This has reference to the disruption of Tiatro on 11th of this month at Margao when famous tiatrist Francis de Tuem was rendering his solo.
First of all I condemn those who went to attack the singer who by using all his democratic rights singing his song. However, those who felt hurt by his song, by using civilized methods they could easily file a defamation suit against the singer. Francis de Tuem is not an ordinary artiste to merit such an ugly treatment, his fame as the best political singer is gone even beyond Goan and Konkani borders.
A year back when I returned from Kuwait for good, I was interviewed by the Google representative in India based in Bangalore, on Tiatros and the first question posed to me was this: “what you think of Francis de Tuem as a political singer” surprising me of being aware of his fame reaching even to the corridors of Google.
Tiatro basically is an art that challenges the brute might of any individual, government, community or caste. It is a fight for justice against the brute might of the strongest over the weakest. The legendary tiatrist Minguel Rod played a major role in this battle from the tiatro stage by challenging the brute might of the landlords and Brahmins and brought lot of changes in our society.
Kid Boxer, Trio Kings of Conception-Nelson-Anthony and William de Curtorim have been known as the best political singers of Konkani stage. In order to express their genuine feelings they have suffered so much from the hands of governments and their opponents. In late fifties in Bombay, Kid Boxer was arrested for singing a song which was considered as Pro-Portuguez and then deported to Goa because of which he lost his lucrative job at Central Railways. After the invasion of Goa, again he was arrested in Goa and Bombay for singing songs which were considered as anti-Bharat.
Today our Goan society has made tremendous improvements only because of the Tiatros which proved to be corrective instruments and the Side Show songs played major role. At political level what elected representatives failed to do, Tiatrists did and Francis de Tuem played his part well in improving the character of many of our corrupt politicians.
A.Veronica Fernandes,
Candolim, Goa.
Tel: 7507394349.