•-I was at the DDSC stadium on Saturday to watch the grand finale of the on going International Culture-mix festival. While anticipating the choir to present a typical choral singing performance, I was pleasantly surprised to hear them enthrall the audience with some great singing and wonderful music, very different from the usual choral singing. It was something that one may rarely hear in this part of the country or for that matter India. How often do we get a chance to witness a black blues/jazz gospel singer (T.C. Hawkins) performing with the backing of a strong 80 member choir and a band playing very soothing jazzy music here in Nagaland? This is probably the only time! One or two songs even had a bit of Michael Buble' or Sinatra (ish) feel to it and some were just great blues gospel singing. I had a wonderful time listening and swaying to the music and I'm sure most of the people who were there at the ground did too.
However, it was disappointing to read in the next papers of the way the event was covered by the local media as just another function graced by the CM and his colleagues focusing only on his speech and nothing on the performance. The main feature of the program was the music performance and not the speech. Media persons, with due respect to them, should have been a little familiar with the genre of music and instruments played so that the performance could have been covered well and justice given to the singers/musicians by acknowledging their hard work put in. It is not everyday that musicians come from half way across the world to a remote place despite lots of inconveniences, which I'm sure they faced, and interact with local musicians to finally present a wonderful show.
I'm glad I was able to witness the performance and that my children were able to hear and be exposed to this kind of music rather than the usual rock/metal music which is very much part of Naga music scenario. Overall, it was a wonderful and pleasant evening.
However, it was disappointing to read in the next papers of the way the event was covered by the local media as just another function graced by the CM and his colleagues focusing only on his speech and nothing on the performance. The main feature of the program was the music performance and not the speech. Media persons, with due respect to them, should have been a little familiar with the genre of music and instruments played so that the performance could have been covered well and justice given to the singers/musicians by acknowledging their hard work put in. It is not everyday that musicians come from half way across the world to a remote place despite lots of inconveniences, which I'm sure they faced, and interact with local musicians to finally present a wonderful show.
I'm glad I was able to witness the performance and that my children were able to hear and be exposed to this kind of music rather than the usual rock/metal music which is very much part of Naga music scenario. Overall, it was a wonderful and pleasant evening.
M. Sedevizo, Kohima
