Songs of yearning – the Mando of Goa 

Illustrated lecture by  Shubha Chaudhuri,  Associate Director General (Academic) Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology American Institute of Indian Studies

 

The Mando is a musical genre of Goa which is unique in many ways. It is a product of Portuguese Goa which traces its beginnings to around 1840 as a music and dance genre of the elite. However what makes it interesting is that it is not an import nor does it rely on borrowed melodies. Mando or Mandde were composed in Konkani by Goan composers.The Mando also provides a fine example of the influence of liturgical training through the use of harmony.  The origins of the Mando are sometimes linked to the Ovi, a genre of wedding songs in Goa. There are also obvious connections to Fado, with the underlying themes of love, longing, and “saudade”. Then again these themes are not uncommon in love songs or in other genres of music in India. 

 

The Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology carried out a project in Goa which included the Mando, through interviews, interaction and recordings of performances. The talk will include recordings from the archival collection to introduce and illustrate the various aspects of the Mando 

 

As a run up to Hiroshima Day there will be a dramatic reading of the play 'The Gift' written by Sagari Chhabra, award-winning author, film-maker and poet

 

'The Gift' is situated in a capital city when a nuclear device is detonated. Almost everyone is jubilant at going nuclear.Then one day the nuclear siren rings. Everyone rushes into the underground shelter...

 

Dramatic reading by Sagari Chhabra (playwright) and Oroon Das (actor)

 

The Jumpstart Alchemy Lab

Jumpstart and Pratham Books cook up some new theories on how children learn science in middle school. Panel discussions, activity workshop by experts and an open house

 

(Collaboration: German Book Office, New Delhi; Frankfurt Book Fair; Embassy of Austria; EdTech Review; Scholastic; and Pratham Books)

 

Speaker: Dr. Nachiket  Chanchani, Assistant Professor of South Asian Art and Visual Culture, University of Michigan  and currently  J. Gonda Foundation Fellow, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences,  Leiden

 

Chair: Shri B.M. Pande

 

This talk aims to explicate how a remote mountainous landscape around the upper reaches of the Ganga River in the Himalayas transformed into an exalted region evoking deep faith in millions of Hindu pilgrims. From approximately the third century BCE up to the thirteenth century CE, numerous stone monuments, steles, and statues were erected in this landscape. This talk explores the processes by which these monuments and sculptures evoked mythic worlds, embedded historical memories, enhanced the mountain range’s appearance, and altered its symbolic significance