Goa Festival News

The much-awaited Goa Food and Cultural Festival 2020 was officially inaugurated on 21st  February at the hands of Pramod Sawant -Goa’s chief minister, in the presence of Babush Monserrate – MLA Panjim Constituency, Dayanand Sopte – GTDC’s Chairman, Parimal Rai, IAS – Chief Secretary, and Uday Madkaikar – Mayor, CCP. The venue had a carnival theme and even the beloved carnival character, King Momo, was present. There are a variety of food stalls put up selling items like wines, popcorn, shakes, urak, Goan and Indian food, kebabs, tandoori, shawarma, sizzlers, biryani, classic Goan snacks, barbeques, fish n chips, kebabs, ice-cream, honey, and more. Famous brands like Fratelli wines, Ripples, Gastro pub, Planet Hollywood, Fish by 11, Zakis biryani, Bay 15, Mog Asun, etc, have their own stalls here.   The entertainment line-up: 22nd February – ‘Latin Connection with Konkani Greats’, ‘UZO- The Global Music Project’, ‘5-minute canvas painting by Sank Creations’. 23rd February – ‘Masala Coffee- Indian Folk, Rock, Blues, Reggae’, ‘Shine On’ band   Venue: Campal Cricket Ground, opposite Parade Ground, Panaji Timing: 6 pm onwards on all days   Picture Credit – SHIVANG MISHRA II NTGOGOANOW

The 2020 World Peace Music Festival ‘Sur Jahan’ starts today. Here are some details on what one can expect at this festival. This event is all about celebrating the uniqueness and differences in cultures. The line-up of performers is Dalinda (Hungarian folk melodies), Radiant Arcadia (all women Denmark band), Godfather of Nordic music ‘Ale Moller’, South Korean band-Coreyah and the well-known Reunion Island singer, Danyèl Waro.   About the performers: Radiant Arcadia (Denmark) The band was brought together by Annette Bellaoui, who wanted to display the skills of women musicians, and the ability to work together with different traditions, languages and nationalities. The band members are from different religious backgrounds and traditions which can be seen in their Nordic and Celtic folk music, jazz, rock, Klezmer and Middle Eastern ballads. The band includes Tine Vitskov in clarinet and bass clarinet, Maren Hallberg in accordion, Anne Eltard in violin, Salam Susu in harp and vocals, Karen Jorgensen and Channe Nussbaum in vocals, Aoife Scott in vocals and bodhran (Irish hand drum) and Radia Sanchez in vocals and daff.   Ale Moller and Ensemble (Sweden) Ale Moller is a professional in Swedish folk music. This version of his band will have Ale […]

As part of the annual Santa Run organized by Grand Hyatt Goa in association with the Harley-Davidson Owners Group, over 70 riders dressed as Santa Claus will zip through the streets of Goa On Sunday, December 22, Goa will see the annual Santa Run organized by Grand Hyatt Goa. The event is in association with the Harley-Davidson Owners Group. The event will see over 70 riders dressed in Santa attire cruising through the Panaji city at 9 a.m. The Harley Davidson riders from across Goa along with their family members will ride through the route of Panaji, Old Goa, Dona Paula and Bambolim between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. The group of Santa Claus riders will be joined by children of the charity foundation, Care and Compassion Goa along with a group of kids from Lokvishwas Pratishthan, a school for children with disabilities in Quepem.  

Goa is all set to host the 2nd International Blues Festival at Arpora starting from December 19th to December 21st. The festival is a fundraiser to support the music education of underprivileged children, helping them with tuition, purchases of books and instruments.  The event is organized by Foxes Retreat, Arpora along with The Guitar Bar – Goa, Axl School of Music and Technology, Goa, JoJo’s Music School and Performing Art Center, Mumbai, and Da Capo Sound, Siolim.     Headlining the festival this year is JoJo’s Blues Project, with guitar virtuoso Joe D’Costa on electric blues guitar and Goan singer Joanne Fernandes, accompanied by musicians like Darin DeGama on bass, Ellister Noronha on rhythm guitar and Alister D’sa on drums. Other performers scheduled are jazz blues guitarist Sunny Lou from Russia, funk blues guitarist Steve Grove from Canada, as well as Goan musician Roque Lazarus. The festival will also offer workshops in the first half of the day, 10 a.m. onwards, conducted by Sunny Lou, Roque Lazarus, Joe D’Costa, vocalist Garfield (Gary) Oliveira, and recording engineer Aditya (Addy) Naik. Introducing the blues and its sub-genres in a seminar will be festival promoter Carl DeSouza. The festival will highlight the essence of blues, a […]

