Gulf Voice of Mangalore - Season 5, Qatar semi-finals on Sep 30

Mangalore Cultural Association, Doha Qatar is all set to stage the Qatar Semi finals of Gulf Voice of Mangalore season – 5, the only Konkani singing competition of the Middle East popular among the Konkani speaking Mangalureans all over the world. The event will be held at the Regency Halls Qatar and will begin at sharp 5.00 pm on September 30.

13 best voices of Qatar are ready to conquer the hearts of the music lovers around the city.

As announced earlier MCA Seva Puraskar - 2016 will be bestowed on Corrine Rasquinha during the event.

Joswin Pinto.ace musician from Mangaluru will join the Doha’s leading music troupe ‘Singing Birds’.

Daijiworld is the media partner of the event.

The most difficult task of selecting 2 greatest voices among the 13 best has been handed over to the 3 eminent music professionals coming from Mangaluru and Udupi dioceses, Fr Clement Mascarenhas, Sangeeth Sardar Wilson Olivera and Suraj Noronha.

Profiles of judges:

Fr Clement Mascarenhas

Being a priest, Fr Clement Mascarenhas has began his professional career as a teacher and proved to be an ideal teacher winning the confidence and admiration of thousands of students who still fondly remember him as their mentor and guide. With an experience in teaching coupled with administrative ability he rose to the position of headmaster and later principal of PU College in some of the prestigious secondary and higher secondary educational institution spread across the then undivided Mangalore Diocese. Having served in the educational filed in different capacities for a long period of 30 years he opted for VRS and volunteered to serve in the newly formed Udupi Diocese where he had the opportunity of being appointed as the Secretary of the Catholic Education Society (CESU) and eventually took charge of St. Lawrence Church, Moodubelle as the parish priest and correspondent of St Lawrence educational institutions.

As a young boy, Fr Clement was quite active in the church as an altar server and singer and used to attend all masses on Sundays and render his sweet voice for singing hymns, a trait that helped him to grow as an accomplished musician, singer and composer.

While studying for priesthood in St Joseph’s Seminary, the place helped to develop his talent for music and learnt to play violin and keyboard.

Fr Clement had the gift of music right from his childhood which he nurtured and it bore fruit while he was in Puttur where for the first time he began composing liturgical hymns and Konkani songs. He continued this talent which enabled to compose many more hymns and bring out devotional CDs.

Having gained sufficient experience as a teacher and headmaster, Fr. Clement was appointed as the headmaster of Rosario High School, Mangalore where he had the longest and most fruitful assignment for 12 years from 1992 to 2004. Meanwhile, he was the resident priest in the Rosario Cathedral where he rendered pastoral service especially in training the choir.

It was during his stay at the Rosario Cathedral that Fr Clement made it a point to give wings to his musical talents and ventured to produce his first CD of devotional hymns titled ‘Jai Christa’ in 1994. Later, Fr. Clement teamed up with another versatile musician priest, Fr. Valerian Mendonca who was at Milagres PU College, Mangalore and both of them pooled their musical talents to compose and direct devotional CDs, a trend that led to the publication of 35 CDs out of which 25 CDs comprise of hymns and Konkani songs and rest in Kannada and Hindi.

For his dedicated and noteworthy service as a teacher, Fr Clement was honoured as the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Best Teacher Prashasthi Award in 2005.

With the bifurcation of the Mangalore Diocese and creation of the new Diocese of Udupi in 2012, Fr. Clement opted for the latter diocese and sought voluntary retirement (VRS) in 2013 at the age of 58 and moved to the Udupi Diocese. The Bishop of Udupi Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Gerald Isaac Lobo appointed him as the Parish Priest of Kemmannu church where he served for one year from 2013-14. Meanwhile, in order to coordinate the functioning of the Catholic Educational institutions in the Udupi Diocese, the Catholic Education Society of Udupi (CESU) was established and Fr. Clement who had wide experience in the field of education was appointed as its Secretary, the post that he held till he was appointed as the parish priest of St. Lawrence Church, Moodubelle and the Correspondent of St Lawrence Group of Educational Institutions on 19 May 2015.

His hymns are very popular and are widely used in the Konkani Liturgical Celebrations.

Wilson Olivera

Wilson Olivera, who is well known for the rich lyrics of all the songs that he has composed so far is well accepted by the Konkani community. Wilson has composed more than 800 songs so far and all his seven albums released so far have created history in terms of sales and acceptance by Konkani music lovers. Ever since his first musical Nite in 1993, he has always ruled the hearts of ardent Konkani music lovers and he constantly strives to provide innovative music every time to cater to the varied musical tastes of the people. He has already completed 42 full fledged musical Nites in Mangalore, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar.

