Media Release

Doha, Apr 4: The Mangalore Cricket Club (MCC), one of the oldest socio-cultural organizations of the expatriate Indian community in the State of Qatar, is gearing up for the much-awaited first mega Gulf International Baila dance contest finale that is scheduled to be held on April 28 (Friday) evening at the sprawling Regency Halls here. The gala event is being held as part of the silver jubilee celebrations of MCC, the identity of Mangalureans working and residing in the oil-rich country of Qatar.

In 1992, love for the game of cricket brought some enthusiastic youngsters from and around Mangaluru together in Qatar. Later, under the banner of MCC, many inspired senior members of the Mangalurean community along with their families joined MCC and developed it into a multifaceted purposeful organization, which has gone on to win trophies, be it in cricket, throwball, kabaddi or kho kho, and even organizes volleyball and throwball tournaments which are open to all communities and nationalities. Over the years, it has also successfully organized various cultural, educational, social and sports events for the benefit of the community in Qatar.

Expertise and experience in organizing mega events has always been the hallmark of MCC. It is this expertise and experience that played a major role in conceiving and putting together an inter-Gulf dance competition. 'Gulf Baila Naach' is a Baila dance competition on Konkani songs open to all Konkani speaking people of Mangalurean origin, residing in the GCC countries of Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sultanate of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, holding a valid GCC visa. This contest is a platform to showcase the dancing talents of Mangalureans working and living in the GCC countries. MCC joined hands with like-minded organizations from other GCC countries to stage this dancing extravaganza. Preliminary rounds have already been held in each of the participating countries and the best dancing 'zoddem' (pair) has been selected to represent their country in the finals to be held in Qatar. Winners will be conferred the title, 'Baila Zoddem', and the male will also be crowned as 'Baila King' while the female will be crowned as 'Baila Queen' and will receive prize money of Rs 1 lac. The first and the second runners-up will take home Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively. The organization of the winning couple nation will receive 'Baila Nation' title with trophy.

The six dancing couples who have made it to the finals from their respective countries will compete to win the coveted first-ever 'Baila Zoddem' title.

MCC has also planned stupendous musical treat to the audience with famed Desi Rock Band Charitra set to rock the audience. Band Charitra has already carved a niche for itself with its rocking performances in India and abroad. The band comprises of Melwyn Antony D’Souza on lead vocals with mesmerizing Goan singer Akshada Talaulikar, Loy Valentine Saldanha on keyboard and vocals, Patson Pereira as lead guitarist and vocalist, talented yet unsung Rikith Soans on bass guitar and Ian Sachin Saldanha on drums and percussions.

About Band Charitra

Loy Valentine Saldanha:

Loy Valentine Saldanha from Mangaluru, the founder of Charitra, is a certified engineer in music production and sound design from A R Rahman’s institute Audio Media, Chennai. He has made Manglurueans proud by winning the 'Best Music Director' award for the short film 'Ek Galthi' in 2015. He also has to his credit the music for the ICC World Cup song-2011, recognised by iTunes (the world’s most prestigious music store) for the song 'Daye Saipa' from his Tulu debut movie 'Rambarooti', got nominated for National level Short Film Contest 2016 organised by Arena Animation, Mangaluru for two movies 'Ek Galthi' and 'Kshudh'. He is the official composer, vocalist, music programme and sound engineer of the band.

Melwyn Antony D'Souza:

Melwyn Antony D’souza from Mangaluru has a degree in Carnatic music and is the lead vocalist, composer and lyricist of the band. He was nominated as the best lyricist for Konkani Global Awards - 2012, composed the song for the ICC World Cup-2011, Loy and Melwyn have worked together on projects with Corporation Bank, Daijiworld, short films such as 'Ek Galthi', 'Sumne Namgyake', '5 Letters', 'Future'; music albums such as 'Chinthnam', 'Ashellon', 'Bindas', 'Ye Moga Cindrella'; theme songs and music videos for Maheshianz, Shalimar Liverpool, Dare 2 Dance, Dance Mummy Dance, Campco Chocolates, Lusofonia Games 2014 (Goa), Pratham Inn and Resorts, Kudala Telepale, Mango Lassi (Nandini), Mangalore Konkans - Dubai, ICYM - Theme Song 2014, Hangyo Flavoured Milk and movies like 'Rambarooti' (Tulu).

Akshada Talaulikar:

AkshadaTalaulikar from Panjim (Goa), who is classically trained is an elegant and beautiful singer of the band. She has won the 'Best Female Singer' at the prestigious Global Konkani Music Award from Kalaangann, Mangaluru. She has had the opportunity to share mike and stage space with celebs like Suresh Wadkar, Pankaj Udhas, Jagjit Singh, Mika Singh and many others, and has received great praises and applauses from Khadikar, Rajana Joglekar, and Amol Bandekar etc. She has also released various religious albums like 'Radhe Radhe', 'Siddhicha Vinayaka', 'Devi Mhalsa' etc and mainstream commercial albums like 'Akshada Geet' and 'Sparsh Tuzha'. She has also done playback singing for movies like 'Ek Ass Antarichi', 'Radon Aka' and has done various commercials on radio.

Patson Pereira:

Patson Pereira from Mangaluru is a qualified sound engineer in music production and audio technologies from SAE Institute of Audio Engineering, Malaysia. Currently, he is the guitarist for the band and runs his own recording studio named PATMA DIGITALZ. He has worked on projects like 'Manasa' (short film), instrumental music albums such as 'Guitar Feels', 'Guitar Fusion”, 'Guitar Magic' etc and other music albums like 'Thembe Thembe', 'Tuje Kathir', 'Ek Zalim Kalzam'; theme songs for ICYM (DYC), ICYM Vamanjoor, St Aloysius Degree College theme, 'Ninna Dhristisi', Grace Ministry theme, 'Mungarina Modala' (Royston Pinto), 'Tu Mhuje' (Robin Cutinho) and 'Manasa' (Maxim Pereira).

Ian Sachin Saldanha:

Ian Sachin Saldanha from Mangaluru is the drummer, percussionist and backing vocalist for the band. Sachin got his first set of drums at the age of 15 and by the age of 16, he was performing in local bands with his batchmates.

Rikith Leonard Soans:

Rikith Leonard Soans from Udupi has acquired the certificate of western music (Grade 5) from Trinity College of London (TLC). He is the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of the band. Born and brought up in a family of music, his passion for music started at the age of 7. Apart from his main musical weapon, the bass, he is also well-known for playing violin, keyboard and guitar. Ian and Rikith have also performed for the National Catholic Federation where Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah was the guest for the event; and played drums and bass guitar respectively for Kevin Misquith - Live in Concerts (Muscat).

The event will also give an opportunity for Doha people to listen to Konkani's showman Patrick Pereira, fondly known as Patty Bondel. Patrick who hails from Bondel parish has been in the music industry for the last 30 years and produced his own 4 instrumental CDs. A natural player of all the musical instruments, Patrick is a gifted singer who can attract audience with his mesmerizing voice and has performed in many stage shows. His ability to imitate many well-known singers and mimic their voice has brought him great acclaim.

All in all the event promises to be memorable one with the silken and elegant feet sure to enthral the audience with their scintillating performances to the foot-tapping earthen baila beats that are part of every Mangalurean event, and entertaining, rocking music of Band Charitra.