Margao, Goa: How many youth of Goa or Goans of the present generation can name the top musicians of Goa say 30 years ago? Which were the famous wedding bands in the State, Which were the top music groups 35-40 years ago in the State? Who were our cultural icons in the years gone by? Can you recollect the traditional religious events in Ponda or Old Goa, 4 or 5 decades ago?
Goemcho Goenkar by Goa Today (goatoday.in) is an initiative to inform and make aware the present generation and upcoming generations of youngsters about the rich Goan heritage, culture and tradition.
Research for the initiative Goemcho Goenkar is supported by the Centre for Promoting Indian Economy, CPIE India.
It’s an attempt to permanently archive Goa (food, culture, tradition, music, religious gatherings, festivals, old roads, bridges, wells, lakes, clothing, people, villages, everything about our existence) of today and generations gone by, for the future.
Most Goan youth who have lived abroad or in cities like Mumbai and Bangalore have no idea of the age-old culture of Goa and how our weddings or family functions were celebrated 3-4 decades ago.
We aim to create awareness via social media and free digital platforms which can be accessed anywhere in the world, about our rich and varied past, our traditional food, clothing, existence and way of life.
How our great grandfathers lived, sans mobile phones and computers, decades ago!
We will also curate multimedia content of how Goa looked 20 to 40 years ago. Its shacks, old houses, taverns, small village industry and all.
With rampant development, roads, highways, bridges, new buildings, etc., the past glory of this state – particularly the coastal zones, whose topography and look is changing every 5 years, may be long forgotten, at least for those Goans who are forced to reside out of Goa for economic reasons.
It’s very imperative that a “free to access” digital library or multimedia encyclopedia of our villages, bridges, places of worship and everything that makes Goa what it is, is preserved digitally for the future.
We will feature hundreds, if not thousands of videos and millions of photographs of every part of Goa, coastal regions and interior villages alike, and interviews with prominent personalities, cultural and youth icons in this mammoth digital archive.
Each constituency, village and cultural zone will be covered in depth and individually, so if you want to know how your forefathers cooked food in Panchwadi, Shiroda 50 years ago with images, or how Goan youth played football in Navelim, or how artisans made the traditional kunbi fabric in the tribal villages of Goa, Goemcho Goenkar will have that for you.
Goemcho Goenkar will also cover in-depth the tribals of Goa and other forest communities of the State, which still live along the outskirts of forests like the Dhangar community or the Makadmare or Wanarmare tribe from the forests of Nirankal, Bethoda near Ponda.
We look forward to your support in putting together this digital, cultural hotspot online for our future generations to come.