The Novenas for the feast of St Francis Xavier locally known as ‘Goyencho Saib’ began on 24th November 2019. The Novenas began on November 24, the last Sunday of the liturgical year. This year the feast has seen thousands of devotees in attendance, with the theme of the feast being, ‘Rooted in Christ like St Francis Xavier, go and do likewise’ During these ten days, most of the Masses were celebrated in Konkani, and other regional languages – Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi were also celebrated on different days. Masses were also celebrated in other European languages – Portuguese, French, Italian and Spanish. On December 3, Masses will be as follows: 4 am, 5 am, 6 am, 7 am, 8 am, 9 am, 10.30 am (Solemn High Feast Mass), 12.30 pm, 3 pm (Spanish), 4 pm, 5 pm, 6 pm (English). The Solemn High Mass on the feast day will be celebrated by the Bishop of Mangalore Peter Paul Saldanha along with the Archbishop of Goa Filipe Neri Ferrao along with other bishops and priests.  

Curtains will rise on the golden jubilee edition of the International Film Festival of India, at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium on November 20, in the presence of the iconic film personalities, Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth. On the occasion, Rajinikanth will receive the ‘Icon of Golden Jubilee’ award. Coming out with this information Chief Minister, Pramod Sawant said that the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar and the Union Minister of State for AYUSH, Shripad Naik will also attend the inaugural ceremony. The opening ceremony will be conducted by filmmaker, Karan Johar, while film personalities such as Ramesh Sippy, Priyadarshan and Isabelle Huppert will attend the event. The Italian film, ‘Despite the Fog’ is the opening film of the festival and will be screened at Kala Academy, at 7 p.m. The Chief Minister also informed that around 9,300 delegates have registered for the IFFI 2019, while 7,000 have already confirmed their presence. “We have a special Goan film section, ‘The Goan Story’ curated by the Directorate of Film Festivals, which will showcase six Konkani movies,” he added. Mini-Movie Mania, a short filmmaking competition of the ESG, which will give away `9 lakh in awards, is one of the […]

Mrs. Goa 2019, a beauty pageant calling forth women from different walks of life to participate completed their third successive season. The pageant was held at Crown Goa on the 3rd of November 2019. The event was presented by Bally’s Entertainment and managed by MediaWaves. A total of 17 participants competed this year and the participants walked in two sequences in the finale in Ethnic costumes and Evening gowns. Sultana DeSouza was crowned as Mrs. Goa 2019 and won a trip to Sri Lanka with two nights three days stay at Kingsberry Colombo by Bally’s Entertainment. The winner also won a gift voucher from Champions Yacht Group worth Rs One Lakh. Sultana was also awarded the subtitle of Mrs. Perfect Figure. Heather Fernandes, Mrs. Goa 2018, crowned the winner in the presence of Mr. Johny Pereira –Vice President Bally’s Entertainment, Mr. Rajesh Dempo- MD Vision Dempo Group, Mrs. Bhakti Dempo – Director Vision Dempo group, Roshni from Champions group. The jury panel consisted of SonamMorajkar – Cine actress, Newton Dias- Fashion choreographer and Heather Fernandes- Mrs. Goa 2018 comprised the jury panel. Subtitle Winners: Best Talented: Simran Shariff and Sanjana Sakhalkar Most Popular: Daisy Serrao Popular Face: Roopali Desai Beautiful […]

The Jazz India Circuit (JIC) is all set to come to Goa on November 30th and December 1st at the International Centre Goa (ICG) Dona Paula. The JIC is a one-stop destination to hear the newest and most diverse jazz acts. The event is organized by Teamwork Arts and has a stellar line-up of jazz artists. Other than that a series of music workshops, interactive experiential spaces, a bustling flea market, and a vibrant food court with flavors from all over the globe and a feast of art and craft activities. Speaking about the Goa leg of JIC 2019, Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, said, “The JIC celebrates the best of contemporary jazz bringing new idioms and the innovative spirit of jazz to the forefront for Indian audiences. JIC Goa showcases experimental jazz that blends diverse genres like punk, funk, hip-hop, folk and world music.”

