Akangjungla
In the creative world, authenticity and originality are of great significance. Creating one’s own work, be it music, painting, dancing, song writing etc has the potential to make a difference in so many spectrum. The creative world of art, especially the music market is overly-saturated. Today, artists have to work harder to compete for attention to sell their products, courtesy goes to the rise of streaming, social media platforms and other forms of digital media. And thus, authenticity becomes even more valuable. One of the key factors often advocated to an artist is to ‘be authentic’ in their vision and intent, for the reason that musical authenticity connects people through expressions and emotions.
Resonating with the group of people promoting and encouraging authenticity and originality in the music industry, on the last day of fourth edition of Asia Music Summit here in Nagaland, Sungchun Lee (South Korea), Executive Director Seoul Music Week and Producer Sound Puzzle said, ‘Your culture is big energy for the musicians.’ Lee encouraged Naga musicians to concentrate on their unique culture and on his suggestion for improvement of music eco-system in Nagaland he said, ‘Concentrate more on traditional and own music.’ Rephrasing Lee, ‘make your own music’ could be one of the leading take away for the participants of the Asia Music Summit which was held in Kohima from February 1 to 3, 2024 under the aegis of the Task Force for Music and Arts (TaFMA) in collaboration with MusiConnect, Asia
On a random internet search of the key words such as Nagaland music, music of Nagaland, the result shows Tetseo Sisters on the top. Like it or not, criticisms and disapprovals based on personal choices does not defer the fame and recognition of this Naga folk/folk fusion group. Today among the bustling Naga musicians, the recognition and records the Tetseo Sisters holds not just in the country but internationally has unbeaten merit. Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Tetseo Sisters music has celebrated the Naga ways through their folk/folk fusion. Legendary Naga musician and one of most loved singer, Methaneilie Solo Jütakhrie is loved by the audience because of his original songs. His popular Nagamese song ‘Nagaland City Koribole’ has been there in the music market for a long time. Christian music artist, Tali Angh writes original song that possesses a deep love and concern for the people and Nagaland, and today he is working with some of the most popular music companies and at the same time training and mentoring a good number of young Naga musicians. And the list of successful Naga musicians goes on.
The conversation around being authentic and making original music is a reflection of the direction that Naga musicians and artists are routing to. There was a time roughly during the 1970s to 1990s when music in Nagaland was all about live concerts and doing cover songs. It moved on to doing remake/remix songs. Likewise, the genre factor has never been constant. Every other day, there is the birth of a new genre, artist and song.
From the home stage to the international platforms, Naga musicians are presented to the world their ingenuity and thus, become the way of introducing themselves to the world through their music. For some it is the element of language, for others it is the melody, lyrics or delivery that attributes to their originality. In this time of copyright and patent, being original is inevitable. Internet has become an integral part of all human activities and social media has made it even clearer that there is no way of copying, hiding or lifting creative works. Being original is even more important as creating music is more than just putting it across to an audience; it is also about making a living.
Reaffirming the words of Sungchun Lee (South Korea), Executive Director Seoul Music Week and Producer Sound Puzzle, the music industry and Naga musicians already have good talents, good skills and good songs, but change in song is very important ‘because they need promotion point.’
Comments can be sent to akangjungla@gmail.com