Having rendered momentous lyrics and melodious music, he is aptly conferred with titles of ‘Sangeeth Sardar’ and ‘Konkan Manik’. He is also the recipient of prestigious awards like ’Konkani Kala Samaj Puraskar’ in 1995, ’Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy Award’ in 2003, ’Divo Sahitya Puraskar’ in 2008 and ’Konkani Surdas Puraskar’ in 2009.

Suraj Francis Noronha

Suraj Francis Noronha is a multifaceted person hailing from Bondel, Mangalore. Presently he is pursuing his PhD from VTU, Belgaum and working as the Assistant Professor at the School of Management, Manipal University. He has completed his MBA (HR) from St Aloysius College, Mangalore and MA (Christian Studies) from Madras University. Apart from being well established in academics, he has expertise in Music. He received his initial training in keyboard at Sandesha Kala Kendra, Mangalore and later was trained in advance church music by Late Mr Patrick Carlo at the Bishops House, Mangalore. In 1996, at the very young age of 13 years he began to play the keyboard at St Lawrence Church, Bondel, Mangalore. Since then, he has continued to be instrumental in the development of the Church choir and has been training the choir for the past 14 years.

His eagerness to learn and an unquenchable thirst for music is very evident with the number of instruments that he plays. He plays keyboard, guitar, accordion and a number of other instruments.

Suraj has been regularly training both young and old, singers and musicians. Under his training the Bondel Church has won the overall championship at the Don Bosco Hall Singing Competition in both the children and adults category for consecutive three years from 2010 to 2012.

He and his wife Aruna, have won the First place in the couple’s duet category, in the singing competition held in remembrance of Wilfy Rebimbus at Jeppu. They have also won the first place for 2 consecutive years at Don Bosco Hall, thus being called as ‘the singing couple of Bondel’.

He has also rendered his voice as the tenor singer for various Konkani and Kannada devotional albums.

Suraj has provided the background score for various dramas and plays. He has also composed the title track and some background scores for the show ‘Breakfast with Jesus’ which is being telecast on Daijiworld TV.

He has trained 150 singers and musicians from various parishes for the Mangalore Diocesan Faith Convention held at Nehru Maidan, Mangalore in November, 2013. The convention was attended by more than 25,000 people.

He has been part of the internationally acclaimed ‘Rex Band’ the gospel band of Jesus Youth, which is known for its contemporary gospel music. He has been the active member of the Jesus Youth Movement and also worked as the Fulltime Volunteer for one year in 2005-06.

In 2011 he formed a choir and gospel band by the name ‘Revelations’, which is widely praised for its support in the liturgy and the Church. Revelations have performed at the musical program, Wilfy Day in 2014 and 2015.

He also has photography as his hobby. He is especially interested in nature photography.
All 3 Eminent Judges with their vast knowledge in the Music field will rightly be able to select the Best among the Best Voices of Qatar.

Ronald Olivera, the ace compere of the Middle East will be the Master of Ceremony for the first time in Qatar

Ronald Olivera

Ronald Olivera perhaps is one of the very few Masters of Ceremonies who has a distinction of anchoring a single event with utmost fluency in five languages viz: English, Konkani, Hindi, Kannada and Tulu. He has compered shows for most of the Konkani singers/artists such as the legendary Konkan Kogull late Wilfy Rebimbus, Henry D’Souza, Melwyn Peris, Wilson Olivera, Claud D’Souza, Mick Max, Maxim Pereira, Lancy Moras, Esther Noronha and Goan Nightingale Lorna. In addition to this he has also performed in the shows of many Indian artists such as Kottayam Nazir, Mohammad Aslam, Nadarsha, S. Janaki, and many others. He has also anchored in several Panel discussions involving international personalities and businessmen all around the world, some of which had live telecast on TV channels.

Being a member of Toastmasters International, a worldwide organization that fosters Public Speaking and Leadership Qualities, Ronald Olivera has won numerous awards in International and Gulf Level Speech competitions. He has the recognition of being the only toastmaster in the Gulf to have won three international awards in International Taped Speech contests held in California, USA. He is also the only toastmaster to win four first places in four consecutive years in Gulf Level competitions. To add to this, he won three awards in one single Gulf Toastmasters Annual convention (GTAC) held in Muscat, Oman in 2002.

Overall this event will surely be a memorable one as MCA has promised that it will be an exciting, nail biting contest as never before.

Entry is free but with Entry passes only. Reserve your seats now.

Monti Fest with Novem Jevann 

MCA celebrates the Monti Fest with Novem Jevann on Monday September 12, at the Ashoka Hall of Indian Cultural Centre Qatar.

A Cultural programme will be organized on this occasion with Konkani Songs, Dances, Spot Games and the highlight of the evening - a Rib tickling Comedy Drama "Keppeachi Kestavam" written by ’Konkan Kalashri’ Claud D’Souza, Bendur all performed by our own excellent talents.

Students from MCA family who have excelled themselves in the Final exams held for the academic year 2015-2016 will be honoured.

Traditional home made vegetarian dinner and roce will be served.