Goa Tourism in association with the Goa Feni Distillers and Bottlers is all set to organise the second edition of The Spirit of Goa Festival 2019 from April 26 to April 28. The three-day event revolves around Goa’s much loved possessions: the coconut and cashew, in a variety of products, cuisines, beverages, handicrafts, etc showcasing the traditional aspects and the goodness associated with this produce including homegrown spirits ranging from local brews, homemade wines and more. The festival will also have live demos on distilling of the cashew juice into Goa’s much relished heritage brew, feni. Besides authentic Goan food, coconut and cashew will also be the key ingredients in the cuisines and beverages prepared and served during the three-day festival. A cashew stomping competition will also be organised along with masterclasses and cooking demos conducted by mixologist Karl Fernandes and chef Avinash Martins and Tiz Martins who will showcase some authentic yet innovative Goan cuisine. A variety of exciting programmes, workshops, competitions and more will be scheduled to enthrall the audience. From timeless Konkani and Portuguese classics to modern day English Latin styles with jazz and funk rhythms, the festival’s lineup boasts of well-curated large format ensembles with full […]

People of different nationalities and ages flocked to Miramar to get in on the carnival festivities. Manohar Babu Ajgaonkar, tourism minister, flagged off the parade.  Over 50 floats gave a splash of colour to the streets and one could see that a lot of thought was put into the making of them. This year, many floats backed up social causes like formalin fish, Kerala floods, the inclusion of differently-abled people, suicide, terrorism, and more. People sang songs, danced, sold carnival masks, and dressed up as characters like Mahatma Gandhi, superheroes, and Narendra Modi. King Momo (William Anes) told everyone to enjoy and be merry. Pics Credit – Shivang Mishra I NT GOGOANOW.COM

Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar on Wednesday released the official theme song ‘Carnival Sobovya’ for the annual four-day Carnival float parade to be held in Goa from March 2 to 5, 2019. The theme song is composed, mixed and mastered by Mukesh Ghatwal, who has also sung the song with Queeni Fernandes. The lyrics of the song are written by Ghatwal and Roque Lazarus. The main float parade of the festival will be held in the capital city of Panaji on March 2 followed by parades in other towns across the state. The float parade will be held in Margao on March 3, Vasco, Ponda and Curchorem on March 4, while in Mapusa, Morjim, and Shiroda, the float parades will be held on March 5. “We are promoting Carnival worldwide with fun and fervor; tourists should come to Goa to witness our unique culture. They are invited…Khao piyo aur majja karo (eat drink and be merry),” said Tourism Minister while addressing a press conference in Panaji. Ajgaonkar appealed to Carnival revelers to stay away from drugs and instead enjoy ‘cashew feni’ claiming that it has medicinal importance. He informed that well-known entertainment icon and ace dance performer, William Anes has been […]

The Goa food and Cultural Festival 2019 was inaugurated at DB Bandodkar Ground Campal, Panaji. Food is essential for our bodies and it is also a great way for people from different walks of life to come together and enjoy various flavours and cuisines. The chief guest was the minister for tourism and sports, Manohar Ajgaonkar, who declared the festival open.  The Valentinos with Marlette entertained the crowd with music. Some of the bands that will perform over the next few days of the festival are Lulu Fortes with The Rhythm & Blues, Frontline, Laury and the Lace, and Altitude. There are many stalls set up which are serving lip-smacking delicacies such as fish in a banana leaf, Goan style BBQ chicken, coconut water, Alphonso mango wine, kachoris, fusion food like gol gappa platters, Spanish beer, shawarmas, urrak, seafood, stuffed poli, sandwiches, juices, tandoors, and more. Some of these stalls belonged to Flamingo, The Yellow Chilli, Mahou India, Sammy’s Kitchen, Zakis biryani, BBQ corner, Café Ave Maria, Temptations, Pan Asian Hut, etc. The stalls will be competing for the ‘most eco-friendly stall’ award. (The festival will continue till 10th February- 6 pm onwards)  Pics Credit – Shivang Mishra I NT […]

The much hyped opening ceremony of the 49th International Film Festival of India got off to a delayed start sans the glitterati at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium. After much anticipation, it began with a Bollywood dance sequence, beating of the dhols, some aerial stunts on numbers from Bajirao Mastani, Bahubali, etc. Secretary of Information and broadcasting, Amit Khare welcomed the dignitaries and cine enthusiasts present for the 49th edition of the film festival that first began in 1952. He also congratulated the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Dan Wolman. Praising Indian cinema’s progress, with films like Padman and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, he said: “films are becoming strong messages of social change. The entertainment industry is providing revenue and growth and generating employment.” It was at least half an hour into the ceremony at this point, when superstar, Akshay Kumar and producer and director Karan Johar walked in to some cheering from the audience. The cast and crew of the opening film, ‘The Aspern Papers’ were called up onto the stage after a trailer of the film – it will have its world premiere here. Playback singer, Shilpa Rao with her troupe enthralled the audience with some romantic […]

