Maria Gracia Carmina Cardozo, popularly
known as Maria de Candolim on tiatr stage was born on January 27, 1965 in Porvorim to Manuel
Caetano Eulolio Cardozo and Mrs. Maria Lourenco Rodrigues. As a little girl,
Maria was fond of singing, dancing and sports. As she grew up she showed
interest in reading religious books and singing in church choir. Slowly Maria
started taking part in village one act plays written and directed by Anthony
Carvalho and tiatrs of Eugenio and Joao Cardozo from Saipem. She actively
participated in school activities and always won prizes. In 1984-85, she was
declared Best Sportswoman of the year in her school St Thereza’s High School,
Candolim.
Seeing Maria’s keen interest in acting and singing and her love for tiatr, her brother Eugenio Cardozo, who carved himself a name as a reputed tiatrist and also a state-level sportsman, encouraged her by penning lyrics of songs for her which she sang with great zeal and dedication. Her first big break on the tiatr stage came when she was spotted by a noted tiatrist Ceasar D’Mello. She won the hearts of the audience by her singing in ‘Kallo Fator’ and a few other tiatrs of his in competitions, which was followed by Tomazinho Cardozo’s ‘Bhurgim Amchi Girestkai’. This was a turning point in Maria’s career and from then she never looked back. Till today she actively participates in Kala Academy’s Tiatr Competition regularly. These competitions brought her fame and laurels, beside a load of prizes. For Maria, it has become a habit not to return home without bringing a prize with her in almost all the competitions of Kala Academy she has participated till now. She won the 1st Place in singing for four consecutive years. Impressed by her talent, the stalwarts of the Konkani stage like M. Boyer, H. Briton, Alfred Rose, Antonette, Rita Rose, William de Curtorim, C. D’Silva, Succoro de St. Cruz and others cast her in their musical shows.
Maria likes to sing foot-tapping songs and always delivers a sure shot encore. She got an encore even for 12 times for her super hit songs ‘Super Dancer’ and ‘Break Dancer’ with the support of the magical trumpet work of ‘Mestry’ Agnelo Dias and his band. She sings these songs even today at the ripe old age of 50 with equal ease and enthusiasm.
Tomazinho’s ‘Eksiddent’, ‘Hello Uncle’, ‘Goa Going Gone’ Sheikh Amir’s ‘Baijuan’, Ben Evengelisto’s ‘Pez’, Bernard’s ‘Bodlo’, ‘Beddi’, Jr Nelson’s ‘Ghorkar’, ‘Vontt Lagim Kalliz Pois’ produced by Rangmell of Kala Academy, Seby D’Souza’s ‘Mogacho Xevott’ Jerry D’Souza’s ‘Government Vokol’, ‘Konn Foslo’ by Fermeena are few of the names of tiatrs in which Maria has participated. She is also an excellent comedian.
Maria has rendered her voice to various audio albums like Eugenio’s ‘Nach Baba Nach’, Joao Camilo’s ‘Udentichem Gõy’ to name a few. Besides singing she has played lead roles in many tele-films like ‘Dhoni’, ‘Borea Kornneacho Inam’, directed by Anthony Carvalho. She has also acted and recorded her voice as a playback singer in Joe Rose’s film ‘Mariola’. She has also had a stint as a lead singer in the famous band of Emiliano Da Cruz in the late 80s and was a part of two beat groups, namely ‘Sixth Sense’ and ‘Imigination’ in which her son, Florence plays drums.
Born to a family of sportsmen, Maria is the youngest sibling of 5. She has been representing Goa right from her school days, since 1981 in the national championship in the various events which includes 20th National School Games in 1983-84, 28th National Games in Ranchi (Bihar), National Sport Championship for Women, Coimbatore, 9th Women’s National at Gandhinagar, Gujrat and lately in the 35th National Master Athletic Championship held in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu in the year 2014.
She was felicitated by Kala Academy for her contribution towards singing on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Tiatr Festival in the year 2001.