Panaji, April 3 -- As dusk settled over the neo-Gothic styled Mae de Deus Church, strains of a centuries-old motet- form of sacred music during Renaissance-era-rose once again, signalling a quiet cultural revival in Goa. Long relegated to fading memory, these deeply meditative Lenten (sacred musical) compositions, once central to Holy Week observances, are now being rediscovered and revived by a new generation of choirs in this church in north Goa's Saligao.

These evocative compositions, rooted in passages from the Bible, recount the suffering and death of Jesus Christ through layered, polyphonic harmonies known as motets. Once an integral part of Lenten liturgy in Goa, this musical tradition had gradually slipped into decline but is now...