Abhishek Singh
The article written by Al Ngullie in The Morung Express on 16th July 2006, I feel really happy and elated that someone has in fact brought this fact that we are affected by Cliché Malady. Yes, Naga Idol is cliché. And there is a purpose to it. Naga Idol intends to adopt a very popular competition style in order to promote music and creativity. It is fashionable or rather cliché to say that Naga people are copycats. Such a premise basically comes from the belief that copying is bad. Is it bad to copy good things too? Should we not try to adopt the better aspects of any society or of any field if that serves us well? Is it not true that many great people achieved greatness just because they did the same things better.
To quote Shiv Khera, Successful people don’t do different things, they do things differently. So my friend, the problem doesn’t lie in copying. The idea of Naga Idol is to promote music and to ensure that Nagas get involved with our singers and musicians. The idea is to make Naga Idol performers household names. To take them to levels where they are recognized with their music. Their songs become their signatures. This requires a platform that is easy for people to understand. Yes, it would have been a brilliant idea to have had some other name, some other format. Only to market it and to make contestants and people understand it and adopt it would have required huge marketing skills and resources. Unfortunately, time and resources at the hands of MDACC does not permit that. Plus our intention is not to reinvent the wheel.
There are thousands of Idiots all over trying to do that and failing miserably anyways. Today, Naga Idol has caught the imagination and fancy of one and all. And one major reason is that because of understanding of the more worthy contests of the American and Indian types, by people, we save the energy of explaining our concept. Structure and format is similar, but it is adopted to our needs. Goal is common – Identify and Nurture Musical Talent. Means are similar but slightly different. Winner is chosen by public votes. As we do believe is that in professional music, the ultimate judge is the people. And in order to suit our poor telecommunication infrastructure, we have introduced voting cards for people. So it is our version of the Idol. We like Idol as a concept and have adapted it in our scenario for the ultimate goal of promoting music and nurturing music. If this is idiotic, so be it.
Infact the greater cliché malady that we seem to be suffering from today is with regard to inability to accept something that is new and innovative. We welcome criticism. Infact a very popular website conducted a poll a few days back on whether the name Naga Idol should have been something different. I agree that around 64% people wanted a different name. But no suggestions were forthcoming. Nor has the esteemed writer in his article given any suggestions. He even questions the need of having role models. Everyone is entitled to his point of view and opinion, but we do feel that Role Models are indeed needed for giving direction to the society, specially when it comes to leading and motivating the youth.
This belief of ours has found acceptability amongst most people and that explains the enthusiasm that is being shown by one and all towards becoming our partners in organizing the show. This years Festival – M Fest (Festival of Mokokchung) is dedicated to the cause of Fight against AIDS and we intend to use our platform for promoting AIDS awareness along with music.
We agree that we have undertaken a mammoth task. It is quite ambitious. We need support and help from all. Presently we are looking at sponsorships and partnerships. The young guys and girls who have registered for Naga Idol are immensely talented. We hope to make great stars out of them. They have talent in their voices and dreams in their eyes. They are all hoping to make it big. They have been bold enough to come forward for such a contest. We need to encourage them. Most people are doing it. An Icon in herself, Esther Jamir, renowned fashion model has come forward to be our Brand Ambassador. We need more people. More positive people. People who can see the goal. Let us all join together and ensure that this talent hunt for the ultimate voice of Nagaland is a grand success.
(The writer Abhishek Singh is Deputy Commissioner Mokokchung Nagaland)
