Seeking greener pastures, Raphael Noel from Macazana paved his way to Cayman Islands in
2006. But he carried with him rich Goan art and culture and promoted it there
to the best of his ability.
Born on June 24, 1961, Raphael Noel sought
primary education at the government school in Girdolim, Chandor and completed
it at the government school in Macazana. From childhood, he enjoyed singing
Konkani songs at leisure and rendered them while making a trip to the nearby
hill in the village.
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Raphael had three mates, namely late
Francis Monteiro from Girdolim, late Joe from Macazana and Milagres de Chandor
who motivated him to make an entry into the tiatr field. “While schooling,”
Raphael shared, “Francis penned three tiatrs, namely ‘Duddvanchi Axea’, ‘Pap’
and ‘Tujem Aikon’ and staged them in Chandor.” “Due to financial constraints,”
he continued, “it was very difficult to stage tiatrs during that period of
time. But we managed to present them before the audience.”
“Later, with assistance from his brother,
Raphael mentioned, Francis proceeded to Bahrain. But unfortunately, he met with
an accident and expired there.” Next, Raphael encountered Joe, who was
instrumental in penning and staging folk plays (zomnivhele fell) during the
Carnival festival. He was part of Joe’s Carnival folk play troupe for almost 5
years.
After Joe, Raphael stumbled upon Milagres
de Chandor, who presented ‘zomnivhele fell’ and he supported him by being part
of his troupe for two years. Next, Milagres de Chandor penned a tiatr ‘Jessica’
with a big cast which included Jose Rod, Mario Menezes, Rosy Alvares, comedian
Jesus, late Prisco and late Jack de Colva.
In memory of his friend, late Francis
Monteiro, in 1982, Raphael penned a tiatr carrying the title of one of his
friend’s earlier tiatrs ‘Pap’ and staged it at Macazana, with the village
artistes. He was also part of the folk troupe by the late Bernard from Chandor
and acted in ‘zomnivhele fell’ for three consecutive years.
After Bernard, Raphael found an entry in Shahu
Almeida’s father, late Pedro Almeida’s folk plays and acted in his troupe for
two years. “Apart from staging folk plays during Carnival,” he added, “Pedro
was a fine composer and each of his songs carried fine proverbs and morals. The
old folk in my village still recollect some of his memorable compositions.”
After garnering enough experience in folk plays during the
Carnival festivities, Raphael found entry in tiatrs staged by Kenny Ferns,
Philip Almeida, Roseferns and Patrick Dourado. He also became a producer when
after a brief gap Kenny Ferns penned a tiatr ‘Tujea Hatant Ditam’, followed by
another two tiatrs and all productions carried a big cast.
When Kenny Ferns staged his tiatr ‘Him Bhurgim Konnachim?’ at
Raia, on February 13, 2006, Raphael was part of the show. The following day, on
February 14, he paved his way to the Cayman Islands for better prospects.
Recalling his last tiatr journey in Goa, “late S Lemos was part
of the troupe,” Raphael reminisced, “and after the show he put up at my residence
in Macazana. The following morning, he proceeded home at 10, while at 12 noon
it was reporting time for me at the airport.”
After landing in the Cayman Islands, Raphael came across many
Goans during his visit to the St Ignatius Church. He made up his mind to bring
together all the Goans scattered on the island.
Seeking assistance from five like-minded people, namely Joe and
Freddy from Navelim, Noel from Cortalim, Lawrence from Agasaim and one from
Colva, Raphael kicked off a door-to-door operation, where he was able to trace
around 380 Goans. “On December 3, all the Goans gathered together for the feast
mass of St Francis Xavier and it was the first celebration with the Goan
community. As a priest speaking in Konkani was not available, the service was conducted
in English. But for the following years, the festive service in the church was
in Konkani.”
“For the festive occasion,” Raphael revealed, “the Goan
community encouraged me to pen a tiatr. Hunting artistes and band members was
another tedious task.” “We found an organist from Goa Velha, a guitarist from
Chandor and a drummer from Velim.”
In 2007, Raphael penned a tiatr ‘Mhozo Ugddas Korat’, based on a
true life incident at Cayman Islands. “The artists hailed from Calangute,
Chinchinim and Navelim. Efforts were made to get Ben Evangelisto for the
comedy, while he was in the UK then. But three days before the performance, we
realized that plans would not materialize.”
“Finally, with the assistance from the late Donald’s brother,
Orlando, Bikondd from Calangute and another from Navelim helped create the
comedy acts in the tiatr,” Raphael narrated. “The tiatr was a big success and
we were also able to generate good income as well,” he noted.
In 2008, when Raphael penned his second tiatr ‘Ulo’, he received
backing from Bab Andrew from Zuari, who had come to Cayman Islands then. His
daughter, Ramila and sister-in-law, Luiza also extended their support to make
the production a success.
In 2009 and 2010, for the same festive occasion, Raphael penned
and staged tiatrs ‘Mhaka Khoim Dovorla?’ and ‘Vellak Mhotv’ respectively. “As a
fund-raising activity,” he mentioned, “the tiatr ‘Mhaka Khoim Dovorla?’ was
presented in English titled ‘Where Do You Keep Me?’, where help came from a
Jamaican artiste, besides daughter and sister-in-law. Around 8,000 dollars were
collected from the show, which later helped build a new church on another
island.”
In 2011, 2014 and 2017, instead of tiatrs, Raphael decided to
stage musical shows for the annual feast celebrated on the island. In 2018, he
penned another tiatr ‘Anink Nam’, which had a cast composed of Prince Jacob,
John D’Silva, Francis de Tuem, with music by Shahu Almeida.
Before
2007, when involved in folk plays and tiatrs in Goa, it was mostly showcasing
of acting skills for Raphael. But thereafter, training his artistes with songs
overseas helped him to prosper as a singer as well. As far as music arrangement
is concerned, his son, Royston and friend, Shahu Almeida assists him and he has
6 songs uploaded on Shahu’s YouTube channel. He has also set up his own studio
at Cayman Islands to record and promote Konkani songs on the YouTube channel.
