Music of Goa

Category : - All India Travel Tourism > Goa > Music

Goa is a land of music, often admired as 'a nest of singing birds'. This tiny land, cradled between the Sahyadris and the Arabian Sea, speaks with the beat of Ghumat and note of Violin the year round. Goan music stands apart from music of other regions in its peculiar mix of Western and Indian traditions.

Mando
Mando is a group song-cum-dance of Goan Catholics. A group of boys and girls, some 20 in number, form a semi-circular pattern in two lines with the girls in the front line and the boys in the back line. The songs cover the entire gamut of emotions in love, accompanied by the beats of Ghumat and romantic strains of violin. Set to the Latin American tune, the song with a local theme starts with a sad and slow note and ends on a faster beat called Dulpods or Durpodha, the rhythmic pattern being akin to Khaiyal songs. In fact Mando represents the mingling of Indian and Western traditions. The girls and the boys sing a line of the song one after the other or sometimes in chorus. The girls wear a peculiar dress called Tollopo resembling Burmese Saronge.

Suvari-Folk Music
It is a traditional folk music, a tone setter to all Hindu religious and festival performances. The music is orchestral in nature and relies heavily on laya and tal, as spoken words are few. The orchestra consists of ghumat, shamel, cymbals and sometimes sehnai and surt. The popularity of Suvari can be gauged from the fact that a good Suvari band is regarded as a matter of pride and honour of a village.

Other forms of Goan music include Banvad, Cantaram, Dasra Vadan, Gadya Ramayan, Gaun Kani, Gosavi Gayan, Gudulya Geetam, Jat, Lagan Geet, Lavni, Pavada, and devotional music like Bhajan-Dindi, Carol Singing, Kirtan and Ladainha.