Eric Ozario – The Last Man Standing Has Left

  •   Tue, Sep 09 2025
  •   By Chris Emmanuel D'Souza

September 9, 2025

"Try and leave this world, a little better than you found it" Robert Baden-Powell. It's fascinating to read eulogies to legendary Konkani activist Eric Ozario that have poured with such warmth and with abundance from people who have been shaped, mentored and crafted by him over several decades. Perhaps, after the iconic Wilfy Rebimbus, Mr. Ozario is by far the biggest name in Konkani music and literary circles in the region. However, What stands out with this man is his efforts to build intuitions, revive and reinvigorate lost traditions, infuse depth and profundity in arts and music and wrestle with established votaries of the language. There isn't much of return in dividends for language spoken by less than 3 million people. Eric Ozario was by far the last man standing in the fight to defend the ethos of Konkani language.

For Mr. Ozario, Konkani was not just the language but his identity, his ethos and his soul... and could go to lengths to fight for its space, resulting in stockpiling more foes than friends. He broke economic, social, religious and geographic boundaries and carried the language and its tenets to the deep corners. He worked to mend the differences in dialects, slangs and accents and celebrate them as a part of diversity. I do remember back in 2005 when Mand Sobhan organised World Konkani Sammelan, they introduced ‘Siddi’ Community and their cultural practices to rest of the Konkani speaking world in the same breath, he vehemently opposed Roman scripture in konkani language and held a permanent disdain towards Goan catholic culture and literature, a perfect anomaly sorts.

It's a common thing for people to exaggerate the achievements of renowned figures in a attempt to flatter and revere their past. Nevertheless, Mr. Ozario was always a courageous activist and a meticulous organizer and not a literary figure of any merit. Eric was a great vocalist and the depth of his vocals remains unmatched in the konkani music world. The greatness of a song should always be judged by two things: How often it is been hummed by people and how long it survives. Eric’s songs have surpassed those goalposts and decades later they have remained popular. There has been never ending debate and spat over the credit of songs in Konkani music industry, where some feel it should be credited to the performer and others argue that ownership remains with the lyricist or composer. Ever since the golden era of Konkani music (Goan and Canara) in the 1960’s to the early 1980’s, the quality and the vibrancy of the tunes and their longevity had taken a nosedive. Eric’s compositions in the 1990’s and 2000’s through his Mand Sobhan group was able to uplift the standards of music and with the help of seasonal song writers was able to bring out some of the finest songs in the language. But, he never penned any of his songs and has never written of anything of significance. He didn't compose any music and only provided the tune! Therefore, Mr. Ozario would go down as relentless activist and an uncompromising idealist who selflessly fought for the cause his identity, his soul: the Konkani language.

 

 

 

 
By Chris Emmanuel D'Souza
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