Tiatr Review: 'Xaronnaeta' - by Danny de Ribandar
Courtesy: Navhind Times (J P Pereira)
'Xaronnaeta', (Submission) is the 'tiatr'- that I bagged the second prize at the
Kala Academy Tiatr Competition. 2002. An outstanding play written and directed
by Danny de Ribandar, keeps the audience fully engrossed throughout its run.
Diana, Rima and Zelia are sisters. Diana is a doctor, Rima is employed and Zelia
a student. Rima is secretly in love with Franky. The mother of the three
sisters, Sonia, is hardworking and has brought up the children single handily.
The daughter are told that their father, Donald, was an upright policeman who
died whilst performing his duty whereas in reality he had actually driven the
mother and his four daughters out of the house when he fell in love with a woman
called Bela. One of the daughter dies, as the mother has no money to treat her
sickness. The father re-turns as he has fallen into bad times but the wife does
not want to forgive or accept him back. The daughters want to know who this man
is and even accuse the mother of having an affair with him, as they see him
corning to the house often.
How the daughters discover about the father and the stunning twist in the climax
completes the story of this interesting play.
A well written script, slick direction and natural acting by most of the amateur
cast together with appropriate background music makes this play a treat to
watch. Rosalia Rodrigues (Ribandar) is outstanding as the mother Sonia. Her
portrayal of emotions, whether she is happy or sad are so good and natural. NO
DOUBT SHE WON THE BEST ACTRESS AWARD AT THE COMPETITION. Sandra acts well as
Diana but her dialogue delivery should be a bit slow in some instances: Rosy as
Rima, Aureo as Franky and Luis as Donald emote well but Dynicia as Zelia is a
bit uneasy.
The setting of the entire house by Austin is done well depicting the sitting
room, dining room kitchen and bedroom and good use is made of the different
rooms. The light effects by Sandip are well timed and the special scenes of the
hen looking after her chicks by Inacio are presented well during the opening
song. Music by Agnelo Dias is good and so are some of the songs sung by the
various cast.
A PLAY THAT IS WORTH WATCHING.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Comedian Agostinho's tiatr 'Sir'
Sacrifice for a Cause
- by J P PEREIRA
Comedian Agostinho's tiatr titled 'Sir' was a path breaker when it was released, depicting a tale with a difference. Manfa Video, Margao have released a telefilm of the same drama.
This is a tale of an upright college professor, who sacrifices his happiness and future progress to upkeep his principles, against a rowdy student who later turns into a corrupt and greedy politician. The professor suffers a lot at the hands of the politician but as is said, each one pays for his or her own misdeeds.
A good script from Augustinho and the tight screenplay from Fabian G da Costa keeps the viewer engrossed. The two principal characters are played by Mathew Araujo as the professor and Salu de Loutulim as the politician. Both give wonderful performances, especially Mathew, in the latter half. Others in the cast are Roma, Meena, Osvi Viegas, Samuel Carvalho and Joaquim Cabral, Selvy, Crizon, Benny J Rebello and Agostinho provide lots of humour to offset the seriousness of the main story.
Norman Cardoso provides the music. Yogesh Mandrekar�s photography coupled with Santosh Shetkar's editing adds to the slickness of a well told tale.
A must watch! Do buy your own copy, it is worth it.
(The Navhind Times)
- by J P PEREIRA
Comedian Agostinho's tiatr titled 'Sir' was a path breaker when it was released, depicting a tale with a difference. Manfa Video, Margao have released a telefilm of the same drama.
This is a tale of an upright college professor, who sacrifices his happiness and future progress to upkeep his principles, against a rowdy student who later turns into a corrupt and greedy politician. The professor suffers a lot at the hands of the politician but as is said, each one pays for his or her own misdeeds.
A good script from Augustinho and the tight screenplay from Fabian G da Costa keeps the viewer engrossed. The two principal characters are played by Mathew Araujo as the professor and Salu de Loutulim as the politician. Both give wonderful performances, especially Mathew, in the latter half. Others in the cast are Roma, Meena, Osvi Viegas, Samuel Carvalho and Joaquim Cabral, Selvy, Crizon, Benny J Rebello and Agostinho provide lots of humour to offset the seriousness of the main story.
