Remember those days sitting by the
radio and listening to one’s favourite songs or programmes that promoted one’s
favourite film stars. They are all forever etched in one’s minds and have
perhaps slipped into one’s subconsciousness but they are still there. Now as
the world grabbles with this coronavirus, memories from a different age are
being pulled back to center stage.
As Doordarshan showcases serials
from the ’80s and the ’90s, All India Radio, Panjim has been doing something
similar. It has uploading radio plays from the days before liberation to the
seventies, eighties, and later. Plays like Avoi Bapaichem Aikat, Fantodd
Kirnam, Jache Hatant Steering, Pratimabhang, Ghorabo and Azro
Zai to name just a few. Savio de Noronha, Programming Executive
AIR said this was an initiative by the CEO of Prasar Bharati to bring the
world of iconic radio plays to its listeners and viewers. He said air stations
around the country had joined hands to launch radio plays in different
languages so as to enable not only people in India, but the Indian community
around the world to enjoy some great productions of the past and present.
Noronha said Shashi Shekhar
Vempati, CEO Prasar Bharati felt that giving the country some treasures of the
past on AIR and DD would be a boon to the people of India during the lockdown
period. So, heeding CEO’s call and encouraged by the Zonal Head Shri Neeraj
Agarwal, along with a team consisting of Bambino Dias, Cher Fernandes, Lourdes
Soares, Norman Fernandes, Rheanne da Silva, a brainstorming session was
conducted and it was decided to work on this as quickly as possible, well past
midnight on certain days. Savio said “Besides this format being unique to AIR,
we had to ensure that the digital generation of today has to understand what
it’s all about. So, the team worked on some graphics and descriptions wherein
we could properly explain this concept in a way that the You Tubers of today
can easily understand and be entertained. So, when our CEO, Prasar Bharati
personally tweeted about these Iconic Konkani Radio Plays, it was a moment to
celebrate.”
Saish Deshpande who was involved in
the recording of these plays in the ’90s said it was an interesting but
backbreaking experience for him. He said “Those days I would record, mix, edit,
conduct rehearsals. In the earlier spell, it would take two days to edit the
plays. It was physically painful. We used to record on a spool, then edit
on the spool and even mix sound effects on the spool. We could only do one
thing at a time. It was a tougher job then. Today we are recording it
digitally, I miss the warmth in dialogue delivery which was obvious in the
recording then”.
Many of the plays uploaded were
first aired by Emissora de Goa (the name of the radio station during Portuguese
rule in Goa). Consisting of nataks and musical plays
their immense popularity meant the tradition was continued after the advent of
All India Radio in liberated Goa post-1961. Radio Plays are still a part of
AIR’s broadcasts. The nataks are plays consisting of a story
divided into smaller scenes. While they may or may not have songs and music,
they convey important & meaningful social messages in a very innovative way
while also re-enacting a lot of stories that have become a part and parcel of
local Goan folklore.
The musical plays on the other hand
called Sangeet Khell in Konkani, is a unique & popular form of plays with
the story intertwined with songs that have a local flavour. It’s a radio
adaptation of the very popular Goan form of drama called Tiatro.
The lyrics & music of all the songs called ‘Cantos’ are original
compositions.
Noronha ended by saying the radio
station intended to keep broadcasting interesting content to ensure interest
stayed high and people would continue to learn more about their
culture.