‘It all goes back to Margaret’

Margaret Anne Shishak forever in fond memories

Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | May 28

“She would be on her typewriter and I would be on the piano. We played on simultaneously. She would stop and shout across the room to correct my mistakes, to slow down, to repeat until perfection. Her voice I can never forget, she invested countless hours on me and my sisters. Her home became our second home.”

This is one of the vivid memories that Bethel Tsuzu, now an accomplished pianist, is left with, of Margaret Anne Shishak, whose passing has left thousands grieving. The ‘music missionary’ to Nagaland has unmistakably moulded and shaped the lives of thousands of people either directly or indirectly including entire families, who would continue to remember and cherish her great work.

“I was a little 7-year-old girl, but she made me feel like I was a big girl with big responsibilities. Aunty Margaret is the reason I am today,” she professes. Bethel Tsuzu had gone on to complete her Bachelor’s in Church Music (Majoring in Piano) in Singapore Bible College and established herself as an accomplished pianist and a performer even at the international level.

She was also instrumental in starting Mountain Music Store in 2009 along with her late sister Nituo. The sisters subsequently founded Mountain Music Academy which has provided quality music education to over a thousand young students over the years.

“From music, to grammar, to mannerisms, to every life skill, you name it, and I play the piano today with confidence and I teach music today with confidence because Aunty Margaret happened,” Bethel goes on to say.

Margaret Shishak had named Bethel’s sister Deborah after her own sister and further named their niece Elizabeth after her other sister. “She would come after us if we missed our daily practice or forgot about lessons. Aunty Margaret wasn’t the type that would hug you and say all good stuffs about you. But we didn’t need that. She had her own special way of showing us that she really cared about us all,” she fondly recollects.

The indelible mark she left on the Tsuzu sisters is clearly visible even as one of the sisters—Nikolo Tsuzu went on to study Children Music Ministry in Singapore Bible College and returned home to be one of the pioneers of piano music educators amongst the Nagas. She is currently based in Delhi while Deborah Tsuzu Bell went on to pursue her Bachelor’s in Church Music (Majoring in Voice) in Singapore Bible College and Master’s in Vocal Performance at South Western Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth Texas.

Deborah Tsuzu who is married to Doug Bell, are both serving at Southern Baptist Church, Lumberton in North Carolina.

‘It is our job to carry forward her legacy’
As for one of her foremost students, Nise Meruno, now an internationally acclaimed musician, “Margaret Anne Shishak was somebody who made sure that we had all our basic techniques and foundation in place.” He clearly remembers how he was taken in under her care as a six-year-old boy—‘a special case’ as he would say, since she was not taking any students from outside the institution during that period of time.

The music maestro’s 90-year-old grandmother—Rosa Meruno, who was introduced to western music at a young age and still plays the piano had also gone to Margaret to brush up her playing in between as did Nise’s father and uncle, who were also her students.

Articulating that most of the times, students as well as teachers want to get to the fun part of improvising and being creative, Nise says, “When we were young, we would think, oh! It can get too monotonous but she would make sure that our scales, our fingers, technique, everything was in place and because of that, today, I don’t find pieces challenging. I am so grateful to her for that!”

In her own way, he also recalls that “she was fun and her way of encouraging was very different. She would give me books about composers; those things also really helped me besides summer Bible school materials…I feel like in a way, she was also very encouraging in my spiritual growth.”

Nise moved to Singapore after his 12th after training under her for about a decade. But whenever they ran into each other, Margaret was very proud to introduce him as one of her students to people she knew. “I have nothing to claim in that,” Nise says while expressing that “even if I can just do half of what she has done for our people, I would think that I have done a good job.”

Many people may not realise it but she has definitely raised thousands of people. Even if they were not directly under her, somehow every musician has their link to her is what Nise also believes. And to this end, he emphasizes that “it is our job to carry forward her legacy.”

For her, he further adds, “she really had a much tougher job because during our time, we didn’t have access to YouTube/internet. These days, teachers can get a lot of teaching tips, or maybe references online but for our time, she was our only demo and she was our only reference.” “In spite of all the limitations, she has been able to do so much,” he puts across.

Nise also affirms that “not just me, but our people, everyone should be so grateful to her” while underscoring that it would not have been easy for a foreign lady to give her all for our land. “She was such a blessing! After the missionaries left, I feel like she was the one. You go to any church and somehow there’s an association with Patkai and Patkai is her. It all goes back to Margaret,” he adds.

Funeral Service of 
Margaret Shishak

Date: May 30, 2022
Venue: Bundrock Auditorium, Patkai Christian College
Time: 2:00 pm