Joe bab, I just heard this year there were not much khells as most of them were booked by the politicians. and going thru your videos, I dont think they are anywhere near the old khells which were 100 times better...I doubt the new generation will ever get to see the type of khells we have seen....Here below is short account i wrote for Goanet in 2006...with slight changes...
Khell, Khell-tiatr ani Carnival The good old days, here is a short account of the zomni khell during the Carnival in my village, Chinchinim. Zomniche khell were mostly popular during Carnival (Intruz) and Paskanchem fest (Easter). After the New year and three kings feast, people eagerly waited for Carnival because of the khells, especially in the villages of Salcete. In Chinchinim, there are 15-20 wards or Vaddos. Each Vaddo has a place called 'Mandd',which was usually located close to a Chapel which was surrounded by trees. Khell was mostly performed at the "mandd" or near Regidor's residenceand sometimes in pvt homes if they could afford.(mostly tarvotti )The ward committee members collected a small amount (Rs 5 at my time) from each house to pay for the performers of the khell. A Khell was formed by a group of artists. The head or the writer/director was called ‘Mestri’ and other participants were khellgaddi. The band consisted of player of instruments like drum, trumpet, clarinet and at times a banjo. With the exception of band members, all other members of the troupe wore a colourful uniform. There were no ladies taking part in the khell, but some gents enacted ladies’ role; they wore a sari or a dress. Anita Pereira from Chinchinim was the first girl to act in a khell called "Mundkar Nores'. The famous khell groups came mostly from the coastal villages of Carmona,Varca, Orlim, Marjorda Benaulim, Colva, Betalbatim, besides some groups from Chinchinim, Verna and St. Jose de Areal. In those days, they mostly travelled on foot from one village to another and/or from one ward to another. In the late 70's and 80's, they started travelling by mini buses or open tempos. Wherever they traveled, they always played music .. the drum, snare drum, trumpet and clarinet. When a khell reached a 'mandd', the ward members negotiated the price of an act/play..depending on the popularity of the group. If a group was famous one,then they would agree for two acts/plays. At times when the mestri or ward members could not reach an agreement, the troupe would leave the'mandd' but not without singing one or two songs at the 'mandd'; this was togive respect for the 'mandd'. If they reached an agreement, they would give time for the mestri to start the play till most ward people arrived. As kids, the moment we heard the beat of the drum, we used to run, leaving whatever work we did, and so did our elders. At the mandd a round circle was formed and the children had to sit on the ground; the elders stood around them. Some would get chairs if their houses were close by; others would make it on treetops..madd or ambe. One got to see many khell in my ward ‘Dandeavaddo’ in Chinchinim as it islocated on the main junction of Cuncolim-Sarzora road and close to Chinchinim bazaar. The khell would start with an Imno - opening chorus, wherein the khellgaddi would stand in two rows in front of the band and introduce themselves, and the act that was to follow. After the Imno, they would stand in a circle and then start the play with dialogues, followed by a song which was sung in two pitches. – primeiro and segundo. The songs were mostly related to the story or dialogue. At the end of the song, if the act required them to visit another house, they would say: “Atam hanv kit kortolom?” .. “Matxe bazrant voitolom or Jaki ghor voitolom” and then as he starts to walk, the band would play. If there was a policeman, the popular police march would follow..for a batkar a decent tune and if a comedian..a comic tune. The plays were mostly based on short stories..on family.. bhatkars..kunbis, Akbar and Birbal etc. Children were fascinated with the 'Rakhos' or Rakesh...(Giant ) part wherein the actor would wear a black dress covering his whole body fromhead to toe with a tail hanging from behind...his opening dialouge would be...ha ha ha anv rakhos...maka pel munxeacho vas yeta..:) At times there would be 2-3 groups waiting to perform at the same "mandd". Whenever we heard that another khell arrived there used to be some commotion...and then the ward commitee members would stop the play for a few moments n announce "Bosai Bosai..ho khell somptoch dusro nachtolo"' (sit sit after this play gets over the next one will start) To know where the khells are performing one had to keep an ear on the drum beats or ask the passerby on cycles...arey khell fuim nachota..