Un-replicable, un-replaceable Alfred Rose
	With his golden voice and lively singing style Alfred set the thrilling tone to send Goa’s old and young into raptures. He began to compose and sing English songs. Eventually, he shifted to Konkani, switched tunes subtly to keep up with the latest trends that western music threw up from time to time. Along with his wife Rita, the creative veteran with several firsts to his credit, ensured continued freshness for their vocal offerings.
Even though Alfred’s flow of new compositions dried up years ago, till today, hardly any request programme broadcast by the radio is complete without featuring at least one of his evergreen numbers. If the golden voice had access to today’s ultra-modern, digitized recording equipment, imagine how great would have been his advantage. But even with the old style recording, multi-talented maestros like Alfred drew thunderous applause. They blended music, lyrics, singing and acting, in appealing proportions, to ensure the success of every number that bulged their repertoire. Moreover, inimitable Alfred reserved a special genre to go with the performing style for the stage, while the records excelled in tonal perfection.
	Youngsters were caught in the craze to sing like Aldona-born Alfred. Most of them, however, ended up merely imitating his voice but came a cropper where his rare caliber was concerned. When health began telling on the magnificent singer, and Chris Perry took to Goan music with Lorna, Konkani did take on a new swing for a while. Remo too breathed a bit of freshness and style in Konkani music. But by the sheer volume and range, Alfred swept the charts and was rightly acknowledged as the icon of western-style Konkani music.
Even with so much new music, and young voices like that of Olavo, with Jess Louis’ candid lyrics and Joaquim D’Souza’s lilting scores, casting their own shadows on the grooves, Alfred oldies still charm the youth. The two re-mix series brought out recently by Felix Sequeira and his partner have further enhanced the longevity of Alfie’s hits. Old tastes may miss the familiar accompaniment, but the youngsters enjoy the digitized liveliness of the tracks.
Alfred, the singing Aldonkar, like many other greats of his time, has set too lofty, seemingly unachievable ideals for today’s crop of young and even well-trained musicians. That’s why it’s said universally by Goa’s music lovers as well as music dealers that Alfie’s demise, on October 21, 2003, signifies the sad end to the expressive lilt and throb of Konkani compositions.

Cannes official falls in love with city water-front
Managing Director of Cannes International Film Festival Veronica Kayla, who arrived on a two-day visit to the State, was simply charmed with the scenic beauty of the capital city here. Kayla is reported to have stated that the IFFI Goa in December 2004 will be a bigger success than the recently concluded festival in Delhi, and that the IFFI 2004 will give a tremendous boost to Goan tourism, besides its image. It is learnt that she has suggested that the panoramic riverfront behind the Kala Academy be suitably renovated to suit the occasion.

Catamaran service from 6 nov
The Goa-Mumbai catamaran service is likely to be resumed from 6 November this year. Captain of Ports Capt AP Mascarenhas said that the Mumbai-based Samlink Company had been already granted permission by the State government to operate a 220 seater craft. The company has expressed its readiness to start operations from Mumbai on 6 November. The catamaran will cover the distance in about eight hours while, the fare structure would be finalised soon

Konkani artist in guinness book
Konkani artist Vasant Bandekar’s amazing talent of mimicking musical instruments, has fetched him an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. The 56-year-old man from Sadashivgad has staged his mimicry shows for decades in four languages non-stop for 100 minutes—Kannada, Konkani, Hindi and Marathi. He has also performed his shows in Goa, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra. His specialty is the unique prowess to mimic 30 musical instruments, using only nasal, facial and vocal muscles. “A Konkani artist’s achievement is for the Konkani community,” Bandekar says.

Move to curb illegal practice by doctors
In a bid to prohibit practice by medical practitioners with dubious credentials, the state government will shortly issue and ordinance making it mandatory on the part of all doctors to register themselves with the Goa State Medical Council. What the government seems to be considering is to target doctors from outside the State, who issue advertisements in local dailies making tall claims and operate from some city-based hotels.