SAM JOAO CELEBRATED IN ARADDY - CANDOLM.

It was the first time in the history of Araddy Vaddo in Candolim that the feast of Sam Joao was celebrated with such a pomp and fun in this Vaddo where a few years back hardly 15 houses were there in proper Araddy but later on the barren areas touching this Vaddo were also included in this Vaddo along with the  settlements of migrants and ghanttis on the hilly slope that is is called a Ghanttianchi Araddy and thus increased its length and breadth. Moreover, the area still little further at the end of the fields where there was a big piece of field known as “Tonttem Eric”, was infact in our possession earlier from the Communidade, we possessed it as Munddkar for cultivation but later on my mother handed it over to one Shivram who already died.  Then a few months back this Tonttem Eric was filled up with mud, levelled the area comprising some hundreds  of sq. mtres where all around the surroundings nice décor is added to beautify it.  Since this is a suitable place, the organisers under the skippership of Mr. Dickson who was assisted by the energetic boys of Araddy and who is also the owner of the Hotel “Down the Vilage” that sponsored this event, organized the activities of Sam Joao there starting approximately at about 4.00 pm with the powerpacked Mike system that awakened almost the whole of Candolim.

Seen above is the venue for the cclebration

                                     Sone of the revelers seen enjoying on the dance floor

Added to this powerful Mike system, two Bands in attendance provided an excellent musical score and moreover, the charismatic and lokh priya compeer Xavier in his normal indomitable way controlled the airwaves with ease and confidence, of course to the satisfaction of the entire gathering comprising a very good number coming from every nook and corner of Candolim and some even from beyond the borders of Candolim. 

Seen a group of people come to attend to thus event.

Seen at extreme left standing is Mr. Bruno who is the popular Panch of Panchayat..

Thee above seen posing for photograph

Seen above at right all smiling is Blaize - the local Sarpanch attending the event

The credit for such a massive and fabuluous bash compared to the smallness of the tiny vaddo Araddy, should definitely go to each and every member of the organising team, however, the major share of this credit should surely go to its team leader Dickson.  

They are seen enjoying the atmosphere

The credit for such a massive and fabuluous bash compared to the smallness of the tiny vaddo Araddy, should definitely go to each and every member of the organising team, however, the major share of this credit should surely go to its team leader Dickson.  

Seen participating in Kopel cntest

Seen singing her solo is Tracy

It was really nice to see the people joining there in their special  Sam Joao costumes and taking active part in each and every activity conducted there, in dancing or in Kopel contest or any other.  It looked by reading their body language and watching their facial appearance and the mode of their dancing, they looked all in the Sam Joao mood, thanks to the efforts of the organisers to bring the entire event to such a pedestal high.

She is seen above singing her solo

In a normal way of organising of our festivities, a few special singers and tiatrists were invited to render more fabulous colour to this event by way of their songs and for which they were as per my information paid handsomely. If this is the case, why they rendered some of the old songs thereby indicating their poverty of having new songs and that too of theirs?  Secondly, they looked ugly males and females in the same dresses again and again.  And a stage artiste the more he decorates himself by way of good dresses the more impact he creates among the audience.  They must know first to recognize themselves and their worth as Tiatrists and not consider themselves as Ladru and Pedru. Because they are figures on Konkani Stage audience expect qualitative output from them in which  they failed and failed miserably. 

Aniciedo Seen singing his solo.

The solos rendered by both the Mandrekars were very interesting while Sucurro de St. Cruz, Joe Rose and Aniciedo rendered one each solo including the two lovely ladies Tracy and Keriyan.  These both the ladies are gifted with nice and melodious voices that grabbed the attention of everyone towards them, lookwise they have the look of the artistes that added more value to their songs.

125TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TIATR CELEBRATIONS COMMITTEE.

