Staff Reporter

Vasco

Setting a fine example of communal harmony, a Christian singer from Sanvordem has earned a name for himself among the bhajan lovers. Francis Anthony has been performing ‘Geet Ramayan’ (the Ramayana epic through songs) in Marathi at the Ram Mandir in Mestawada, Vasco for over three decades.

A musician from Mestawada, late Gokuldas Chari, had introduced Anthony to the Ram temple around 30 years ago and thus started his journey of presentation of bhajans during the annual Ram Navami celebrations.

Like every year, this Ram Navami also saw Anthony presenting divine songs at the temple, leaving many awestruck. “It was a perfect demonstration of communal harmony, quite literally, in music,” said a devotee.

“I am from Sanvordem and would participate and win several singing competitions in Vasco. I would go and meet Chari at Mestawada. He was a musician in the famous Diamond Orchestra in those times and he used to invite me to join him in the orchestra. In his free time, Chari would go to temples to sing bhajans and I would accompany him as well. Since I love Marathi, I would also sing with him in the orchestra and also during his bhajan programmes at temples,”
said Anthony.

“One day, when his regular bhajan singer did not turn up at the rehearsal for the Ram Navami programme at Mestawada, Chari requested me to be the main singer. Having accompanied Chari at various bhajan programmes, I knew a few devotional songs and parts of Geet Ramayan. Chari, however, insisted I prepare for at least 5-6 devotional songs and sing it the next day for Ram Navami. He even arranged a room for me and got me several cassettes and I tried to get the songs right by rehearsing them the entire day. I finally sang all six songs in Marathi the next day at the Ram Mandir in Mestawada and people liked my performance,” Anthony said.

Over the course of time, Anthony said they had increased their repertoire and would sing as many as 30 songs for a show.

However, as 30 songs would consume a lot of time somebody from their group suggested that they stick to around 15 songs of Geet Ramayan and restrict the programme to two hours.

Anthony lost his friend Gokuldas Chari to Covid, but he continues to perform at the Mestawada temple and even performs alongside a photograph
of Chari.