Renbeni Odyuo, reigning title holder of Naga Orpheus Hunt (formerly The Naga Idol) with students of St. John School, Tuensang. The singer who is the brand ambassador of RockAware 2011 had traveled across 11 districts in search of the finest bands to represent their own district and become the ultimate Red Ribbon Superstar.
Dimapur| October 17 : “Now I can proudly say that, I have been to every corner of Nagaland. I feel like a complete Naga”. Such brave, positive words from a 23 year old girl. This is Z. Renbeni Odyuo, reigning title holder of The Naga Orpheus (formerly known as The Naga Idol). She was the brand ambassador for RockAware 2011- an awareness campaign about Hiv and Aids with the theme “Aids is a problem, we care” which toured eleven districts of Nagaland in search for the finest bans to become the ultimate Red Ribbon Superstar.
Renbeni started the musical journey on September 12th and in a month has covered all the districts of Nagaland with the RockAware team. The singer had posted on her fan page that NSACS RockAware 2011 tour has been the most amazing experience of her life, which gave her an opportunity to reach out to thousands of people. “And I am happy to see that music is celebrated everywhere” says this effervescent singer. The singer shares that the whole journey was a learning experience for her. She says that initially she really did not know what to expect from the tour but says, “Overall it has been the most fruitful journey of my whole life”. She admits that the tour was tiring, but that there was not a single moment when she felt like giving up. “It was so important for me to do everything I could being the “Brand Ambassador’’ and rightly get my job done” she says.
And for all this effort, she shares that the response has been awesome so far, and people appreciated the hard work put into this awareness campaign and that the team are hoping for some more good results. She also reveals that she was motivated when she realized that not everyone is as blessed to have the opportunity like she had to reach out to the people and actually do something right for the society. “I am proud to say that I have good family support which is so helpful at times like these. And I also travelled with some wonderful people like Ayieno Kichu, Theja Meru and Lipok who were there to help me throughout the journey and they gave me some really good pep talks which kept me motivated,” says the confident, young girl.
With the obvious given that she is the brand ambassador, Renbeni feels that Rockaware is perhaps one of the best thing that has happened in Nagaland. “Besides recruiting talents, we were also able to reach out to all ages of people and encouraged them to talk more openly about Hiv and Aids. Even in the schools that we have visited, I am very sure by now most of the young kids would be aware of Hiv and Aids and something called Prevention. In all the districts we’ve had full house crowd, mixed of old and young people and there was something for everybody,” she confidently says.
Commenting on “Music as a tool”, a home ground she best excels in, Renbeni says that one can never go wrong with music because it is celebrated everywhere by everyone, both old and young, educated and uneducated and so on. “It’s amazing how music can draw so much attention and we actually took advantage of that to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS among the people.
I rather see young people in the crowd headbanging or jamming on stage than to see them drunk fighting in the streets or at home. I believe it’s a good way of letting go of your frustrations and dealing with your emotions”.
Renbeni has hung her boots for the RockAware 2011 tour, but she has certainly a lot of memories, for she says that she can even write a book on her experiences. She says that visiting different schools and colleges were very memorable. “I can never forget a school called Step by Step in Zunheboto where we interacted with some of the smartest students. And also meeting the HIV infected people and recovering drug users was very emotionally for me. Hearing out their stories and testimonies were truly inspiring. Taught me so many lessons, one of it has to never to take any moment of my life for granted and also to make smart choices in life,” she reminisced.
She has also recently released a music album titled “Essence”. Already well known in the music circuit for her professionalism, she intents on taking a short break. Just for now. For this fiery, talented young singer has plans to do more shows. Renbeni has even mapped out her plans for next year. And that includes working on a local dialect album and being involved in some more charity works. She has already come along way, in this short span, for someone who started singing in small programmes. But the journey has just begun for Renbeni.
Renbeni started the musical journey on September 12th and in a month has covered all the districts of Nagaland with the RockAware team. The singer had posted on her fan page that NSACS RockAware 2011 tour has been the most amazing experience of her life, which gave her an opportunity to reach out to thousands of people. “And I am happy to see that music is celebrated everywhere” says this effervescent singer. The singer shares that the whole journey was a learning experience for her. She says that initially she really did not know what to expect from the tour but says, “Overall it has been the most fruitful journey of my whole life”. She admits that the tour was tiring, but that there was not a single moment when she felt like giving up. “It was so important for me to do everything I could being the “Brand Ambassador’’ and rightly get my job done” she says.
And for all this effort, she shares that the response has been awesome so far, and people appreciated the hard work put into this awareness campaign and that the team are hoping for some more good results. She also reveals that she was motivated when she realized that not everyone is as blessed to have the opportunity like she had to reach out to the people and actually do something right for the society. “I am proud to say that I have good family support which is so helpful at times like these. And I also travelled with some wonderful people like Ayieno Kichu, Theja Meru and Lipok who were there to help me throughout the journey and they gave me some really good pep talks which kept me motivated,” says the confident, young girl.
With the obvious given that she is the brand ambassador, Renbeni feels that Rockaware is perhaps one of the best thing that has happened in Nagaland. “Besides recruiting talents, we were also able to reach out to all ages of people and encouraged them to talk more openly about Hiv and Aids. Even in the schools that we have visited, I am very sure by now most of the young kids would be aware of Hiv and Aids and something called Prevention. In all the districts we’ve had full house crowd, mixed of old and young people and there was something for everybody,” she confidently says.
Commenting on “Music as a tool”, a home ground she best excels in, Renbeni says that one can never go wrong with music because it is celebrated everywhere by everyone, both old and young, educated and uneducated and so on. “It’s amazing how music can draw so much attention and we actually took advantage of that to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS among the people.
I rather see young people in the crowd headbanging or jamming on stage than to see them drunk fighting in the streets or at home. I believe it’s a good way of letting go of your frustrations and dealing with your emotions”.
Renbeni has hung her boots for the RockAware 2011 tour, but she has certainly a lot of memories, for she says that she can even write a book on her experiences. She says that visiting different schools and colleges were very memorable. “I can never forget a school called Step by Step in Zunheboto where we interacted with some of the smartest students. And also meeting the HIV infected people and recovering drug users was very emotionally for me. Hearing out their stories and testimonies were truly inspiring. Taught me so many lessons, one of it has to never to take any moment of my life for granted and also to make smart choices in life,” she reminisced.
She has also recently released a music album titled “Essence”. Already well known in the music circuit for her professionalism, she intents on taking a short break. Just for now. For this fiery, talented young singer has plans to do more shows. Renbeni has even mapped out her plans for next year. And that includes working on a local dialect album and being involved in some more charity works. She has already come along way, in this short span, for someone who started singing in small programmes. But the journey has just begun for Renbeni.
