LUSOFONIA GAMES CURTAIN RAISER EVENT WILL FEATURE A CULTURAL EXTRAVAGANZA AS PART OF THE PLANNING.

Kicking off the celebrations around the lusofonia games, goa will witness a dazzling ceremony along the river mandovi, to launch the official games song and mascot on 11th december 2013~ ~penned by poet and writer, st andrade mla vishnu wagh, the multilingual games song has been scripted in konkani, portuguese, marathi, hindi and english~ ~goa’s nightingales lorna and sonia shirsat have been approached to lend their melodious voices to the lusofonia games’ official games song composed by goan musician mukesh ghatwal~ goa, november 1st, 2013: the much anticipated lusofonia games scheduled to be held in goa in january 2014 will have a distinct goan flavour. goa’s quintessential nightingales – the evergreen lorna and goa’s fadista sonia shirsat – have been approached to lend their melodious voices to the lusofonia games’ official games song. penned by poet and writer st andrade mla vishnu wagh, the multilingual games song has been scripted in konkani, portuguese, marathi, hindi and english. kicking off the celebrations around the lusofonia games, goa will witness a dazzling ceremony along the river mandovi, to launch the official games song and mascot on 11th december 2013 in the capital city panaji. the grand launch event will take place in the presence of state officials, sportspersons, the designated chef-de-missions of the participating countries, acolop members and other dignitaries. for the every first time, goa will see the state’s leading ladies of music come together on stage to perform the multilingual song. celebrated goan artists who have won the hearts of music lovers, the ladies are loved and admired for taking goan music, global. the games song will be composed by goan musician mukesh ghatwal. goa’s leading sportspersons will be felicitated at the gala launch event. india is a country with a rich cultural diversity. this ethos of multiplicity will be celebrated at the lusofonia games launch event through the theme which celebrates the five elements of nature – fire, water, earth, air and ether (agni – jal – vayo – prithvi – aakash). conceptualised by a team of creative intellectuals including tomazinho cardozo, ajay vaiydya, shridhar bambolkar, rose ferns, rajeev shinde and satish gawas lead by celebrated theatre director bansi kaul, the glittering evening will see a mesmerising performance of various art forms, symbolic of the five elements of the cosmos. goa will be hosting the portuguese commonwealth games in nine disciplines with participation from 12 countries. participating countries are brazil, angola, cape verde, east timor, equatorial guinea, guinea- bissau, macau (china), mozambique, portugal, sao tome and principe, sri lanka and the host nation goa(india). the 3rd lusofonia games will be held over the period of 12 days from 18th to 29th of january 2014 and will see participation from over 1500 athletes and officials from 12 nations. _____________________________________________________________________________ about lusofonia games: the 3rd lusofonia games will be held over the period of 12 days from 18th to 29th january 2014 and will see participation from over 1500 athletes and officials from 12 nations. participating countries are founding members angola, brazil, cape verde, east timor, equatorial guinea, guinea- bissau, goa (india), macau (china), mozambique, portugal, sao tome and principe and sri lanka. athletes from 12 nations will compete in 9 different sporting disciplines – athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, football, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball and wushu. ___________________________________________________________________________ for further media queries contact: perfect relations skitter faia i m: +91 9823350629 i email: sfaia@perfectrelations.com diana braganza i m: +91 9850222347 i email: dbraganza@perfectrelations.com shubham verma i m: +91 9999811726 i email: shubhamv@perfectrelations.com