A composite genre of poetry, music and dance, popular among the Catholics of Goa and the neighbouring regions on the west coast of India. The origin of the word is obscure. The lyrics in Konkani, the language of Goa, include words borrowed or derived from Portuguese (Goa was a Portuguese colony from 1510 to 1961). The refrain from a mandó written by Torquato de Figueiredo (1876–1948) is below.
Voso
vos re rorhum’ naka
Deu-u feliz kortol’ tuka
(Go, go dear, and do not cry, God will make you happy.)
In its most popular form, the lyric consists of three stanzas with four lines each with a chorus section that may have two to four lines. Love themes, mostly from the point of view of women, dominate the lyrics and the prevailing mood is melancholic. The musical style is predominantly Western. As a rule the melody begins in a minor key and later modulates to its relative major. Parallel singing in two voices is a distinctive feature of mandó; the voices move in 3rds and 6ths. The manner of ornamenting notes, called kongre (Konkani: ‘curved’ or ‘curled’), and the vocal inflections are indigenous. Most of the melodies are in 6/4, with the primary accent on the fifth beat and a secondary accent on the first beat. The fifth beat is the preferred starting point for the melody. The instrumental accompaniment includes the violin and the ghumat, an earthenware pot. The right-hand side of each is covered with lizard-skin, and the left-hand side is left open.
Both men and women dance the mandó. Men carry a hat in one hand and a brightly coloured kerchief in the other; women hold fans of sandalwood, with which they cover part of their faces. An equal number of men and women move in parallel rows, facing each other and making flirtatious gestures without physical contact. Very often mandó concludes with a stylistically similar dance, called dulpod, which is faster in tempo and merrier in mood. Mandó is usually performed at wedding celebrations and social gatherings. During a traditional wedding reception of Goan Catholics it is the bride who initiates the singing. Since the 1970s the Goa Cultural and Social Centre has organized a mandó festival every year at Panaji, the capital of Goa.
S.R. Dalgado: ‘Mandó’, Glossário luso-asiático, ii (Coimbra, 1919–21/R), 23–4
A. Correia-Francisco: A origem e evolução do ‘mandó’ (Coimbra,1933)
N. Lupi: Musica e alma da India portugueza (Lisbon, 1956; Eng. trans. 1960 as The Music and Spirit of Portuguese India)
M. Saldanha: ‘A cultura da música europeia em Goa’, Estudos ultramarinos, vi (1956), 41–56
Goenchim gītam: mandde anim dulpodam [Goan song: mand and dulpod] (Panaji,1967)
J. Pereira and M.Martins: ‘Song of Goa: an Anthology of Mandos’, Boletim do Instituto Menezes Bragança, no.128 (1981), 1–163
L. Barreto, ed.: Goenchem gīt, pustok 1, mando dulpod [Goan music: book 1: mandó and dulpod] (Panaji, 1982, 3/1993)
L. Barreto, ed.: Goenchem gīt, pustok 2, dekhni mando-dulpod [Goan music: book 2: Looking at mandó and dulpod] (Panaji, 1984)
J. Pereira and M.Martins: ‘Goa and its Music’, Boletim do Instituto Menezes Bragança, no.153 (1987), 89–108
M. Sá Cabral: Wind of Fire: the Music and Musicians of Goa (Delhi, 1997)
S. Sardo: ‘Goa’, The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music,, v: South Asia, ed. A. Arnold (New York, 2000), 735–41
JOSEPH J. PALACKAL