Pre-Lent carnival at this church in Sahar featured hip-hop rhymes and rhythms

Claudette Netto Miranda (left) and Sinead D’Souza host the evening

In 2020, Mumbai's original gully boy, Divine, borrowed lines from Bollywood cult classic Satya (1998) for his eponymous chart-topping gully-style anthem. Some would call this an ambitious crossover in itself. But last weekend, shortly after Sunday mass at Our Lady of Health Church in Sahar, these rhymes took over the church compound. Kurla-based rapper Cloudious Fernandes, who was at the helm while the faithful sang along recalls, "The audience was electric. I wasn't expecting that from the church crowd."

Cloudious Fernandes in performance

If you're wondering what kind of divine, or should we say Divine intervention led to hip-hop showing up at the church's doorstep, Lynn Boothello, president of the Sahar East Indian Association explains, "For as far as I can remember, our pre-Lent celebrations have followed a theme. The community loves to sing, dance, feast and have a good party before easing into Lent. This year, our young parishioners suggested we go the hip-hop way. Honestly, I wasn't sure what it meant when the idea came up in a community meeting, but we decided to give it a shot."

The open-air venue is decked up. Pics/Ashish Raje

Boothello's shot in the dark worked in favour of the young enthusiastic dance crew who opened the evening with a performance to a mix of hip-hop and Marathi folk songs, dressed in glittery suits. Dressing up is no small affair here, mind you. "The community showed up in their best costumes; we had plans to award the best dressed couple. But as things turned out, we had to hand it to a family of four who went all out in full hip-hop attire," reveals Claudette Netto Miranda, emcee for the night.

The Our Lady of Health Brass Band sets the tone for the evening

Fernandes' gritty rap performance makes much more sense within this context, but the 37-year-old is full of surprises. "We are now working on East Indian hip-hop as a sub-genre," he reveals. "East Indian zaat hai Mobai chi shaan, Sagli jana aika maja gaan ugrun tumche kaan," he improvises over our call. The verse is an assertion of East Indian pride in the city, we learn. "For the longest time, I have been singing Divine's tracks because he's an old friend who hung out in my neighbourhood in Kurla. But I'm starting to trace my own roots with a community of six East Indian musicians now to carve our own subgenre," he adds.

Lynn Boothello

While new-age performers kept the audiences on their toes, there were others like the Our Lady of Health Brass Band, who got the old timers swaying and slow-dancing to classic East Indian tunes alongside Royston Dsilva, the lyricist behind the popular Umbracha Pani tune. The highlight for many, however, remained a solo dance tribute to Bollywood actor Helen by artiste Roshane Creado, whose moves couldn't be confined to the stage. As Miranda recalls, and this newspaper's photojournalist, Ashish Raje, who witnessed it live confirms, "She had the same spring in her step, just as sprightly as the original sensation!"

Parishioners and members of the clergy shake a leg

"Behind this cultural extravaganza, our goal is much simpler - to keep the community active and the young members in touch with their culture through engaging programming," admits Boothello. Is the roundtable for the next themed event already scheduled, we ask. "Not really. I reckon a young parishioner might just pop up with a bright idea some day, and we might as well give it another shot. Hopefully, it does well in drawing the young members in," Boothello shares. Amen to that.

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