Prem Kumar -- the legend who revolutionized the tiatr stage

by Daniel F. de Souza, Goa

Prem Kumar - the legend

It was late evening of 12th October 2007 that the sad news of legendary konkani stage artist Prem Kumar having passed away in Mumbai hit Goan soil and tiatr lovers in particular like a bolt from the sky. Telephones were ringing across the State conveying the sad news and short messages were flying across thousands of mobiles from North to South. With the sad demise of Prem Kumar the curtain has come down on a glorious career of a visionary artiste and perfectionist, spanning nearly 6 decades on the konkani stage.

Prem Kumar was born in Chandor, Goa on 8th September 1929, and was baptized as Peter D’Costa. It was much later when he had a stint with the Bollywood in Mumbai that he was compelled to take Indian sounding name of ‘Prem Kumar’. Beginning with Dhirubhai Desai’s ‘Unchi Haveli’, Prem Kumar went on to do several minor roles in other Bollywood productions. But, it was his love for his mother tongue and the Konkani stage that he gave up his affair with the Hindi film fraternity and jumped headlong into the Konkani theatre. Hindi film industry’s loss was obviously the gain of Konkani tiatr. This was indeed a turning point for the development of the konknai stage to a different level of professional excellence. It was his entry onto the konkani stage that set the wheels of revolution in motion.

REVOLUTIONARY

He stepped onto to the Konkani stage at a tender age of 13 and the first tiatr he penned was ‘Mhozo Put’. This was indeed the beginning of a fairy tale for the Konkani stage which down the years later saw the wizardry of this passionate man at work in many of his future productions. He had single handedly given a new dimension to the art called ‘tiatr’. Without exaggeration one can safely say that Prem Kumar single handedly revolutionized the Konkani stage with the rich experience he had gained in the Hindi film industry. It was his burning desire to improve upon and to develop the technicalities in tiatr that prompted him to bring in a lot of courages innovations and changes. The introduction of high intensity technical gadgetry including projectors, audio visuals, ‘sliding and revolving stage’ lighting and mind boggling stage settings, complimented with appropriate sound effects too, to the Konkani stage, were the highlights of Prem Kumar’s tiatrs. With every new production coming under his banner only brought in further improvements to the stage and one could then truly say that with the bench marks set by him, the konkani stage was maturing to the level of theatres produced in other Indian languages.

However, Prem Kumar’s specialty did not end only with his technical aspect in the tiatrs, but, he was a playwright with a broad vision and intense knowledge of the subject on which he generally based the theme of his play. The story of the tiatrs he produced had a lot of depth and high literary standard with flowery and poetic dialogue writing being his forte and in-born quality. To put it more succinctly Prem Kumar was a complete professional actor, director and playwright.

MEMORABLE WORKS

‘Vavraddi, Mortikar, Kakut, Peleache Vostuchi Axea Korumnaie, Ordhi Bakri, Sopon, Abdul Narain D’Souza, Dukh, Kakut etc are some of his memorable hits that brought out the best in Prem Kumar. He is one such playwright and director who had the courage of his convictions to give his audience something that his heart desired and not what the people expected or desired. By his conviction and belief in himself, he took his fans and admirers along with him, rather than going along with the audience for the sake of monetary gains. He was one among the very handful of Konkani stage artists for whom the love of art came first and commercial interests took a back seat. He spent a fortune on the lavish sets he presented in his tiatrs, but, in the bargain did not amass a fortune during his lifetime contribution to the Konkani stage. He was so passionate about the quality of his productions and standard of his plays that I think he had very little time to even think about what would be his monetary gain at the end of it all. This he must have realized in the evening of his life when he could no longer muster the physical courage to stage his shows. Most of his plots in the plays reflected the very essence of Goa, its culture, traditions, its people and its soil. As an established playwright he also ventured into Konkani films, and ‘Boglant’ a highly successful black and white film was his first and only venture.

NOT RECOGNISED

It is sad but true, that this man who did so much for Goa, Goans, language and its culture did not find any favour with the Goa Government, and the honour of being counted among the recipients of the Goa State Cultural Award eluded him till the time of his death. Going down memory lane I sadly recall Goa’s one and only Melody King the late Alfred Rose too shared the same fate during his life time, till the then BJP Government had posthumously honoured him with the Goa State Cultural Award.

To this effect one cannot forget but truly appreciate the magnanimous and befitting gesture of the ‘Dalgado Konknni Akademi’ which conferred the third ‘Dalgado Puroskar 2007’ on this legendary artist on 8th May 2007 at an impressive function at the Kala Academy Black Box. The Dalgado Award 2007 carried a cheque of Rs. 25,000/-, a memento and a scroll of Honour. On receiving the Award, a visibly choked and emotional Prem Kumar had said, “ I gave up my lucrative career in Hindi films, with the desire to serve the konkani stage and work for its development. I am thankful to all tiatr lovers who supported me. All my productions were successful bringing me fame and fortune. But my passion for the stage was such, that I ploughed back everything I got from it, only to see its development and growth. I always wanted to do something for the konkani stage by sharing my rich experience and knowledge from the film industry. I have done it. Today I am mentally and emotionally rich. I appeal to you to work dedicatedly for the language and development of the Konkani stage.”