The delegate registrations for the 49th edition of IFFI will commence on October 8 from 7.00 p.m. onwards for all cine enthusiasts and professionals on payment of Rs. 1000, whereas the students will be registered free. The applications of the delegates who are registered with IFFI for the last 2 years will be approved within 24 hours and new applications will be approved within 48hours. While briefing the media about the preparations of the festival, vice–chairman of ESG, Rajendra Talak said that: “all our activities are going as per the schedule and this being my second term as the vice–chairman of ESG; I can say that we are much ahead of the schedule. The entire programme will be finalised by October 30.” There will also be a Goan section for the unreleased Goan films in this edition of IFFI, added Talak. The opening and closing ceremony of the festival will be held on November 20 and 28 respectively at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium, with the opening film being screened at Kala Academy, Panaji. While Bhupal Ramnathkar who has offered his service to assist Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) for décor finalisation of the festival is appointed as a design […]

On June 29 the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul who are considered as the pillars of Christianity. In Goa, this feast is celebrated by the fishing community of Goa as a tribute to St. Peter who was a fisherman by profession. The festivities are marked by making a ‘Sangodd’, which is made by joining 3-5 canoes which symbolises the contribution of St. Peter and St. Paul towards the building of the Catholic Church. On this day the fishermen offer prayers to the Almighty by reciting prayers and litany, and also remember their colleagues who have departed. NT GoGoaNow gets you the festive celebrations of ‘Sangodd’ held in Candolim (Sangodd de Candolim).   Pic Credit – Shivang Mishra I NT GOGOANOW.COM

The Sao Joao festivities were celebrated with great pomp and enthusiasm across the state. On this day the Catholics enact the biblical tale of -John the Baptist leaped for joy in his mother, Elizabeth’s, womb when she was told of Jesus’ conception. The tradition of jumping into the well is considered to be a representation of the saint leaping into Elizabeth’s womb. NT GoGoaNow captured the traditional festive celebrations of the Saints birth at Siolim.   Pic Credit – Shivang Mishra I NT GOGOANOW.COM

The procession of saints, also known as ‘Santachem Pursanv’ or ‘Ordem Terceria’ will be held at St Andrews Church at Goa Velha on March 19, the 5th Monday of the lent season. There will be a Eucharistic celebration at 4.30 p.m. which will be followed by the procession. Since this event is held during the lent season, it is actually referred as a ‘Penitential procession’. This is only of its kind procession in the world which is carried out with life size idols of the saints. The procession was also observed in the Portuguese colony of Bahia de Todos os Santos in Brazil, but was later banned. Though there were 65 statues when the procession was first started their number has been reduced to 31 now as some of them got damaged due to disuse after Queen Maria II of Portugal along with Portuguese ruler, Marquis of Pombal, banished all religious decrees from Portuguese colonies in 1835. The procession was thereafter revived in the late 19th century. The procession of saints is led by a frame carrying the ‘Veil of Veronica’. The 1st charol that comes out of the church is the ‘Tau cross’, the insignia of the Franciscan order, […]

The annual floats parade for this year’s Shigmotsav in Panaji were held on March 10. The float parade were held from Goa Science Centre, Miramar, to Harley Davidson showroom, Caranzalem.   Pic Credit – Shivang Mishra I NT GOGOANOW.COM

Ponda, the cultural capital of the state will witness Shigmotsav programmes from February 27 to March 4 The festivities will begin with paying obeisance to Goddess Mahalasa at Mardol-Priol. The Shigmotsav float parade will be held on March 3, Informed president of Shigmotsav commit-tee Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar. Addressing the gathering after a meeting in Ponda recently, Dhavalikar said that this is for the first time that a meeting is held with the sarpanch and panch members of all the village panchayats in Ponda and Zilla Panchayat members along with the members of the Ponda Municipal Council. “When we say ‘Ponda Shigmotsav’, it should include everyone. From this year, panchayats will play an active role informed Dhavalikar. While informing about the competitions, Dhavalikar said that the prize money has been increased in order to give credit to the creativity of the ar-tistes. Ponda taluka values art and artistes, hence, the prize money is revised. There will be three com-petitions. For Chitrarath float competition, the first prize is Its 85,000, second prize of Its 65,000, third prize of Its so,000 along with consolation prizes and honorarium. For Romtamel competition, the first prize will be Its 65,000, second prize Its 45,000 and third […]

On Saturday King Momo, Bruno Azaredo, along with his queen and colorful royal entourage announced his reign by proclaiming the mock rules of Carnival festivities i.e Eat, Drink and Enjoy over the next four days.The floats in the capital city were held on Dr. Jack Sequira road, Miramar. The Panaji carnival witnessed a total number of 48 floats based on various themes such as preservation of Bondvall lake, gender equality, Goan folk festivities and other social issues.   Pic Credit – Shivang Mishra I NT GOGOANOW.COM