(where are the khells performing)... n they would reply...dandevaddo mandar nachta or Olinda tinga nachta (khell is going on at dandeavaddo or at Olind auntys place) or simply follow the khellgadi where ever they perform. This way, all the 3 days of Intruz would go on. But their performance was best on the first and the second day, as by the third day they would be exhausted and their voices would become rough. There was khell competition during the Carnival, which was performed onstage. The competition was mostly with rival groups; whoever won, was awarded a big trophy(cup). The handbills and the boards would show both the parties pulling on the cup from both sides. In course of time, these competitions were with theTiatros. The first to perform was a tiatro, a short one, and then a khell...ultimately it gave rise to what is now called ‘Khell Tiatr’. Mestri Kuddo Minguel from Chinchinim was famous for the ‘opari’; also Sucor Piedadefrom Verna. There was another mestri from Carmona..Anton Marie whose khells with emotional dialogues and opari mesmerized the hearts of the people.... Francis Mestri from Durga was famous for his songs while Buk Buko from Chinchinim and Xempea Minguel from Benaulim made the people laugh. Mestri Niclau Marian from Nesai and Santiago Pereira from Padde khells werealso good. The only Hindu to act in khells in those days was Gunno fromChandor. Marian from Vhodlem Bhatt Benaulim and Don Toklo from Colva were also very famous mestris, besides the well known Xalibai, F.Coloi and Bhataghotto. Antonio Moraes .. well known as A. Moraes was the first to make changes and take the zomni khell on the stage...and there after the best of the Khells were seen on stage; the famous groups refused to perform on the ground; they performed only on stage...Vitorin Pereira, Patrick Dourado and Ligorio Fernandes were famous on stage. Slowly, these khells were aired on Akashwani as 'Lokham khell'. It was in the early 70's, the late Rosario Rodrigues came up with a non-stopshow...'Ekech Ratri ani Ami Fator'. This show was well received by the people for its powerfull dialouges, comedy, acting and it completed more than 150 shows in Goa and Mumbai. From then on, every show of Rosario was a hit! I can say that Rosarios non-stop shows brought an end the Bomboikar Tiatrists. A lot of changes have been made from the original zomni khell to the present Tiatro, but the smaller groups still perform the zomni khell, ofcourse with the changes as ones I have seen in the videos with new changes. The present day Tiatr is a combination of the old zomni khell and tiatr, in that the Khell had songs which were related to the story, whereas in a tiatr, the songs sung were not related to the story. Some of the current well known khell-tiatrs who have changed to tiatrs are are Prince Jacob, Mario Menezes,Roseferns, Menino Mario..Jose Rod, etc. Dev Borem Korum Edward Verdes Chinchinim/KSA ----- Original Message ----- From: "JoeGoaUk" <joego...@yahoo.co.uk> To: <goa...@goanet.org> Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 7:57 AM Subject: [Goanet] Carnival Khell or Folk Play - Then and now Carnival Folk Play It's sort of musical street play with brass band. It's the oldest form of Konkani Drama and still going strong. Kell Tiatr and the present form of popular Tiatr originated from here. Those days, presenting Khell was more of showing one's talents for a little money or no money. Nowadays, it has become commercial. Those days one could afford for just Rs.50 but now you won't get it for even Rs.5000. There are so many producers, most of them regulars, some even have up to three groups under one director with 9 different groups/plays. Some even go house to house to seek any prospective customers for booking. Yet some will take on one or two stage professionals and raise the fees to up to 12K 3 plays (each about 40 mins duration) charges range from Rs.6000 to 12,000. And they stage upto 5x3 plays a day earning around 30K to 60K per day. They say their play (Parti) is of 60 minutes duration each but they know how to do the same in just 30 minutes each. They never arrive on time always delays 2-4hrs yet they are always in a hurry to go.. During Carnival festival they can perform up to 18x3 plays in 4 days i.e. sat/sun/mon/tue which means earning from 108K to 216K (av. being 120K) Music also slowly changing. Earlier, with trumpet, clarinet, banjo and drum set. Now you will see electronic keyboard too with background music etc as can be seen in this clip. Where as, there are some khell with just an electric organ with no brass band/instrument at all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1NVJFnhQfw Actors. Those days only male used to perform female roles e.g. Xalibai etc Now, young ladies are introduced including kids. Popular kellgollists of my time were - Xalibai, Bata Cotto, Koloi etc Minin de Bandar first started on Zomni voile khell with Peter de Benaulim and his two sisters etc. I still remember his 3 controversial play titles with ambiguity DI TEKA LAITANA DHORLO UBAN DILEM It seems, he has now given up on khells ----- Original Message ----- From: "JoeGoaUk" <joego...