Since the inception of Tiatro in 1892, it was 125 years now, that was in 2016 and to mark this occasion the government of Goa constituted a special committee to celebrate this momentous event which incidentally ran into 2 years approximately. During the last  so many months this committee organised lot of functions for the Tiatrists whose number runs into hundreds.  It looks precisely because of this big number it took such a long time to complete the  celebrations.

Committee members

To conclude the 125^th Anniversary of Celebrations, a special function was held at the Multipurpose Hall of Art & Culture Department, Patto Plaza, Panjim, Goa, starting at 3.30 PM.  The Chief Guest of this function was Mr. Govind Gaude – Minister for Art & Culture, Government of Goa while veteran and one of the senior most renowned Tiatrists Jessie Dias was the Guest  of Honour.

                                                       Jessie Dias delivering her speech

Among those who spoke there were Tomazinho Cardoso highliting the events taken place in the preceeding months while as the Guest of Honour Jessie Dias speaking her heart highlighted the sacrifices of the yesteryears Tiatrists in the promotion of the Tiatros, infact tears were seen rolling down her cheeks while expressing herself and simultaneously making some in the audience also to cry.   

Minister Govind Gaude

The Chief Guest of the function Mr. Govind Gaude showered abundant praises not only on the Tistrists but also on the Tiatros and further expressed saying that he as an Nattak artiste he gained so much of prominence in his life that finally  helped him to become MLA and Minister.

Thru the hands of the Minister 2 books were released, one “A Report” compiled by Tomazinho Cardoso and the other “TIATRO 125th  Anniversary Commemorative Volume” where some of the committee members penned down their articles on the prominent Tiatrists.

After release of the books

One section of the audience

Fatima D'Souza receiving her Memento

Fausto D'Costa seen receiving his Memento

Another section of the audience

Jude Michael  Gracias with his Memento

Sharon Mazarello with her Memento returning to her seat 

After release of the books.

Finally, a small question to the organisers of this fuction which was the joint venture between the Government of Goa and Tiatro Academy of Goa, how many Tiatrists from Kuwait and other parts of the Gulf were honoured by this 125 Anniversary of Tiatr Celebration Committee?  By the way, did they honour and felicitate any of them?  If not why?  Are they not involved in the promotion of Tiatro from the Gulf? My Gulf friends are am eagerly awaiting an answer from the concerned persons and authority. 

A.Veronica Fernandes.     

NEW TIATRO .". C M." BY MARIANO FERNANDES.

On Sunnday, 16-6-19, I saw the new Tiatro “C.M.” written and directed by the well - known Tiatrist Mariano Fernanndes. It was very well attended by the audience starting at 3.45 pm at Hanuman Theatre, Mapusa where due to the hall being a non-A/c, it was horrible at least in the beginning to cope up with the heat. Not only that it was a non A/c hall but even some of the chairs were found broken and defective requring repairs if not replacement. What is the use of increasing the Ticket charges suddenly astronomically by Rs 50/- from 150/-to 200/-per seat when amenities are not provided properly. 

Moreover, the arrangement for the Stage setting was not done properly because of it one front Curtain fell down needing time to fix it back, while this Curtain was in the process of making it ok, Mike system indicated its mostly irresponsible arrangement on the part of the Management of this Tiatro.  I remember in 1958 when C.Alvares came to Goa to stage his best Tiatro “Axea”, my father and his one local  friend got the contract to show this Tiatro in our village Candolim starting at 10.30 PM.  But C.Alvares was C. Alvares, he was not from the ranks of Ladru & Pedru but  a genius in Tiatro and composing excellent Duets. He was moreover a responsible man as he was an excellent Organiser and to prove this capacity he came at 5.00 PM to the place where “Mattou” arrangement was in progress to stage his Tiatro in another 5.5 hours and from close angle he watched everything was arranged properly and in time.  He told my father who when questioned him politely why he had to come especially only to check the Mattou arrangement when everything is taken care of, replied Alvares, sorry to speak like this but I could not get a nap after my lunch because my whole attention was rolling on Mattou arrangement, of course because I am a responsible director, my audience have confidence in me and this trust to build in me and my audience it took me years besides strong sacrifices.  I cannot take my audience for granted and above all as the director I have my own reponsibilty.