Norman Cardoso provides the music. Yogesh Mandrekar�s photography coupled with Santosh Shetkar's editing adds to the slickness of a well told tale.
A must watch! Do buy your own copy, it is worth it.
(The Navhind Times)
Tiatrist Grey de Candolim (Fernandes) passes away
Tiatrist Greg passes away
Greg Fernandes, popularly known as Greg de Candolim, acted on the Konkani stage for well nigh 40 years. He was born on March 10,1935, in scenic Candolim. His debut on the stage was in female roles and he excelled in duets. Later on he took to comic and character roles, performing in more than 100 tiatrs. Each of these were performed several times in Goa, Bombay, Pune, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, in East Africa and the Gulf.
Greg, always full of mirth, was the founder member of the Young Stars of Goa and the Konkani Tiatristanchi Sounstha. He had penned several tiatrs including Ximiterint Ekvott. He had also acted in most of the Konkani movies and in a couple of video films.
Even a bypass surgery four years ago could prevent him from acting. Greg expired in Candolim on March 10, 1999, leaving behind his wife Sabina (also a veteran tiatrist) and two sons.
Greg Fernandes, popularly known as Greg de Candolim, acted on the Konkani stage for well nigh 40 years. He was born on March 10,1935, in scenic Candolim. His debut on the stage was in female roles and he excelled in duets. Later on he took to comic and character roles, performing in more than 100 tiatrs. Each of these were performed several times in Goa, Bombay, Pune, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, in East Africa and the Gulf.
Greg, always full of mirth, was the founder member of the Young Stars of Goa and the Konkani Tiatristanchi Sounstha. He had penned several tiatrs including Ximiterint Ekvott. He had also acted in most of the Konkani movies and in a couple of video films.
Even a bypass surgery four years ago could prevent him from acting. Greg expired in Candolim on March 10, 1999, leaving behind his wife Sabina (also a veteran tiatrist) and two sons.
Dr. Franics M. Rebello - Former Editor of NOVEM GOEM no more
Dr F M R no more
The passing away of Dr Francis M Rebello, wellknown gynaecologist from Margao and a staunch Konkani activist on March 30, 1999, has shocked many in Goa. The Goa Union of Journalists have express their shock because Dr Rebello was the former editor of Novem Goem, a unique people's daily in Konkani.
Along with other Konkani lovers, Dr Rebello had worked hard to collect funds through the formation of the Novem Goem Prathishthan. Novem Goem suffered the pangs of survival through troubled times but DR Rebello was one of the few leaders who did not shirk his responsbility and tried his utmost to keep it alive. During his stint as the editor, he displayed a strong commitment to social causes, Konkani language and other humanitarian issues.
He loved Konkani dearly right from his college days at St Xaviers College, Bombay. He was a former president of the Konkani Bhasha Mandall in Goa and was associated with the Konkani Porjecho Avaz.
Dr Rebello leaves behind his wife Dr Sicletica, daughters Dr Gleena, Dr Gleeson and Dr Shomreena. The bereaved family includes his brothers Fr Michael, Adv J S Rebello besides his sisters.
The passing away of Dr Francis M Rebello, wellknown gynaecologist from Margao and a staunch Konkani activist on March 30, 1999, has shocked many in Goa. The Goa Union of Journalists have express their shock because Dr Rebello was the former editor of Novem Goem, a unique people's daily in Konkani.
Along with other Konkani lovers, Dr Rebello had worked hard to collect funds through the formation of the Novem Goem Prathishthan. Novem Goem suffered the pangs of survival through troubled times but DR Rebello was one of the few leaders who did not shirk his responsbility and tried his utmost to keep it alive. During his stint as the editor, he displayed a strong commitment to social causes, Konkani language and other humanitarian issues.
He loved Konkani dearly right from his college days at St Xaviers College, Bombay. He was a former president of the Konkani Bhasha Mandall in Goa and was associated with the Konkani Porjecho Avaz.
Dr Rebello leaves behind his wife Dr Sicletica, daughters Dr Gleena, Dr Gleeson and Dr Shomreena. The bereaved family includes his brothers Fr Michael, Adv J S Rebello besides his sisters.
