Nagaland participates at Celtic Connections festival

Dimapur, February 8: On January 21, 2014 two representatives from Nagaland, Nokcha Aier and Sarah Pongen from Jumping Bean Café, Dimapur were invited by the British Council India to attend a weeklong event called ‘Showcase Scotland’ during the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, Scotland.

 

They were two of the only three people to be selected from the North East regions of India as delegates and two of the only participants from Nagaland out of the 10-12 independent music industry professionals across India.

As a delegate at the nation’s largest international meeting of music industry professionals, Nokcha and Sarah played a significant role in creating links at an international level for future projects or opportunities by introducing the gifted instrumentalists, singers and composers from their country to a wider audience.

 “It was a real eye opening experience that taught us so much beyond what we were expecting. We have British Council, India to thank for making this possible for us. We have met so many amazing people in the music industry not just across India but from across the world and we hope that through the networking we made we can somehow have people invest in our artists’ too and help in their career development,” said Sarah in a press note.

Jumping Bean Cafe has been part of the Folk Nations programme by hosting the showcase performance of the Folk Nations Residency in Northeast India, the first British Council project in the region in partnership with the Music Task Force that brought together 12 musicians from across the UK and Northeast India to explore musical heritage and connections on December 2013.

Celtic Connections is the largest annual winter music festival of its kind and the UK's premier celebration of Celtic music. It has over 2,100 artists, 300 events, 20 venues and 1 brilliant festival showcasing artists of international standing. Approaching its 15th year, Showcase Scotland introduces international and worldwide audiences to new music. Its aim is to secure performances for Scottish based artists on a global scale – creating new audiences for existing artists and introducing new artists to existing audiences.

Delegates are issued with a pass that gains them access to festival shows, which feature either Scottish artists, or artists from international partnering nations. For the first time in 2014, Showcase Scotland focused on two partner nations – Australia and India. It was through British Council India’s Folk Nations project that Indian music professionals were invited to Celtic Connections. Folk Nations aims to connect the music industries of the UK and India and to open the doors to the Indian market to UK and international music talent and expertise.