An Inter-Faith Musical Triumph At The Ketevan World Sacred Music Festival

For over four days in February, the heritage city of Old Goa provided the perfect backdrop to some stellar music performances.

- Sapna Shahani

IMAGINE entering a magnificient ancient church in Old Goa, past the striking towers of the St Augustine Ruins in Old Goa, to find a dhrupad maestro, accompanied by the strumming of a sitar and taps of a dhol player as the opening act for a concert on the theme of ‘Passion of the Christ’. The piece was composed exclusively for the festival by its Argentinian Artistic Director Santiago Lusardi Girelli and included an eclectic collaboration of the Goa University Choir, a British choir, a Hindustani classical vocalist, an Italian operatic soprano singer, a European string quartet together with a Argentinian bandedeon player plus a northeastern interpretive dancer. It was quite the world premiere at the Ketevan Sacred Music Festival.