@yahoo.co.uk> To: <goa...@goanet.org> Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 7:57 AM Subject: [Goanet] Carnival Khell or Folk Play - Then and now Carnival Folk Play It's sort of musical street play with brass band. It's the oldest form of Konkani Drama and still going strong. Kell Tiatr and the present form of popular Tiatr originated from here. Those days, presenting Khell was more of showing one's talents for a little money or no money. Nowadays, it has become commercial. Those days one could afford for just Rs.50 but now you won't get it for even Rs.5000. There are so many producers, most of them regulars, some even have up to three groups under one director with 9 different groups/plays. Some even go house to house to seek any prospective customers for booking. Yet some will take on one or two stage professionals and raise the fees to up to 12K 3 plays (each about 40 mins duration) charges range from Rs.6000 to 12,000. And they stage upto 5x3 plays a day earning around 30K to 60K per day. They say their play (Parti) is of 60 minutes duration each but they know how to do the same in just 30 minutes each. They never arrive on time always delays 2-4hrs yet they are always in a hurry to go.. During Carnival festival they can perform up to 18x3 plays in 4 days i.e. sat/sun/mon/tue which means earning from 108K to 216K (av. being 120K) Music also slowly changing. Earlier, with trumpet, clarinet, banjo and drum set. Now you will see electronic keyboard too with background music etc as can be seen in this clip. Where as, there are some khell with just an electric organ with no brass band/instrument at all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1NVJFnhQfw Actors. Those days only male used to perform female roles e.g. Xalibai etc Now, young ladies are introduced including kids. Popular kellgollists of my time were - Xalibai, Bata Cotto, Koloi etc Minin de Bandar first started on Zomni voile khell with Peter de Benaulim and his two sisters etc. I still remember his 3 controversial play titles with ambiguity DI TEKA LAITANA DHORLO UBAN DILEM It seems, he has now given up on khells Audience for Khell Now, you do not see that many crowd for Carnival Khell. Carnival Floats parades to blame. Carnival Floats organized in almost all Goa cities. E.g. Panjim, Margao, Vasco, Mapusa, Calangute, Ponda, Curtorim etc. More and more cities/villages ae added every year. Youngster prefer going to Floats. TV/CABLE is also to blame. Besides Floats, there are some Tiatr too during Carnival. Recently, another form just emerged ‘ Musical Shows’ with stage/tiatr professionals. There were at least two such groups doing rounds during this carnival viz. Cony M and Lawry Travasso. Yet some films (VCDs) are also screened in some villages e.g ‘Friends’ by Joywin. If you wish to sponsor a khell it would cost you around 10,000 minimum (including say 300 chairs (Rs.1000), Sound system (around Rs.800) and other basic publicity material like posters/banners etc. However, a tiatr would cost you around 12K, plus 9K for stage/chairs 600/mike/generator/publicity etc Khell (Zomni voile Khell) are very popular in the south Goa e.g. Salcette, Mormugoa, Quepem, Sanguem etc However, I read about khell performances in the north like St. Cruz, Merces etc If I could change things (as a sole authority), I would have banned Carnaval Floats all over Goa. However, due to it popularity amongst the tourists (become a tourist attraction), I would restrict such floats to just two i.e. one in North Goa on Sunday (Panjim) and one in South Goa Saturday (Margao). Also, I would put an age restrictions to all float participants particularly girls to 18 years and above. LONG LIVE TRADITIONAL CARNAVAL or INTRUZ Now, watch this 'Carnival Khell' clip of 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1NVJFnhQfw Some pics Khell http://www.flickr.com/photos/joegoauk17/3305125516/ Brass band http://www.flickr.com/photos/joegoauk17/3304302317/ Local folks (the audience) http://www.flickr.com/photos/joegoauk17/3305127818/ with Kunnbi dance http://www.flickr.com/photos/joegoauk13/2247161499/sizes/l/ Intruz - Toppio, cheppim, Rupnnim (Caps and masks) http://www.flickr.com/photos/joegoauk11/2229697865/sizes/o/ Note: There are many khell clips uploaded in the prev. years at youtube etc. joego...@yahoo.co.uk for Goa & NRI related info... http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/GOAN-NRI/ For Goan Video Clips http://youtube.com/joeukgoa In Goa, Dial 1 0 8 For Hospital, Police, Fire etc
