Despite being a nearly two-centuries-longtraditionin Goa, Mando a richart formeven older than the more successful tiatr is struggling to survive.
Various speakers at the Mando Utsov 2022, organised recently by St Matevachim Nokhetram at Azossim, bemoaned the lack of government support to this unique cultural legacy, which is a fusion of eastern and western cultural and musical traditions.
Mandos areromantic Konkani songs. Comparing it to a sonnet, associate professor and head of the Konkani department in a Vasco-based college, Cosma Fernandes, said that records of mande written as early as the 1830s and 1840s can be found.
The first tiatr Italiano Bhurgo written by Lucasinho Ribeiro was directed by Joao Agostinho Fernandes in Mumbai on April 17, 1892.
At present, the government does support the annual mando festivals staged by the Goa Social and Cultural Centre. People have kept it alive till date. The government could organise it, as it does other cultural activities, Fernandes said.