Prem Kumar with the writer Daniel de Souza

Truly indeed, his success as a playwright did not permit him to translate his mental and emotional richness into monetary wealth, and that was his biggest drawback. Prem Kumar’s rich and deep throated baritone voice saying the legendary introductory verse “Dusmankaieche Kantte, zaun asat odruxttache fantte, Borem Korxi borem Bhogxi, …….. ……Xegunnache Rajvottke, tuka ugtte asat sovostkaieche dharvontte ” at the start of his shows has been silenced for good, while he has returned back to his Creator. But, his legend will live on for generations, his achievements will be written in letters of gold when one day modern day tiatr’s history is written, but above all his works will continue to inspire many for many more years to come.

The million dollar question however, is will the ‘Aam Aadmi’ Government led by art lover Chief Minister, Digamber Kamat, honour Konkani tiatr’s ‘Superman and legend’ Prem Kumar posthumously with the Goa State Cultural Award ??

Zacarias continues with Lobo’s music legacy

by Daniel F. de Souza, Goa

The Desterro Ward in the jurisdiction of Vasco da Gama situated near the Our Lady of Desterro Church, has produced several well known personalities in the field of drama, music, sports, politics and the like. Some of the States best footballers had their first affair with football on the football ground near the Busy Bee High School at Desterro. My memorable earlier years of stay in Vasco da Gama after I took up a job at MPT and shifted here from Bardez, were spent in this small hamlet full of warm and talented people. The Lobo family which lives here in Desterro for many generations is well known all over for their contribution to music as well as to Konkani tiatrs. I am pleased to profile in this issue one of the members of the Lobo family from Desterro in Vasco da Gama who has rendered service to Goan music and the Konkani stage. He is none other than the 57 year old Zacarias Lobo, son of music Maestro the late Baptist and Anunciacao Lobo.

Zacarias Lobo began his tryst with music, singing and solfegio at a young age of 16 under the tutelage of the then well known music Maestro Manuel Rodrigues alias ‘Vhoddlo Bab’. He was a renowned violinist of that time. Learning the rudiments of violin under the guidance of his teacher ‘Vhoddlo Bab’ for nearly 4 years, young Zacharias horned his skill with the guidance of his father Baptist Lobo who incidentally was also a professional musician and had his own brass band under the name of ‘St. Andrew’s Orchestra’. Zacarias’ two other paternal uncles viz., Santan Lobo and Richard Lobo also formed an integral part of this group, which was more of a family band at that time. Young Zacharias would in the beginning accompany his father Baptist to sing and play the violin at the litanies in and around Vasco.

The reason why he preferred to take music lessons from another music teacher despite having a professional musician father at home was solely because he says “ I was very much afraid and terrified of my father, for there was no room for mistakes, for he was too fast and advanced. Being scared of him I thought I would be more comfortable learning the basics of music with some other teacher”. But once he got the basics right he had no hesitation in seeking guidance from his own father.

Having learnt to play the violin at a young age he was gaining more confidence with every exposure, and soon had a great desire to learn the Clarinet. Putting aside a little of his earnings then, he saved a sufficient amount of Rs. 300/- to purchase a second hand Clarinet from one musician Domnic Caetan from Merces. This was around the early seventies and the opportunities to join a band mostly comprising of blowing instruments was much higher then. His urge to learn the clarinet as early as he could took him all the way to Maestro Macedonio in Majorda, an exponent of Clarinet. Incidentally Macedonio was the band leader of the then famous beat group ‘Louis & his Melodians’ in South Goa.

Having already learned the Solfegio and violin, picking up the nuances of Clarinet was not a too difficult task for enthusiastic Zacarias. After having gained sufficient knowledge in blowing and confident of himself, Zacarias soon found an opening to play Clarinet in a professional group of Maestro Gregorio D’Gama from Vasco. And going back in time Zacarias recalled “ My first assignment to play Clarinet in a professional band with Maestro Gama was on my home turf, at a feast mass celebration at Our Lady of Desterro Chapel in Vasco. (It was a Chapel then and later elevated to a church in the nineties). This was the beginning of many more regular professional assignments that followed immediately. Do not forget, in the seventies, eighties and even mid nineties brass bands were in high demand at ‘Salves’, feasts, and as well as weddings. However, gradually the beat groups took over from us. ”

Bitten badly by the music bug, he dreamt nothing but music and more music. His passion with music did not end after learning the Clarinet. Zacarias’ ambitions grew much higher and bigger with passing years as he gained more skill and experience playing in professional group. Zacarias developed an affinity for the Saxophone and thus to satisfy his desire he purchased a Saxophone for a sum of Rs. 650/-. But, he did not have to go to other music teachers to learn this new instrument. Improvising on his already acquired skill, he learnt to play the Saxophone all on his own.

