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E-Pao! Press Release : MRFD organises a talk on Tapta and his lyrics

MRFD organises a talk on Tapta and his lyrics
- Press Release -

Manipur Research Forum, Delhi (MRFD) organised a talk titled Poetic Discourse in Popular Manipur Songs: An Analysis of Tapta's Lyrics on the 9th of February 2008 at School of Social Sciences II, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Rojio Usham, an MA English literature student from Jamia Milia Islamia, was the key speaker at the event.

Introducing the analytical framework, Rojio began by talking on the importance of studying popular culture as one of the many ways to grasp the current socio-political reality in Manipur.

Rojio Usham delivering speech at the seminar.

With special reference to Tapta's songs Morgue and like Problem, Rojio addressed the literary perspective as well as social and political implications of the songs.

"My study on the impact of popular Manipuri songs in our society, focusing on Tapta, is just at the preliminary stage. I'm looking forward to go deeper in the area and I feel Tapta can be judged more by his song writing ability than by his prowess as a singer or musician." said Rojio.

Taking note of the contributions by Manipuri music stalwarts like Hijam Irabot, Nongmaithem Pahari and Sanaton who had earlier experimented with socio-political lyrics, Rojio said the trend took a new turn with the emergence of Tapta.

This trend was further followed by Manipuri rock bands like Eastern Dark and Phunga.

The lyrical content of this generation also encompassed reasonable literary values. Their lyrics reflect the social, economic and political change and transformation that have taken place in Manipuri over the last few decades.

Quoting John L Lewis' statement "A singing army is a winning army" Rojio said "Some of Tapta's songs like Black Law, Nongthang, and Kabo Valley are significant markers of political turmoil looming large in Manipur today."

The paper presentation was followed by a lively discussion of music and protests in Manipur. Participants threw up different viewpoints about Tapta's songs. "Whether Tapta has been able to connect with the mass or not is still debatable. But one thing is sure that his lyrics are the true reflection of a tortured soul", said Th. Tarunkumar, Editor-in-Chief of Eastern Quarterly.

Dr. Bhagat Oinam, who teaches at the Centre for Philosophy in JNU and also the Executive Editor of Eastern Quarterly said that it was a good attempt to explore the literary values of Manipuri popular music. He said it is a good step to bring Tapta into an academic discourse.

Most participants agreed that Tapta's songs stressed on pangs of the common people and the hardships they have to face due to politically volatile situation in Manipur. "His lyrics throw the truth directly on the face of people", said Babloo Loitongbam of the Human Rights Alert, Manipur who also participated in the discussion after the talk.

Babloo also briefly spoke about illegal detention and torture and other issues in Manipur before Rojio took over to present his talk.

For further information on Tapta and his songs log on to www.taptamusic.com

This information is sent to e-pao.net by taptamusic.com team - jayanta(at)taptamusic(dot)com . This PR was webcasted on February 13th, 2008

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