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WORLD IS A STAGE - Pramod Kale The Opening Chorus Scene from C. Alvares tiatr Kortub Avoichem L to R: Alfred Rose, Anthony Mendes, Andrew Fernandes, Jacint Vaz, Remmie Colaco, C. Alvares, Miss Mohana, Souza Ferrao, Vincent de Saligao, Effie Fernandes, Master Vaz and Anthony de Sa. The historical experience of Goas four and half centuries of political, social and cultural domination by a European nation has given the Goan population an identity distinct from the rest of India. The British presence in India was of a shorter duration and much more diffuse. In Goa, the Portuguese influence was direct and radical, affecting the population as a whole, at all levels. This is especially true of the three districts of Velhas Conquistas (Old Conquests) - Ilhas (Tiswadi), Bardez, and Salcette. Most Contemporary generalisations and stereotype image of Goa and Goan society are based on the culture of these districts. The Novas Conquistas (New Conquests), although larger in terms of area, have a somewhat different cultural aspect. While complete assimilation and Europeanisation was attempted by a few very well-placed and well-connected native Christian families (whose members were professionals such as lawyers, doctors and educators) and while administrators began to share the power and the prestige of the colonial elite, the majority of the Christian population retained elements of their pre-Christian indigeneous traditions in some form or other as part of their newly evolving culture. Among the numerous cultural performances of Goa partaking of both indigenous and European transplanted traditions, the most popular and vibrantly alive is the Konkani language tiatr. It is a form which is rooted in the working class and lower middle class Goan Catholic population living in Goa or outside expressing their trails and tribulations, hopes and aspirations. Tiatr is a unique performing arts genre. It has elements of drama, music, comedy and improvisation. In a typical Tiatr performance, there is a loose story line, which runs through the show. It is punctuated by side shows – irreverant and improvisational material consisting of songs - solos, duets, and choruses (chantars), dances, comic skits and monologues - all this to the accompaniment of a very loud Goan steel band which sits between the audience and the performers. The plots of these dramas are contemporary. For the most part the situations are set within the framework of family and domestic life. Their structure is episodic, each individual scene being a more or less independent unit within an ongoing generalized framework. They play upon the emphathic response of the audience - especially of the women. The plays works within a strictly Goan Christian moral context and reflect a complex set of attitudes which include, amonst others, an intense regional national pride of Goa and things Goan, a strong belief in the sanctity of family life and an abiding faith in God and his church. The language of the tiatr is Konkani as it is spoken in the Bardez district. But the relationship between tiatr and Konkani is much deeper. Tiatr can be said to be the celebration of Konkani. For tiatr audience, Konkani is not merely a language, a medium of communication, but a cause, a totemic symbol, a flag to rally around in fighting battles with the establishment and authority. At tiatr performances, the most enthusiastic and rousing response is reserved for cantorists (singers) who stand up and call the Konkani speakers to rouse themselves to fight battles for Mother Konkani, so that she gets her rightful place as an official language in the eight schedule of the Indian constitution. In spite of the immense popularity of tiatr, not enough attention has been paid to it by critics, scholars or researchers. The few articles in the English and Konkani popular press are somewhat cursory and superficial, given to quick overviews an incantation of well known names of writers and performers. This neglect is partly due to the scorn with which an influential section of Goan population regards this popular entertainment as being a vulgar expression of low taste. The very fact that tiatr is the most vibrantly alive and commercially successful theatrical entertainment of the Goans demands serious attention and inquiry into what makes it so. Popularity of this form suggests the existence of share, common code of values, attitudes, perceptions of the self and world between the encoders (the performancers) and the decoders (the audience). These common code, are a part of the context (the historical background, the social and cultural institutions) and the text (tiatr performances themselves). The study looks upon theatre primarily as a social institution and upon communication in theatre as a social act. Although theatrical performance has many elements in common with other public performance such as the circus, magic, ritual, acrobatic and martial art displays, in tiatr the enactment (mimetic presentation) of a story through action, words and music appears to be the most important constituent of theatrical performance. Tiatr and Konkani Joao Agostinhos tiatr was a reformist movement in the last decade of the 19th centuary. Agostinho himself was a Charado and an educated man. It was his disgust with the vulgarity of the Zagors performed in Bombay by the Goan clubs for more than three quarters of a century before him, that led him to experiment with and launch a new form of theatrical presentation. Although the texts of his plays are not extant, from the praise they received from being high minded and moral (as against later tiatrs which are condemned like the earlier Zagors which they were supposed to replace as being vulgar and cheap, pandering to low taste) one can assume that the laugage used for dialogue was a refined version of the Bardez dialect. The language of the tiatr even today is Bardezi no doubt, but it is not the Bardezi of the actual colloquial speech. It is a stage Bardezi (written and spoken mostly by Salcette writers and actors) delivered in intonation patterns and cadences which have more to do with the convention and artifice of the stage than the actual speech of the people. It is in the sideshows that the comedians use and play with the colloquial and natural elements of the language. It must be mentioned that the more popular khell-tiatrs of the present day show a tendency towards naturalism in dialogue. The Hindu Konkani, the so-called Antruzi dialect espoused by V.R. Varde Valaulicar (Shenoy Goembab) as a literary vehicle has had very little to do with the Konkani used in the past and present in the performance of tiatr. Konkani used in tiatr is thus a stage language based partly on the actual speech of the Bardez Catholics and partly on the high sounding, declamatory, formal Konkani adopted for public discourse especially form the pulpit. This artificialality does not seem to affect adversely the popularity of tiatr. The new Konkani drama (nattok), on the other hand, consciously using the rhythms of natural colloquial Konkani seems to have very little popular appeal as performance, though respected as literature. Questions or Comments? Please write to us
at: thegoanreview@goa-world.com Special
Thanks for the arrangements: Gaspar Almeida |
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