Pics Pinto Vamanjoor

Mangalore, Apr 25: Mike Simon, the talented song-writer from here, who has already made a name with his two Konkani song albums, has brought out his third volume called 'Dance Dance'.

Fr Rodrigues, who released the music cassette, seen with Mike Simon and Richie Lasrado

The song album was released at a simple function in the meeting hall of the Bishop's House on Monday, April 24. The cassette version was released by Raknno's editor-in-charge Fr Francis Rodrigues and the CD version by Daijiworld's resident editor Richie Lasrado.

Fr Francis Rodrigues and compere Pachu Ferar

Fr Francis spoke on how music is part of man's life and how Simon's earlier music albums have created an impact on music-lovers.

Richie Lasrado spoke on Simon's simple and unassuming nature combined with high music potential. He also gave a call to music-lovers to support the artistes by discouraging pirated and MP3 versions of music albums, which trend was doing injustice to creative persons. He had a special word for the harmonization and music arrangement by the renowned maestro from Mumbai, Enoch Daniels, who was not much known to the present generation, but was a household name in Bollywood for over three decades with his musical talent.

Sections of the audience

He also spoke about Simon as a person, making a special mention about how, taking a great personal risk,  he had helped a group of 30 persons, including a pregnant woman, to have safe passage India via Iraq and Jordan in 1990, soon after the invasion of Kuwait.

Mike Simon welcomed the gathering and proposed a vote of thanks. Pachu Ferar (Prashant D'Souza) of Raknno compered the function.

About the album

The album contains ten catchy, foot-tapping numbers, all of which are likely catch the imagination of the music-lovers, esp. the younger generation.

Although there are the expected polka or baila numbers because of the popularity of this rhythm these days, there are cha-cha-cha, twist and Reggae beats for variety's sake.

Enoch Daniels' music arrangement and harmonization certainly provides a refreshing change. High-quality recording by Nitin Joshi at Sound Ideaz, Mumbai makes the music very pleasing to the ears.