Entertaining with her melody

Lidvinda Anastasia Clara Correia Dias, better known as Clara on the Konkani stage, was born in Mumbai to Samuel and Deliciosa Correia. Hailing from a family which had nothing to do with tiatrs, Clara would seize every opportunity to watch tiatrs.

When her family returned to Goa, Clara got the opportunity to sing for a band named ‘Cuckoo’. She took up crooning for weddings and other social occasions for almost 3 years. In 1964, late Dominic Vaz from Fatrade along with S L D’Costa welcomed her in his tiatr ‘Sukhti Kedna?’. Clara was provided with a solo ‘Sakrament’, which she rendered in style. Her rendition received an encore. “Applause from the audience, followed by cash prize of Rs 100 was my greatest satisfaction,” she reminiscences.

Antonio Sinferiano, who was a prompter on stage, roped Clara in for several tiatrs of other directors and promoted her in a big way. “During that period, women were hardly seen on stage, with the exception of Josephine, Isalita, Sabina and Anita,” informs this tiatrist.

Usually, those stepping onto the professional stage have prior experience in zomnivhele khells staged during Carnival. But in Clara’s case, her prior understanding and knowledge of crooning before an audience made her garner enough confidence on the Konkani stage.

As time passed by, John Claro introduced Clara in his tiatr ‘Gupit Karann’ and with this tiatr, she was able to make a trip to Mumbai. She recalls her role in that tiatr where she played the character of a sister along with Josephine.

Next in line was Vitorin Pereira who welcomed this tiatrist in his tiatr ‘Upkari’, which was staged at Bangwadi Hall, Mumbai. When Roseferns roped Clara in for his tiatr ‘Thapott’ in 1980, she decided to continue in this director’s troupe for 22 years as she felt that she was being treated like a family member. “It was a family atmosphere at Roseferns’ residence and his wife Succorine always treated me with warmth,” she notes.

After a long stint with one director, Clara decided to try her theatrical skills in two of Maxie Pereira’s tiatrs. And thereafter she had a share in tiatrs staged by directors Mike Mehta, Anil Pednekar, Jack Rodson, Salvador Afonso, C D’Silva, Patrick Dourado, Aristides, Tony Dias, Samuel Carvalho, Mini Mario and others.

Of late, this senior artiste is seen more often in Peter/Roshan’s dramatic troupe. She joined the troupe three years back in tiatr ‘Novro’ and continues till date. “Like Roseferns troupe, I have found another family in Peter/Roshan’s company,” reveals Clara.

Clara enjoys singing and acting on the Konkani stage. Throwing light on her performance on stage, she says she has never composed songs but loves singing compositions of other lyricists. She is also at ease with negative roles and enjoys the challenge. 

Recalling those yesteryears when instant facilities were a distant dream, she says, “Earlier, songs provided by the directors could not be recorded. Once sung by the composer or artiste, they had to be stored in memory, followed by vigorous rehearsals at home. Today, we have them recorded in mobiles, etc and the task becomes easy.” She adds, “In the olden days, there were no lights and mikes on stage, yet the voice of the actors was powerful. All the tasks on stage were carried out with the help of the petromax. Today, the artistes cannot do without the mikes. In their absence, they are helpless.”

“There was a period when non-stop tiatrs prospered and tiatrs encountered a natural death. Of late, tiatrs are prospering and non-stop tiatrs have taken a backseat. The Tiatr Academy of Goa as well as the Department of Art and Culture need to be lauded for their efforts in promoting tiatrs,” says Clara.

Besides the Goa State Cultural Award, Clara has also received appreciation awards on two different occasions and she considers them as her prized possession.      

“When tiatrs were hardly staged in Goa, Goans would eagerly wait for tiatrs coming from Mumbai and those directed by Prem Kumar, Alfred Rose, C Alvares were highly appreciated. Tiatr lovers would also exalt tiatrs of Goan tiatrists like M Boyer, Jacint Vaz, Remmie Colaco for their good script and songs,” Clara informs. “Today, in some of the tiatrs, variety of songs goes amiss as probably those tiatrists who would compose duo, duet, trios and choral are no longer there. In fact, in one of Peter/Roshan’s tiatr, there was a ‘panchko’ rendered by Roshan, Simonica, Felcy, Elvia and myself. It was well accepted by the audience. This shows that the audience long for variety songs, besides good tiatr and comedy,” she concludes.