End of a Legend: Dr Bento Egipsy
End of a Legend: Dr Bento Egipsy
Born on October 27, 1925, in a Calangute family of distinguished medical lineage, Dr Jose Bento do Rosario Souza Egipsy, was one of the seven children of late Clara and late Dr Eduardo Egipsy, the gynaecologist and anaesthesiologist. Dr Bento completed the five-year Licentiate at Escola Medica-Cirurgica de Goa in 1959, and worked as a lecturer in surgery at the GMC and as a health officer in Pernem.
On November 5, 1956, the Portuguese government selected him for overseas study scholarship at the renowned Coimbra University in Portugal. He earned the degree in Medicine and Surgery in such colours that he was selected for three scholarships in a row, which made him a superspecialist surgeon.
With training in cardiovascular surgery at the Centro de Cirurgia Cardio-Vascular da Zona Zul in Lisbon, he assisted its director Dr J Decio Ferreira in operations and experimental surgery. He was awarded the British Council scholarship for training in speciality thoracic surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at Birmingham in England. Dr Bento worked at the Thoracic Surgical Centre at Bromsgrove and was elected member of the Thoracic Surgeons of England.
On his return, he was appointed Surgeon Specialist and redesignated Superintendent of the Sanatorio St Jose at Margao, then the only centre for thoracic surgery in the entire Konkan region. With path-breaking surgeries and the first-ever Pneumomectomy for cancer of the lung and others, young Dr Egipsy shot into prominence, performing thousands of complicated surgeries at the TB Sanatorium and at his own hospital (Casa de Saude). Dr Bento even replaced a part of a patient's lung with a ping-pong ball and amputated a part of the lung to arrest the fast spreading disease. The patient lived into old age.
He leaves behind his widow Tessie. His elder son Dr Ivan is an ENT specialist at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai and the second son Dr Yurii is postgraduating in Obstetrics and Gynaeocology.
When a patient suffering from terminal cancer asked Dr Bento how long he would live, the good doctor told him "longer than me". He was right because he succumbed to coronary blocks, discovered some four years ago by Dr Francisco C Colaco.
But Dr Bento remained ever humble unassuming which endeared him to patients far and wide. Dr Bento updated his knowledge of medicine continuously by pouring over medical journals even after a hard day's work. When Dr Bento breathed his last on February 14, 1999, many wept bitterly because he was a family surgeon to thousands. Doutor Ejipsy readily attended to anyone who knocked at his door at any time of the day and night. They hadn't seen a doctor better and more understanding than him.
Writes Max de Loyola Furtado in Mirror/Herald, "When the pall-bearers lowered the coffin into the final resting place at the Holy Spirit cemetery, on February 15, 1999, it was the internment of an era, the burial of Goa's pioneering spirit, if not the final adieu to a blithe spirit that so adeptly blended medical expertise with missionary charity."
Courtesy: Valmiki Faleiro and Max de Loyola Furtado
Born on October 27, 1925, in a Calangute family of distinguished medical lineage, Dr Jose Bento do Rosario Souza Egipsy, was one of the seven children of late Clara and late Dr Eduardo Egipsy, the gynaecologist and anaesthesiologist. Dr Bento completed the five-year Licentiate at Escola Medica-Cirurgica de Goa in 1959, and worked as a lecturer in surgery at the GMC and as a health officer in Pernem.
On November 5, 1956, the Portuguese government selected him for overseas study scholarship at the renowned Coimbra University in Portugal. He earned the degree in Medicine and Surgery in such colours that he was selected for three scholarships in a row, which made him a superspecialist surgeon.
With training in cardiovascular surgery at the Centro de Cirurgia Cardio-Vascular da Zona Zul in Lisbon, he assisted its director Dr J Decio Ferreira in operations and experimental surgery. He was awarded the British Council scholarship for training in speciality thoracic surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at Birmingham in England. Dr Bento worked at the Thoracic Surgical Centre at Bromsgrove and was elected member of the Thoracic Surgeons of England.
