskia Laroo stunned the crowd with her brand of Jazz funk, jazz-rock and rap jazz that got the crowd on its feet. She was simply amazing, full of life and joie de vivre. She started off the concert with the number "It's just jazz", and then went on to mesmerize the packed audience with music that surprised all who were present. The streets of Campal were adorned with decorative lights, and the area wore a festive look. Before the commencement of the show, a two-minutes silence was observed in the memory of those killed in Mumnbai. Both Saskia and Harri spoke at the occasion and expressed pain at what had happened but also made it a point to mention that they were here to unite people through music Click here to read more