Mangalore April 25: Surathkal witnessed an extravagant event of Konkani Folk on Sunday, April 25, as ‘Konkani Lokvedh Kala Sambram’ under the aegis of Catholic Sabha Surathkal Mangalore Area in association with Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy was held in Surathkal Church premises.
Vittal Prabhu, Former President, Surathkal Municipality, inaugrated the event by beating the drum and filled rice into ‘Kalshi’, a traditional Konkani vessel used for storing rice. Speaking on the occasion Vittal Prabhu said that he had attended the programme out of his curiosity to learn more about the Konkani culture and wished the programme a great success.
Kundapur Narayana Kharvi, President, Konkani Sahitya Academy, in his address said that folk culture is the life of a community. It determines whether a community is dead or alive. Without folk culture, a community loses its identity. All communities should keep their folk culture alive by passing it on to their children whether it is our dress, food or way of living. We should pledge to protect and develop our culture, he said.
Konkani language per se is the mother tongue of more than 40 communities across Karnataka, comprising of people belonging to various religions including Hindus, Muslims and Christians. But still we speak one common language that is Konkani. There may be variations which we need to understand and come together to form a better community, Kharvi said.
S H Shivarudrappa, Registrar, Konkani Sahitya Academy, George Ligoury D’Souza, Convener, Catholic Sabha Surathkal, Rev Fr Antony Lobo, Vicar, Surathkal Church, Raymond Roche, President, Surthkal Catholic Sabha, were also present.
After the inauguration, a seminar on Konkani Folk was held wherein Vijaya Gowda of Kudmi Janapada Kalavedike Edapadavu, Katherine Rodrigues, writer, Katapadi, Narayanavaasu, Marathi Benagam, Shirasi, Saver Santan Siddi of Mundgod, Uttara Kannada District, spoke on their respective folk cultures. Kundapur Kharvi who presided over the function concluded by saying that we should protect and should feel proud about our folk. Citing the example of iron getting rusted when not in use, he said that the same applies to Folk culture as well. ‘We can invent new forms but we shouldn’t change the basics of folk lest folk won’t be folk. It won’t grow if we don’t teach our future generation’, he said.
An exhibition was also held on the occasion wherein Konkani Folk artifacts were on display. Traditional Konkani cuisine was also on display with Patrode, Patholi, Aape, Mitambo etc at the public’s disposal to give their taste buds a good time.
Later, folk programmes were held featuring performances by Siddhis who performed their traditional Jakkev, Damam and Pugdi.
A stage programme followed wherein H Shivarudrappa, Registrar, Konkani Sahitya Academy, briefed about the activities of the Academy.
After the stage programme, Kudmis and Christians exhibited their folk performances before the gathering.
Click here for More Pics 2 (Exhibition)
Comments
RSS feed for comments to this post.