It was somewhere in 1956/57 when I was a small boy, I saw first time in my life the Manddo sung and danced at the palatial residence of a Pinto family popularly known as Serva Bhattkar, situated next to the Candolim Tinto. History tells one of the persons involved in Pinto’s Revolt against the Portuguese rule was the son of this house. The occasion was the celebration of the Wedding of one of the young family members of Pinto family. I was at that very young age deeply impressed by the way they sang the Manddos and Dulpods and simultaneously danced with perfect geometrical type of steps and also with rhythmic timing backed by the rich costumes of males and females, the latter wearing maxi dress and matching Hats. From their looks, presentation and accent of the language one could easily notice that they belonged to the upper segment of Goan society – feudality. Incidentally, one the musicians playing Violin for this item was my maternal uncle Dioginho Vaz a proletarian who was very close relative of the great Mandoist the late Cruz Noronha. Both of them had vast experience of Manddo who on some occasions shared this knowledge with me later on.
The word “Manddo” was derived from the Konkani word “Mandd” which means a group of persons. Manddo song is always associated with a “Dulpod” which actually is the “Dor-re-pod” in Konkani but it was ignorantly converted into the “Dulpod” from the Dor-re-pod which is on fast pace while Manddo is on slow pace.
The first Manddo Festival in Goa was held immediately after the invasion of Goa by Bharat under the Nehru’s Congress government against the wishes of Goans. For this reason Congress was kicked out by Goans in the first general election and similarly Congress will be kicked out in 2017 election if old guards and defeatead candidates are not denied election tickets.
During the early stages of Mando festivals held in Panjim, Dr. Willie and Bernardo Fernandes (father of Remo Fernandes) played a pivotal role in the promotion of Manddos in Goa. I started going to watch this festival from 1970 when I was a College student and when the ticket charges were Rupees Seven, rather a big amount at that time and from my village if I am not mistaken, I was the only person from the proletarian segment to attend this grand festival which otherwise was the firm monopoly of higher echelon of Goan society. During those days for most of the attendees of this festival means a sort of honour while for many it was a display of their social status since Manddo was considered as the monopoly of the elite Goan community and for persons like me it was just to quench our thirst of watching something richness of our folklore.
The attendees during those days used to wear rich dress like men either Suit or at least a Neck Tie. Early Manddos were composed by high caste Brahmins Bhattkars as well as by the non-Brahmins Bhttkars which can be easily noticed by the terminology used in such Manddos and Dulpods against Brahmin Bhattkars. One closer example to justify this statement is of my Uncle Mr. Vaz who was an expert in Manddos and Cruz Noronha but they were proletarian Munddkars.
TO BE CONCLUDED.
A.Veronica Fernandes,
Candolim, Goa.
Tel: 7507394349.