On his return, he was appointed Surgeon Specialist and redesignated Superintendent of the Sanatorio St Jose at Margao, then the only centre for thoracic surgery in the entire Konkan region. With path-breaking surgeries and the first-ever Pneumomectomy for cancer of the lung and others, young Dr Egipsy shot into prominence, performing thousands of complicated surgeries at the TB Sanatorium and at his own hospital (Casa de Saude). Dr Bento even replaced a part of a patient's lung with a ping-pong ball and amputated a part of the lung to arrest the fast spreading disease. The patient lived into old age.
He leaves behind his widow Tessie. His elder son Dr Ivan is an ENT specialist at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai and the second son Dr Yurii is postgraduating in Obstetrics and Gynaeocology.
When a patient suffering from terminal cancer asked Dr Bento how long he would live, the good doctor told him "longer than me". He was right because he succumbed to coronary blocks, discovered some four years ago by Dr Francisco C Colaco.
But Dr Bento remained ever humble unassuming which endeared him to patients far and wide. Dr Bento updated his knowledge of medicine continuously by pouring over medical journals even after a hard day's work. When Dr Bento breathed his last on February 14, 1999, many wept bitterly because he was a family surgeon to thousands. Doutor Ejipsy readily attended to anyone who knocked at his door at any time of the day and night. They hadn't seen a doctor better and more understanding than him.
Writes Max de Loyola Furtado in Mirror/Herald, "When the pall-bearers lowered the coffin into the final resting place at the Holy Spirit cemetery, on February 15, 1999, it was the internment of an era, the burial of Goa's pioneering spirit, if not the final adieu to a blithe spirit that so adeptly blended medical expertise with missionary charity."
Courtesy: Valmiki Faleiro and Max de Loyola Furtado
GOAN MUSIC (4) - by Valmiki Faleiro
GOAN MUSIC (4)
- By Valmiki Faleiro
The British occupied Goa 20-odd years. From 1799. This led to their discovery
of the virtues of Mormugao harbour. Which, in turn, led to the Luso-British project to modernize the port and link it to mainland India by the Western India Portuguese Railway, the rail girdling Goa from Mormugao to Castlerock. Locals resented the British presence.
A mando on this tails an interesting dulpod:
Kira bhaxen pinzreantu ga (Like caged parrots)
Inglez ailo Goantu (The English have arrived in Goa)
Boson ujea’ gaddiantu ga (Sitting in steam-engine trains)
Ankvar cheddvam hankeantum (Unmarried girls in their laps)
Margao’s rail station opened Jan 17, 1887. It was a mile away from the town
centre (‘Mercado de Vasco da Gama,’ now Old Market.) The administration decided to
shift it closer to the new hub. The new market, ‘Mercado Novo de Afonso de Albuquerque’ was inaugurated Dec 5, 1889. The taluka’s main offices – the ‘Camara’
(municipality) and ‘Fazenda’ (revenue office) – were also slated for relocation.
The story is told of the ceremony to lay the foundation stone of that most
grandiose municipal edifice in Goa: of Salcete (by now substantially shrunk in area and population, after Mormugao was carved out for better administration of the port.)
Officials were upbeat about the function. With reason: a grand cash prize was
announced to any woman who would carry the foundation stone to the laying spot –
without a stitch on her body.
The year: 1901. A Medeira damsel from Comba-Margao, driven by either a sense of
wild adventure or a mundane need of the prize money, stepped in to the challenge. At
the appointed morning hour, before the assembled dignitaries and a huge crowd, she
stripped, heaved the stone to the ‘chumboll’ on her head, and delivered it some
distance away at the pit. The audience, initially dumbstruck, went into appreciative
peals of applause.
The Medeira maiden earned not only the prize, but also much approbation for her
natural assets from the assemblage of ‘Pakles’ and local men. Rumour was that
she ended up working at the construction site, hand-pounding limestone for the
mortar of the building. At that desolate site, her fate and that of other female labourers will be better imagined than expressed.
To fund this edifice, Governor Eduardo Augusto Rodrigues Galhardo imposed steep
taxes. (Check coincidences: last Sunday, we saw how a Guv. called ‘Camara’
killed Goa’s Camaras, an Administrator called ‘Faro’ had 23 innocents shot dead, and
now, ‘Galhardo’ meant a spendthrift!)
