Goa, Daman & Diu Musical Evening – 2024.10.24

The Rui Cunha Foundation presents today, Thursday, October 24th at 6:15pm, a “Goa, Daman & Diu Musical Evening”, inviting to the Gallery stage special guest artists Franz Schubert Cotta and Omar de Loiola Pereira, to perform the unique sounds of Goan Popular Music as a duet of voices, guitar, violin, and mandolin.

The event is co-organized by the Cultural Animation Centre of Goa, Daman and Diu, whose responsibility this year is to celebrate the focus on its culture at the Macau Lusofonia Festival. The Portuguese-speaking Community will bring to the territory diverse demonstrations of their traditions and customs, including the two reference artists.

Franz Schubert Agnelo de Miranda Cotta, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, was born into a musical family with rich cultural traditions. He left behind a career in the legal profession, of over 15 years, to join Goa University as an Assistant Professor of Portuguese and Lusophone Studies. In the musical area, he performed with the Goa State (Symphony) Orchestra in the early 90s, later with the Goa String Orchestra and other musical ensembles.

He was awarded a scholarship in 2005 by Fundação Oriente, to undertake a study in Portuguese guitar under the guidance of the great Mestre António Chainho in Portugal. He has imparted musical training in violin, guitar, mandolin, and piano or keyboards for over 20 years, and has performed at Casas de Fado in Portugal, now performing regularly at Noite de Fado, held monthly at the Alfama Restaurant of Taj Cidade de Goa. He also co-produced five audio CD albums in Portuguese and Konkani.

Omar de Loiola Pereira Octaviano began his musical journey at the age of 7 on the guitar. A few singing competitions gave him a taste for performance and so by the age of 11 he started playing commercially. At age 16 he founded & directed a youth choir, Juventus, which gained considerable popularity, and later formed Ovation, a smaller vocal ensemble with more senior members. Since 1991 he was also a member of the Goan cultural group Gavana.

Omar then headed off to Sydney, Australia, to explore musical possibilities further. He has diplomas in Music Performance, Music Business Management & Audio Engineering. He was involved in various bands and ensembles with whom he performed the circuit of Portuguese clubs in Australia for a decade and a half. In 2015, Omar moved back to Goa where he formed and is now the Musical Director of InVox (a vocal ensemble) & Aradhon (a choir dedicated to sacred music), among other popular music projects – in Konkani, Portuguese, Spanish and English.

Admission is free.
Don’t miss it!
For Macau, Further and Higher!