29 May 2020  |   03:30am IST

Tiatr: The ‘stage’ has shifted to social media

The lockdown has forced tiatr artists to innovate and come out with new ways to stay in touch with their audience. Tiatr’s are now viewed ion Youtube and new OTT platforms

Pio Esteves; café@herald-goa.com

With the threat of the Coronavirus across India, in Goa, the closure of auditoriums in cities for entertainment has badly affected the tiatr industry. The importance of social distancing in these times has resulted in the curtailing of entertainment in the villages.

Many in the business, in order to survive, have found an alternative route. Noted singers of the Konkani stage have done interesting things to stay in the eye of their fans. With tiatrs on stage now not possible, social media has emerged as the second powerful means of entertainment for most of the viewers and tiatr buffs. Easy access to ‘YouTube’ and private channels have enabled many people to make a good choice, subscribe, view and enjoy songs of their favourite singers on the Konkani stage. This is of course in addition to short films and comedy.

During the era of lockdown, Saby de Divar, a noted political singer of the Konkani stage, has already uploaded three songs, namely ‘Seafarers’, ‘Goenchea Saibachi Igorz Moddot, Konn Zobabdar?’ and ‘Goenkar ani Ghanti’ on YouTube and has received an overwhelming response from his fans and tiatr lovers in Goa and abroad. This has been his first attempt and his fourth track ‘Ballot Voting Korith, BJP Jerul Xendtele’ is on its way.

 

“When the lockdown will be lifted and entertainment through tiatrs will be put on the tracks is doubtful,” says Saby de Divar, “and there’s no deadline to it as the goalposts keep shifting. There are so many issues to be touched upon, be it political or social,” he said. “So the only option to create awareness about several issues among people is by uploading songs on YouTube,” Saby de Divar continued. “And what better way can there be to entertain the people and stay in their sight other than staying tuned through songs on social media,” he opined.

 

This political singer is of the strong opinion that the production and sale of CDs are in rapid decline and will no longer exist in the near future. “To produce and release a CD costs around Rs 1 and a half lakh and recovery of expenditure are unguaranteed due to immediate duplication and delay in payment by the sellers” he said.

“Uploading of songs on YouTube will definitely initiate more viewers and fans will look forward to new stuff in the future,” Saby de Divar opines. “Moreover, you get paid for your efforts,” he adds, “if you get 1,000 subscribers for the channel and 10,000 viewers per content.”

 Mini Mario, another singer on the tiatr stage has trodden the same path and has uploaded several of his songs on YouTube, which includes ‘Alleluia’, ‘Corona Virus’ and ‘Online Kestanv’. Soon after the lockdown, he took the bold step of composing, singing and recording songs for his channel.

Mini Mario’s only aim was to showcase his talent on social media and he feels proud to note the increasing viewers and subscribers for his channel. “Due to lockdown and social distancing, there have been several hurdles,” he confesses and added that support from family and friends have made things much easier for him.

 “Some of our tiatrists at times may be short of creative ideas,” Mini Mario says, “but our audiences, especially the younger generation expect something new from us.” “We need to come forward with new ideas. We need to give to the people not what we want, but what they wish and desire from us,” he said.

Willy and Scully have also joined  the social media and their joint effort of uploading their first video of the love song ‘Jivit Fulanim Bhorumia’

 has yielded good results. So has Louis Mascarenhas from Calangute with his cover ‘Dis Udelo’

.

“With the closure of entertainment through tiatrs due to lockdown,” the producer of ‘Dis Udelo’

, Matias Mascarenhas said, “there’s suffocation experienced by tiatrists. And the only way to give vent to their feelings is social media.” “There’s a lot of creativity among tiatrists, but no platform for an outlet. So, out of sheer enthusiasm, with minimum resources, social media is the only and best option to stay tuned and connected with tiatr fans,” he added.

Love song ‘Jivit Fulanim Bhorumia’ received 4,000 viewers within two weeks and Willy specifically mentioned that some artistes are remembered for their songs on social media. “Today, everything has become digitalized and we need to go beyond the tiatr stage. To keep talent moving and the audience connected with us, social media is the best option,” he said.

In the near future, Willy and Scully’s ambition is to upload one song on YouTube within three months and provide 4 songs annually to their viewers and fans.