Public resentment reflected in a mando composed by Arnaldo de Menezes of Raia
(1863-1917), “Kitlem odruxtt amchem vorho.” Its lyrics tell the story better
than any description (translation mine):
Great is our adversity, Goa is finished
Pakles are harassing people because they want to build a municipal house
Inventing all sorts of taxes, they extract them from impoverished people.
Municipal councillors are a gang of thieves
Brains dense as stone, they look like the baker’s pigs
Squeezing taxes, they drink at Cruz’s tavern.
Governor Galhardo skinned people
He came with a gang of white soldiers and emptied the treasury
Galhardo is a genuine buffalo, people’s curses will affect him.
Tragedy has befallen us, we are quite undone
Even Goa’s medical profession turns whites blind with envy
They banned our doctors’ ambulances!
Like the 1890 Margao elections, those of 1854 in Tiswadi had produced another
great mando, ‘Luisinha, mojea Luisinha.’ Intense rivalry between whites and natives
led to the killing of a Mestiço (mixed-blooded) Portuguese army captain, Joaquim Garcez Palha, a contestant who went to Divar to rig the polls. It describes how he was soundly spanked and his body quartered (in the compound of a local church.)
The dekni, “Custoba, miraxi Indiecho" is about legendary Kustoba Rane and the
dulpod, "Farar far" on the confrontation between the Portuguese and the feudals of
Sattari.
There are hundreds of mandos, dulpods and deknis – most are pages from Goa’s
past. Let’s end on a lighter note.
Salcete’s traditional Brahmin-Kshatriya superiority syndrome manifested itself
in strange ways. Benaulim, the only Brahmin village in a Kshatriya-dominated Salcete
coast, had a running feud with adjoining Colva over the “Benaulim Monte.” Old texts
indicated it belonged to Colva. The Banalcares were not impressed. Both sides petitioned everyone from Governor in Panjim to King in Lisbon. They finally agreed to have the matter resolved at the Salcete Court.
Despite overwhelming evidence produced by Colva, Benaulim won the case.
Banalcares produced just one piece of clinching evidence: the old dulpod, “Bannaleche monti socolorodtai kole!”
(To conclude.)
HERALD / August 31, 2008
- By Valmiki Faleiro
The British occupied Goa 20-odd years. From 1799. This led to their discovery
of the virtues of Mormugao harbour. Which, in turn, led to the Luso-British project to modernize the port and link it to mainland India by the Western India Portuguese Railway, the rail girdling Goa from Mormugao to Castlerock. Locals resented the British presence.
A mando on this tails an interesting dulpod:
Kira bhaxen pinzreantu ga (Like caged parrots)
Inglez ailo Goantu (The English have arrived in Goa)
Boson ujea’ gaddiantu ga (Sitting in steam-engine trains)
Ankvar cheddvam hankeantum (Unmarried girls in their laps)
Margao’s rail station opened Jan 17, 1887. It was a mile away from the town
centre (‘Mercado de Vasco da Gama,’ now Old Market.) The administration decided to
shift it closer to the new hub. The new market, ‘Mercado Novo de Afonso de Albuquerque’ was inaugurated Dec 5, 1889. The taluka’s main offices – the ‘Camara’
(municipality) and ‘Fazenda’ (revenue office) – were also slated for relocation.
The story is told of the ceremony to lay the foundation stone of that most
grandiose municipal edifice in Goa: of Salcete (by now substantially shrunk in area and population, after Mormugao was carved out for better administration of the port.)
Officials were upbeat about the function. With reason: a grand cash prize was
announced to any woman who would carry the foundation stone to the laying spot –
without a stitch on her body.
The year: 1901. A Medeira damsel from Comba-Margao, driven by either a sense of
wild adventure or a mundane need of the prize money, stepped in to the challenge. At
the appointed morning hour, before the assembled dignitaries and a huge crowd, she
stripped, heaved the stone to the ‘chumboll’ on her head, and delivered it some
distance away at the pit. The audience, initially dumbstruck, went into appreciative
peals of applause.
The Medeira maiden earned not only the prize, but also much approbation for her
natural assets from the assemblage of ‘Pakles’ and local men. Rumour was that
she ended up working at the construction site, hand-pounding limestone for the
mortar of the building. At that desolate site, her fate and that of other female labourers will be better imagined than expressed.