At the start of the Tiatro people started shouting vociferously thereby inflicting fear into the minds and hearts of the attendees thus putting into the minds of the director and the owners of the Hall that “beware, it is too long that this hall is not equipped with sound Mike system.  Gone were the days when Mapusa had the huge  and spacious Mattou of Narvenkar opposite to the Police Station that catered to the needs not only of Mapusa City and its ambient areas but also  many of the villages around Mapusa. It is a pity that the elected representatives from Mapusa are doing nothing much for the betterment of Mapusa.  See, have a round in Mapusa Bazar, everything is filty because elected representatives of Mapusa are filty, they have no interest in doing anything good for Mapusa, it looks they are elected not to serve Mapusa and its citizens but to serve themselves only.       

As announced in the local newspaper the Bollywood actors Dhruv and Rajiv and TV actress Harsha as well as Bollywood singer who performed so well  in this Tiatro were not even introduced to the audience.   The actress Harsha with her two singing items in Konkani mesmerized the audience not only thru her vocals but also thru her attractive appearance and beutiful looks while both the Bollywood artistes  played their respective roles in the play extremely well, one played the role of the CM and the other that of the local politician.  By observing their acting minutely, I found their every move even walk and talk had the mathematical precision.  They brought an extra flavour and grandeur to the Konkani Stage. They were ably supported in their performance by yet another Hindu female artiste Shalini who does the role of the mother of CM who takes the whole Tiatro to the crescendo in the last scene which captures the total attention of the audience.  While taking the story to its zenith, he scolds the current rulers of Goa for doing nothing for the cause of the public when it is so easy to do.   In fact the Konkani Tiatro Stage is brought to the pedestal level by the Hindu artistes also from the time the most renowned among the Hindu artistes, Kamat de Assolna stepped on to  the Konkani Stage somewhere in 1956.  Both the Bollywood artistes as indicated above are also Hindus just as we have so many in Goa who kept the Konkani Stage well decorated.

Mariano in the past was known to bring about some innovations on the Stage but this time not much new nor anything extra ordinary.  However, I cannot remain indicating my admiration for the depiction of the Goa Legislative Assembly where it looked like live session was going on with the display of Benches and Tables as they  are there in the Assembly.  Full credit to Mariano Fernandes for this innovation of which type I never seen before shown by any of the best or mediocre directors.  The scene of the Railway carrying Coal looked very genuine and inducting in this Tiatro the best of yesteryears  artiste Bai Platilda who is still in high demand from the audience, stole the show  by her same old looks, voice, appropriate dress code and smart acting.  She was not only the Comedy Queen of Konkani Stage but was the genius comedian because she gained  a lot of confidence and experience by playing her comedy roles with the then topmost comedians namely Jascinto Vaz, Luis Rod, Wincy of Young Stars of Goa, M. Boyer, Greg de Candolim and many more. We are very fortunate to  have her still with us and attaining the status of “Garamae” she still acts like a teenager. May God give her more years to serve the Konkani Stage. 

The other comedian who is enjoying the lokhpriya status on Konkani Stage is Bai Anita whose daring and robust comedy turns the table upside down.  She played her comedy role very well thereby raising the standard of the play high. 

And the third comedian that inducted into his play by director Mariano Fernandes was Prince of Konkani Stage – Prince Jacob.  In fact Jacob was extremely on high spirit performing very well, even in his own dramas you rarely find him in this atmosphere.  He shouldered the responsibility of the comedy with zeal, dedication and push

Among the singers who rendered their songs well were attractive Maggy, handsome Elvis, Domnick-Platilda-Prince Jacob – Michael (a quarter) and others.

A.Veronica Fernandes.