One of the main reasons for the popularity of the ongoing Konkani movie Nachum-ia kumpasar is the songs rendered by Lorna Cordeiro and all but one or two of these songs were composed by Chris Perry. I heard Lorna’s first recorded Konkani album and I also her singing live on stage when she appeared first time on Konkani stage at Mapusa in the tiatro ‘Nouro Mozo Devchar’ written and directed by her guide and mentor Perry. During that time it was like a Lorna wave when her voice appeared in the Konkani album.
Would Chris Perry attain such a name and fame without Lorna? And would Lorna attain such majestic popularity without Chris Perry? My answers are: I doubt.
Chris Perry was an excellent musician, excellent trumpeter but to the core he was an excellent tiatrist. Only after Lorna did his tiatr come to the fore aggressively and surprised all other tiatrists of that time. That he was such a magnificent composer of songs with nostalgic tunes and with an apt musical score was proved without any doubt by listening to all his songs rendered through the angelic voice of the one and only, Lorna. I don’t think these songs would have created such a magic if sung by some other stage artiste.
In this musical activity, their chemistry worked very well and because of their perfect fusion there was a revolution not only on the Konkani stage but also on the Konkani movement as a whole. Lorna’s voice even captured the minds, hearts and tongues of Marathi supporters in Goa at a time when the language issue was playing on the minds of Goans.
By signing a long-term contract with Lorna and later on denying her freedom to move on her own way by citing her contractual obligation, did Chris Perry do good for Konkani musical art and serve the Konkani cause? To promote Konkani cause especially at that critical juncture when we were fighting for Konkani recognition to get separate statehood for Goa, Lorna’s presence on musical platform was very imperative to sway the tide in our favour. But Chris Perry failed to recognize this important fact and remained adamant by sticking to the contract. Heaven would not fall if he had to bend down his rigid principle.
By being lenient he could have allowed Lorna to move on her own way separately at least for the sake of Konkani. But no, on the contrary he remained rigid to his contract only as if Konkani cause was secondary and Konkani cause was not his priority. It looked like the Konkani cause did not exist for him because even by working in Dubai his financial contribution to the Konkani movement was nothing, at least to my knowledge.
