Qatar’s 12 Mangalorean singers marched into the semi-finals of the 6^th 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 08.

The Qatar semi-finals will be held on September 21 at the Holiday Inn Doha wherein the best contestant each from male and female category would move on to the finals to be held under the aegis of KCWA, Kuwait on the 09^th of November 2018.

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 Veena Rebimbus Pais wished good luck to all the contestants and encouraged them to give their best performance.  She mentioned to the contestants that 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. She requested all to take the decision of the judges positively as the judges have excelled in the field of Music.

This was followed by the introduction of the judges of the evening by Sandeep Noronha.  Young musician and Konkani, English and Kannada writer, poet Gladson Almeida, renowned Konkani singer and composer Vishwas Rebimbus and the Qatar Konkani Community’s spiritual Direct Rev. Fr. Anand Castelino were   the judges of the evening. They were welcomed with a floral bouquet by MCA president Veena Pais.

The contestants were judged based on Rhythm and Control over the song, clarity of lyrics, pitch quality, voice culture, and rapport with the audience, expression, general presentation and 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 12’ was a tough task.  After gruelling and entertaining auditions that had the audience rain in thunderous applause for every performance, following singers were qualified for the semi-finals:

Female Category

Colette Nazareth

Melita Lobo

Eva Wilma Pinto
Rhea Naomi Aranha

Christelle Noella Pinto

Freeda Monteiro

Male Category

Clement Fernandes
Melrick D’Souza

Alphonse D’Silva

Naveen Pinto

Jeevan Ferrao
Naveen D’Souza

Before the results were announced, Fr. Anand Castelino spoke on behalf of the richness of our culture and encouraged all Konkani people to participate in the cultural activities organised by various associations in Qatar.

MCA General secretary Hema Fernandes proposed the vote of thanks. MCA past presidents Harry Lobo and Arthur Pais and the Advisory member Jerry Pinto presented the certificate of participation to every participant.  Advisory member Wilfred Fernandes honoured the Judges and Advisory Felix Lobo honoured the Best voices Female and Male for the evening.

Collette Nazareth was the Best Female singer of the evening and Clement Fernandes was the Best Male Singer of the evening.

The auditions were compeered professionally by Sandeep Noronha.