The\nMonthi Fest is of special importance to the Catholic community residing in\nCanada, as it celebrates not only the birthday of the mother of Jesus Christ\nbut also the new harvest. Through this feast celebration, people demonstrate\nunity and solidarity in the Catholic faith, their rich ethnic heritage and work\ntowards enriching their children\u2019s love of Konkani culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nMangalorean Association of Canada (MAC) to whom this pioneer venture is\nattributed to, is organizing the event on Sunday, September 8 at the St.\nMaximilian Kolbe Church followed by a cultural programme at John Paul II Polish\nCultural Centre in Mississauga. Children are encouraged to bring flowers at\n3.30 pm to offer to Mother Mary and sweets will be distributed to the\nparticipants. A Konkani High Mass will be celebrated by over 6 priests\nincluding Fr Henry Alva OFM.Cap.Provincial of the Franciscan Capuchins of \u2018Mary\nMother of Good Shepherd\u2019 province, in the region English speaking Canada as the\nmain celebrant. Renowned Konkani singers in Canada will join the angelic choir\nunder the dynamic leadership of acclaimed musician Merlyn Rodrigues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, the Konkani community in Greater Toronto and\nsurrounding areas will be privileged to celebrate their most cherished \u2018Monthi\nFest\u2019 witnessing a unique honour bestowed on Merlyn Rodrigues, popularly known\nas the Konkani Nightingale of Canada, for her immense contribution for the\ncommunity through her great talent of music. This is the first time ever MAC is\ninstituting such honour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Konkani singer Merlyn Rodrigues has always chosen to keep\na low profile. That does not mean her contribution as a Konkani\nsinger is insignificant or is not recognized by connoisseurs of Konkani music.\nThose who have heard and seen her singing vouch for her mellifluent voice\netched in their memory. Born and raised in Mangaluru, Merlyn is the second\namong six children of the late Ligoury D\u2019Souza and the late Alice D\u2019Souza from\nthe renowned parish of Derebail, Mangaluru. She is married to Lancy Rodrigues\nand they have a son and daughter and two grand children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Merlyn has been singing since her childhood days. Started\nsinging in the church choir since high school, which gave her an opportunity to\nhone her music talents. She joined St. Dominic Church choir , Ashoknagar when\nthe new church was built in 1970 and was choir leader for over 8 years before\nshe moved to Abu Dhabi after completing her studies in search of greener\npastures. She met her life partner Lancy Rodrigues in Abu Dhabi who remained as\nher great supporter in all her extra-curricular activities in the church as\nwell as other cultural events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Merlyn fondly remembers and wishes to express her\ngratitude for the encouragement that she received from the parish priest late\nFr Reginald Cardoza who introduced her to the late Patrick Carlo , a renowned\nmusician at Bishop\u2019s House, Kodialbail, Mangaluru and the late Fr Walter\nAlbuquerque S J from the Retreat House , who were instrumental in training her\nand enhancing her talent in singing and music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After moving to Abu Dhabi she was a member of St Joseph\u2019s\nChurch choir for 15 years and choir conductor for over 8 years . During this\ntime , she had the privilege of conducting the choir for the celebration Mass\nin Latin for the late Bishop Bernard Gremoli\u2019s 50th<\/sup> priesthood anniversary and 25years\nas a Bishop and was also recognized for her services with a Certificate of\nPapal Blessing from Rome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Merlyn was also Executive committee member of Konkan Cultural\nOrganization (KCO Abu Dhabi ) since its formation in 1995, contributed to the\ncultural events organized by KCO and was the choir conductor for Monthi Fest\nand monthly Konkani Mass until she immigrated to Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Apart from the Church activities she also participated in\nthe activities and concerts organized by the following groups in Abu Dhabi:<\/p>\n\n\n\n * \nAbu Dhabi Choral Group<\/p>\n\n\n\n * \nIndian Ladies Association<\/p>\n\n\n\n * \nKhaleej Times Women\u2019s\u2019 Association<\/p>\n\n\n\n * \nKarnataka Sangha \u2013 Managing Committee member <\/p>\n\n\n\n After moving to Canada she joined the St Francis Xavier\u2019s\nChurch Choir in 2001 and has been singing with this group until now. She was\none of the founding members of the Mangalore Association of Canada and has been\nconducting the Konkani choir for over 15years. She took an active role in\nsinging with Sangeeth Samraat Henry D\u2019Souza during Lorna Henry Live in Concert\nin Canada organized by Radio Mango. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She also took lead in organizing Konkani Choral singing at\nthe \u2018Voices for Christ\u2019 event organized by the Knights of Columbus in December\n2018 in Mississauga, Canada. Professionally she started her career as a banker\nworking in Abu Dhabi for Khaleej Commercial Bank for 7 years and Citibank for\n10 years before moving to Canada and has been working for Royal Bank of Canada\nfor the past 15 years as a Financial Advisor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to the honour for Merely Rodrigues, a\npower-packed cultural programme has been organized to satisfy the clamoring\ndemands of the community. Manohar Pais, the dynamic president of MAC, informed\nDaijiworld that the preparations are going on in full swing and that there will\nbe a big turnout this year. He urged the Konkani community residing in\nMississauga and surrounding areas not to miss this golden opportunity and to attend\nin large numbers to celebrate our Blessed Virgin Mother\u2019s birthday celebration.\nAn authentic sumptuous vegetarian Mangalurean dinner \u2018Novem Jevonn\u2019\u2019 catered by\nCanada’s one and only \u2018Konkan Delite\u2019 will be served at the Monthi Fest. He\nalso informed that only a few tickets are available and requested to buy entry\npasses at the earliest to avoid disappointment. \n\nUndoubtedly this will be a unique and memorable\nKonkani event for Konkani Diaspora residing in Toronto and surrounding areas.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Monthi Fest is of special importance to the Catholic community residing in Canada, as it celebrates not only the birthday of the mother of Jesus Christ but also the new harvest. Through this feast celebration, people demonstrate unity and solidarity in the Catholic faith, their rich ethnic heritage and work towards enriching their children\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-archive","9":"post-with-thumbnail","10":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-nexus.in\/mac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-nexus.in\/mac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-nexus.in\/mac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-nexus.in\/mac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-nexus.in\/mac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/e-nexus.in\/mac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":858,"href":"https:\/\/e-nexus.in\/mac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857\/revisions\/858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-nexus.in\/mac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-nexus.in\/mac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-nexus.in\/mac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-nexus.in\/mac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}