Noted Konkani litterateur, King of Konkani humour literature Cyril G Sequeira, popularly known as CGS Taccode was conferred with the prestigious MCA Kala Puraskar-2017, given by Mangalore Cultural Association (MCA) Qatar, during the MCA annual celebrations amidst the Norbert Pereira musical extravaganza. MCA annual day celebrations marked with Norbert Pereira musical nite was held at the majestic Regency Halls here on Friday October 20 evening.  It was an evening that provided total, weekend entertainment and masthi to the Konkani buffs of Qatar as Norbert Pereira served the sumptuous meal of music, laced with scintillating dances by D4Dance Troupe and enriched by delicious dessert dished out by comedy trio of Lancy, Stephen and Jaison flown in specially from Kuwait for the event.

The eventful evening began with the informal welcome and keynote address by immediate-past president of MCA Arthur Pais which was followed by singing of the Association’s MCA Geeth by the MCA members. With this stage was handed over to one of the finest, eloquent, witty and lively comperes of the GCC region Donald Correa, known fondly as Dony Correa who had come all the way to take over the reins of the gala evening.

Norbert Pereira has a special place in the Konkani music world. His compositions, first of them came at the tender age of 19, have always been path-breaking ones. He is a trend setter who has tried various genres of music and blended it amazingly in dishing out some super duper Konkani numbers which will remain etched in the memories of the Konkani lovers forever. It was all evident on Friday evening as he along with his troupe presented a superlative performance right from the first number of the evening ‘Kallzanth Ullas’. While his solo numbers such as ‘Tuka Deklea Fara’, ‘Senorita’, ‘Fotkiro Saunsar’ were among the best received songs of  the evening, his two duets ‘Haanv Tuzo Tum Muzem’ and ‘Muzo Tuzo Mog’ with one of the finest female voices of Konkani Ivy D’Souza were truly feast to the ears of the audience. Ivy D’Souza needs no introduction. She has been around in Konkani music world for sometime now and has carved a niche for herself in the hearts of the Konkani music lovers. It was all evident as why she is so popular as her every song of the evening, be it solo such as ‘Muzo Pathi’, ‘Kogule’ or duets with Norbert were appreciated with thunderous applause by the audience. Doha’s pride and runners-up at the last edition of GVOM sonorous Clement Fernandes and melody queen Carol D’Souza again proved that they are two best voices going around in Qatar presently. Their duet Laila-Majunu surely was one of the highlights of the evening, they stole the hearts of the audience with their solos ‘Tujhe Sobit Dolle’ and ‘Sopnnantlo Chalo’ respectively. Doha’s two more singing sensations Eva Wilma Pinto and Alponse D’Silva were at their melodious best, enthralling every soul that was witness to the musical extravaganza of the evening. Norbert’s wife Nancy Pereira’s rendition of foot-tapping number ‘Rock n Roll’ was another memorable presentation of the evening.

Konkani’s young yet numero uno musician Roshan Angelore led the musicians. While Roshan had been flown in from Mangalore along with keyboard player Sanjay Rodrigues, Doha’s local musicians Manoj Antony, Suhail Karuppamveettil and Tuvan Rawlins Assan accompanied them in scoring the background music.

D4Dance, Doha’s very own desi dance troupe entertained the audience with their elegant  dance performances adding elegance and charm to the evening. But it was the dance performance of first Gulf Baila Dance winning couple Naveen D’Souza and Vijaya D’Souza that set the stage ablaze as the couple dished out a scintillating display of choreography, expressions and elegant feet to the foot tapping tunes of ‘Laila-Majunu’ sung superbly by Clement and Carol.

However the icing on the cake was the rib-tickling and side-splitting comedy by Kuwait Trio Lancy, Stephen and Jaison. The humorous skits scripted by Lancy Rodrigues provided fresh dose of comedy and sent the audience in peals of laughter. It was ‘Man of the Match’ performance from them that had audience demanding an encore.

A short stage programme was held between the gala entertainment during which CGS was presented with the MCA Kala Puraskar Award that comprised of Citation, Shawl, fruits and flowers, memento and cash reward of Rs 1 lac. CGS was escorted to the stage by Shalini Mendonca and Jason Quadros. Merlyn D’Souza read out the citation while chief guest of the evening Fr Anand Castelino, spiritual director of Doha Konkani Speaking Community bestowed the prestigious award on CGS. Delivering his acknowledgement speech, CGS was at his humorous best while recalling his childhood days. His ‘punch-n-pun-filled’ speech was given a rising applause that reverberated through the majestic confines of the Regency Halls. It was such a refreshing and unique way of thanking MCA and Konkani buffs for recognizing his efforts that in a rarest of rare gesture, audience even demanded ‘once more once more’, as he ended his speech.

Fr Anand Castelino in his address congratulated MCA for stepping into the decennial year and requested them to keep up the good work of promoting Konkani language and culture and reaching to the needy.

Earlier the MCA president Veena Rebimbus Pais and vice-president Clement Saldanha escorted chief guest of the evening Fr Anand, advisory committee members Felix Lobo, Jerry Pinto and Wilfred Fernandes to the dais.

The platinum Sponsors -RAMCO Trading & Commercial Bank of Qatar, Gold Sponsors – Qatar Meta Coats, Doha Bank & M. Pallonji Qatar, Bronze sponsors – Gulf Lights, Westin and Radisson Blue and the Media Partners – Daijiworld were honoured. The singers, musicians, dancers, and comedians were presented with the mementoes on the occasion.

Veena Rebimbus Pais welcomed the gathering while Clement Saldanha proposed vote of thanks. The stage programme was compered by Jovita D’Souza and Sandeep Noronha. The LED display art works was designed by Eddie Sequeira, while the Maan Patr for CGS was written by Gladson Almeida.

The musical extravaganza was compered by Dony Correa in his unique style. His wit, spontaneity, control over the language and proceedings of the evening, coupled with his extraordinary comedy timing came in for a lot of appreciation by the organizers as well as the audience.