Finding his calling by chance

Minguel Felipe Peixoto, popularly known as Felipe de Chandor, hails from the serene village of Chandor. Residing at Cavorim, Covatem, he was born on March 8, 1957.

Son of late Dignu Peixoto, Felipe’s father was noted for his ‘zomnivhele khell’ during the Carnival festivities. He would pen folk plays and stage them across the Salcete taluka for a period of three days. “After my father passed away in 1981, at the insistence of my village friends, I took it up as a challenge and started penning ‘khell’ in 1983.”

Under the banner ‘Chandor Dramatic Troupe’, Felipe penned and staged folk plays during those fun and frolic days for almost 10 years. When he found entry in the Goa police band, he had to set aside his pen and take up his newly assigned task seriously.

But despite his commitment to the Goa police band, Felipe did not give up his passion, but continued  assisting all those who sought his help in ‘khell’ and tiatrs. “During one such Carnival festival,” he recalls, “when ‘zomnivhele khell’ competition was in progress and my father’s and Vitorino Pereira’s folk plays were simultaneously presented in Chandor, in order to find an entry in the erected hall, one of the musicians gave me the trumpet. When I stood near the entrance gate with the instrument, the ticket collector made a mockery of me and taking away the trumpet, remarked: ‘You will never learn the blowing instrument’.”

At this juncture, Felipe took it up as a challenge and joined the St Cecilia Music School in Panjim, when he was in service at the Hotel Mandovi. Initially, he learnt the guitar at the music school and after serving at the hotel for one and half years, his uncle, late Caetan Cardozo took him to Italy.

In Italy, 1977-81, Felipe served as a security and after his father expired, he decided to return home for good. During his service in the foreign country, Felipe purchased a trumpet and brought it home with him.

At the age of 21, Felipe was fortunate to find a tutor who decided to train him within a week and volunteered to even provide him accommodation in his house. He received training from maestro Steve from Macazana for 2-3 months and thereafter it was hard work and self-training.

After picking up the nuances of the wind instrument, Felipe’s friends coaxed him to form a group and the band ‘Roots’ came into existence. Revealing about the creation of Roots, he says that as some members had musical roots in the family, it was decided to name the band troupe as ‘Roots’.

The service of the band continued for almost 4-5 years, performing mostly for weddings. “And during that period, marriages would be held in two sessions, namely from 2pm to 8 pm and 10pm to 5am,” he recounts.

Before joining the police band, while performing for Roots, Felipe penned a tiatr ‘Ghatki’ and staged it in Chandor and Gomant Vidya Niketan, Margao. Due to his service in the police band, he had to give up his passion.

Felipe’s contribution on the professional stage as a musician came about when he played for tiatrs staged by Joe Rose and Prem Kumar. Thereafter, he joined the Roseferns’ dramatic troupe along with maestro Juju from Benaulim.

While sharing the platform with maestro Juju, Felipe fondly remembers what his senior had to say about their tireless performances. “The directors will never be able to pay for our worth. We do not play for the sake of money, but we equally enjoy ourselves while performing.”

After service as a trumpeter for Roseferns dramatic troupe for almost 4-5 years, Felipe performed in Tony Dias’ tiatr ‘Ti Mhoji Maim’ (Part I, II, III) along with Juju. During performance in tiatr ‘Ti Mhoji Maim’ (Part I), he enjoyed the Gulf tour.

Felipe also joined Comedian Dominic’s dramatic troupe and served the director for almost 4-5 years. He had another opportunity to go abroad when two of comedian Dominic’s tiatrs were staged in the Gulf countries. While performing in one of Mariano Fernandes’s tiatrs, he made another Gulf tour.

As a musician, Felipe has performed for most of the tiatr directors, which include John D’Silva, Prince Jacob, Anthony San, Pascoal Rodrigues and others.

During his service in the Goa Police band, Felipe applied for a long leave in 2005, with plans to make another trip to Italy. “The leave was sanctioned but there was some difficulty in obtaining the visa and thus got stranded in Goa for almost 2 years,” he informs.

“For two years I had to stay in Goa without salary but due to my art, I was able to support my family financially,” reveals Felipe. He managed to perform for tiatrs of some tiatr directors, which helped him to earn his daily bread.

From 2007-2010 Felipe continued with his service as a security in Italy and on returning home, joined duty in the police band. “During that period when he performed for directors Prem Kumar and comedian Dominic, there would be four shows a day, namely 10.30am, 3.30pm, 6.30pm and 10.30pm,” he recalls, and it was very difficult to join duty on the parade ground as reporting time was at 7 am.”

During his service in the police band in 1992-93, along with Bernard D’Costa from Nuvem, Felipe was fortunate to be selected to receive further training in music (theory and practical) in one of the leading music colleges in Madhya Pradesh. “We boast of music in our blood,” he says, “but make no efforts to progress with our in-born art, through hard work and dedication. Musicians of other states and countries are far ahead of us in knowledge of music.”      

Despite all odds, Felipe served the Goa Police band for almost 20 years and retired from service in 2016. Today, during his leisure, he trains youngsters from his village and provides them a platform to perform along with him in tiatrs and other festive occasions.