Doha: Qatar’s ‘Best 13’ March into GVOM 5 Semis

Qatar’s ‘Best 13’ Mangalorean singers marched into the semi-finals of the 5th edition of Gulf Voice of Mangalore, winning the closely-fought auditions organized by Mangalore Cultural Association (MCA), held at the Asoka Hall of the Indian Cultural Centre here on Friday June 10.

Though only 6 male and 6 female singers were to be selected for the semis, the organizers had to accommodate the 13th contestant owing to a tie in the men’s category. Based on the decision of the jury in consultation with the organizers, it was decided to have 13 semi-finalists. It was a nail-biting photo finish as the ‘Best 13’ prevailed over the remaining contestants with a narrowest of the margins. The Qatar semi-finals will be held on September 30 at the Regency Hall here wherein the best contestant each from male and female category would move on to the finals to be held under the aegis of Konkani Kutam, Bahrain and Aangann Konknechem, Riyadh on November 11th at the Bahrain Cultural Hall, Manama.

The much-anticipated evening began with the playing of MCA theme song, followed by keynote address and introduction to the evening by Sandeep Noronha. Welcoming the gathering, MCA president Arthur Pais wished good luck to all the contestants and encouraged them to give their best performance. ‘It’s a competition and those 12 who perform better than the rest on this day will be chosen for the semis. The contestants will be judged on their day’s performance and not on their reputation, previous performances or any other reason. So you need to put your best foot forward today so that you prevail over others and give yourselves a chance to become Gulf Voice of Mangalore 2016,” he advised the contestants.

This was followed by the introduction of the judges of the evening by Sandeep Noronha. Young musician, keyboardist and choir master of St Cecelia’s Konkani choir Agnel Ullas D’Souza, musician and Konkani, English and Kannada writer, poet Gladson D’Almeida and renowned Konkani singer and composer Veena Rebimbus Pais were the judges of the evening. They were welcomed with a floral bouquet by MCA president Arthur Pais.

The contestants were judged based on clarity of lyrics, pitching, tempo, voice culture, expression, rapport with the audience, overall control over the chosen song and the understanding of genre. It was a great exhibition of melodious and purposeful singing that made judge’s work tough. As the judges agreed later, it was indeed a fabulous performance by all the contestants and choosing the ‘Best 13’ was a tough task. After gruelling and entertaining auditions that had the audience rain in thunderous applause for every performance, following singers were chosen for the semi-finals:

Female Category

Carol D’Souza
Anjali Andrade
Eva Wilma Pinto
Jovita Pereira D’Souza
Saritha Mendonca
Sunitha D’Souza

Male Category

Clement Fernandes
Naveen Pinto
Naveen D’Souza
Alphonse D’Silva
Neil Roshan D’Silva 
Wilson Mendonca
Praveen Kiran Lobo

Before the results were announced, Gladson D’Almeida spoke on behalf of the judges and briefed on the yardstick used to pick the semi-finalists. He also suggested some of the techniques to improve the voice quality.

MCA cultural secretary Aloysius D’Souza proposed the vote of thanks. MCA advisory committee members Felix Lobo and Wilfred Fernandes along with Arthur Pais presented the certificate of participation to every participant. Arthur Pais announced the names of the winners.
The auditions were compered professionally by Sandeep Noronha.