By now Zacarias was a musician to reckon with and had already made an impact on the blowing instrument scene. As such he had no difficulty in finding a free slot in the band ‘6 Fighters’ from Sanguem lead by Jack de Sanguem to play the Saxophone. He continued in this group for 3 years. ‘This group brought me more fame and popularity together with expereince’ recalls Zacarias.

After a three year stint playing with ‘6 fighters’ Lobo switched his fidelity to another group called ‘Mark 6’ from Cortalim, which was based much near to his home. Zacarias’ association with this group continued for almost 2 decades, before the other beat groups began making an impact on the music scene in Goa and blowing instruments were gradually fading into oblivion. Zacarias had by now stabilized himself permanently playing the Tenor Saxophone.

With the Brass bands facing a stiff competition from the conventional beat groups, and people preferring to engage beat groups Zacarias knew the time was up to switch over roles and the play field too. It was at this time he focused his eyes on the every growing ‘tiatr music’ segment, that was growing steadily. It was in the year 1995 that he first jumped into the tiatr bandwagon. His first assignment as a Music Maestro for tiatr was playwright F.D’Cunha’s ‘Sambhall’ followed by two more tiatrs ‘Gaie’ and ‘Jivit’ of the same director.

He has also provided the musical score for Sharon Mazarello’s ‘Cheddo’ and Cajetan de Curtorim’s ‘Maim tem amchem noxib’ Pal Soares’ ‘Mhaka Soeg Diat’, Maxcy Pereira’s ‘Hanv tuzo’ ‘Tumkam Ugddas ietolo’ and ‘Uzvadd Palloilo’. He continues with Maxcy Pereira for the ensuing tiatr season too.

Zacarias Lobo has also produced one konkani audio album ‘Zurica’ in the year 1994 with the lyrics and musical score for ten tracks being penned by him. As a professional musician he has played for several other audio albums including devotional hymns. Speaking about the love of music amongst the younger generation he retorts “ the present day generation seeks everything ready made and easy. They do not want to take pains and any trouble. I have even volunteered to teach music and solfegio free, but there are hardly any takers. My son who is 22 years plays the organ, but he has not joined any professional beat group. Neither does he show any inclination to learn the blowing instruments.” Mr. Lobo has provided music for a numerous musical programmes on the Goa Doordarshan and has in the past also did several programmes for the Mumbai Doordarshan. He is very passionate about his Saxophone and says he will play it professionally as long as he can. His one wish however, is to produce a video album of songs and jokes, and he has already started working on the same.

Having heard his fist Konkani audio album ‘Zurica’ whose musical score and orchestration is simply astounding, I have no doubt his next album will be of a much higher standard taking Konkani music to even greater heights. I wish him good luck.

COLVA FEST.

COLVA UNITED CENTRE - Kuwait, one of the leading Goan associations in Kuwait is going to celebrate its annual Fest on Thursday 25th of this month.

At 6.30 p.m., there will be a Mass in the Church at Kuwait City - Holy Family Cathedral.Colva United Centre, Kuwait invites all Colvenkars and well wishers to attend this Mass. Thereafter in the evening at 9.00 p.m., Colva United Centre, Kuwait will hold its Traditional Colva Nite at Fakruddin Palace Hotel, Kuwait City with 2 Bands and Dj in attendance.

The new committe of Colva United Centre, Kuwait under the presidency of Alexandre M. Fernandes consists of Jacob Fernandes - Vice President, Menino Ratus Gen. Secretary, Francis Fernandes Asst. Gen Secretary, Celine Vaz Treasurer, Peter Fernandes Asst. Treasurer, Tony Viegas Cultural Secretary, Xavier Mascharenhas Asst. Cultural Secretary,Caji Diniz Public Relations and Menino Fernandes Asst. Public Relation. The Members are: Hilda Aguiar, Agnelo Pereira, Fidelis Fernandes, Anthony R. Vaz, Peter Santimano and Mathew Goes.

Colva United Centre, Kuwait is in existence since many years now and they are doing good job for the benefit of their people. They have their own plans to construct an Old Age House in Colva, Goa besides other projects too for the benefit of their villagers.

A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.

Oh what a farm…..

Serpentine flowing stream rushing
down-hill in no hurry,
the gushing crystal waters
and the ripples of the tiny waves.
The occasional chirping of the
Pink-billed bulbul
from the bushes around
The distant knock of the woodpecker
pecking on a tree bark
The palm trees
areca, and coconut, swaying
majestically to the cool
soothing breeze of midday
blowing across my face.
The serene and peaceful environment
in the lap of mother nature
pervaded with a gentle odour
of the spices grown around.
Oh, what an exquisite experience !
As I slowly sip
exotic lemon-grass tea
like a peg of brandy.
The Sahakari Spice Farm !
I am bowled by your charm
as well as virgin natural beauty
Behold! I shall be back soon someday
To indulge my passion
in natures unpolluted open arms.

By: Daniel F. de Souza

dannyboy04@rediffmail.com

(This Poem was inspired by my visit to the Sahakar Spice Farm at Curti, Ponda on 2nd Oct 2007. This was published in the Navhind Times on 21 October 2007 in the Sunday Poetry Section)