To fund this edifice, Governor Eduardo Augusto Rodrigues Galhardo imposed steep
taxes. (Check coincidences: last Sunday, we saw how a Guv. called ‘Camara’
killed Goa’s Camaras, an Administrator called ‘Faro’ had 23 innocents shot dead, and
now, ‘Galhardo’ meant a spendthrift!)
Public resentment reflected in a mando composed by Arnaldo de Menezes of Raia
(1863-1917), “Kitlem odruxtt amchem vorho.” Its lyrics tell the story better
than any description (translation mine):
Great is our adversity, Goa is finished
Pakles are harassing people because they want to build a municipal house
Inventing all sorts of taxes, they extract them from impoverished people.
Municipal councillors are a gang of thieves
Brains dense as stone, they look like the baker’s pigs
Squeezing taxes, they drink at Cruz’s tavern.
Governor Galhardo skinned people
He came with a gang of white soldiers and emptied the treasury
Galhardo is a genuine buffalo, people’s curses will affect him.
Tragedy has befallen us, we are quite undone
Even Goa’s medical profession turns whites blind with envy
They banned our doctors’ ambulances!
Like the 1890 Margao elections, those of 1854 in Tiswadi had produced another
great mando, ‘Luisinha, mojea Luisinha.’ Intense rivalry between whites and natives
led to the killing of a Mestiço (mixed-blooded) Portuguese army captain, Joaquim Garcez Palha, a contestant who went to Divar to rig the polls. It describes how he was soundly spanked and his body quartered (in the compound of a local church.)
The dekni, “Custoba, miraxi Indiecho" is about legendary Kustoba Rane and the
dulpod, "Farar far" on the confrontation between the Portuguese and the feudals of
Sattari.
There are hundreds of mandos, dulpods and deknis – most are pages from Goa’s
past. Let’s end on a lighter note.
Salcete’s traditional Brahmin-Kshatriya superiority syndrome manifested itself
in strange ways. Benaulim, the only Brahmin village in a Kshatriya-dominated Salcete
coast, had a running feud with adjoining Colva over the “Benaulim Monte.” Old texts
indicated it belonged to Colva. The Banalcares were not impressed. Both sides petitioned everyone from Governor in Panjim to King in Lisbon. They finally agreed to have the matter resolved at the Salcete Court.
Despite overwhelming evidence produced by Colva, Benaulim won the case.
Banalcares produced just one piece of clinching evidence: the old dulpod, “Bannaleche monti socolorodtai kole!”
(To conclude.)
HERALD / August 31, 2008
Preserving Goan Music
Preserving Goan Music
Mr Valmiki Faleiro writes of the past in one of Goa�s leading English dailies. His writing makes knowledgeable reading for the present day generation. In the last few series he has written of Goans in the fiels of drama. We have missed seeing most of the tiatr stalwarts of the yesteryears. They have excelled with God given talent and left behind a great heritage to make Goa proud. Their contribution to Konkani is immense and unforgettable. Even today, the All India Radio gives two hours of daily coverage to local Konkani artists much to the delight of the Goans. Time ravages everything leaving behind only traces of history. Goan music is a rare heritage, which must be protected and preserved for posterity.
A SEQUEIRA, Salvador do Mundo
(The Navhind Times)
http://www.navhindtimes.com/story.php?story=2008092359
Mr Valmiki Faleiro writes of the past in one of Goa�s leading English dailies. His writing makes knowledgeable reading for the present day generation. In the last few series he has written of Goans in the fiels of drama. We have missed seeing most of the tiatr stalwarts of the yesteryears. They have excelled with God given talent and left behind a great heritage to make Goa proud. Their contribution to Konkani is immense and unforgettable. Even today, the All India Radio gives two hours of daily coverage to local Konkani artists much to the delight of the Goans. Time ravages everything leaving behind only traces of history. Goan music is a rare heritage, which must be protected and preserved for posterity.
A SEQUEIRA, Salvador do Mundo
(The Navhind Times)
http://www.navhindtimes.com/story.php?story=2008092359
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