Manipuri folk star Mangka goes global with Cla
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 28 2017: Manipuri folk musician Mangka's new single 'Nura Pakhang' (Eu E Tu), a collaborative effort with Portugal ' s iconic pop band Cla was released worldwide on today.

The track will be part of an album called T(H)REE -A musical journey from Portugal to Asia.

T(H)REE is a project that has been joining Portuguese and Asian musicians over the last decade in unique collaborations, with the aim of creating new soundscapes, exploring the local cultures, and promoting the best music made in different styles.

The styles go from folk to rock, pop to electronica and spoken word to experimental.

Among the Portuguese participants are iconic names such as Cla, Peixe, Amelia Muge and Old Jerusalem, and from Asia names like Mangka (India), Indus Creed (India), Dinesh Subasinghe (Sri Lanka), Mohichehra (Uzbekistan), Magic of Nomads (Kazakhstan), Moham med Haddad (Bahrain) and Sherine Tohamy (UAE).

A box that includes three discs was also released today and is coordinated by the producer David Valentim.

It is an Omnichord Records edition with production partially supported by Fundapao Oiiente.

All of the sales of this release will be donated to 'Make a Wish' Foundation.

The song 'Nura Pakhang' (Eu e tu) has been written and composed by Mangangsana, artistic director of Laihui, a folk music ensemble based in Imphal.

According to Mangangsana, any sort of collaboration should bring cultural understanding between two different communities.

The beauty of the collaboration is that the Portuguese band and the Indian artist never met.

They had composed and recorded tracks at their own place/studio and the producer finally mix everything and the song was made.

When the collaboration was finalized, Mangangsana presented three tracks to the Portuguese producer David Valentim who chose the song 'Nura Pakhang' .

Cla also wrote their own lyrics and blended into the Manipuri folk based song.

Initially Mangangsana was a little worried how Manipuri folk and traditional music will blend with a pop/rock band like Cla.

All communications were done through emails and the final song was created.

According to David, the result was fantastic.

The track has two different versions : a full length version (6+ minutes) and the radio edit version (4.29 minutes) which is being played on Antena 3, one of the biggest radio channel in Portugal.

The music video of the song 'Nura Pakhang' (Eu E Tu) is shot in Manipur and Portugal and is directed by Romi Meitei.

It might be noted that Mangka is the first Indian to perform at The ABU Radio Song Festival.

She was selected to represent India at the second edition of the biennial Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union(ABU) Radio Song Festival which took place in Colombo in 2014 .

In 2015, her debut album 'Chingda Satpi' was released which was distributed worldwide by Times Music.

Mangka had also collaborated with musicians from Japan, Hawaii and New York.

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