"Riverboat" Once Again Calls For Peace And Reconciliation Through Musical Concert

Borun Thokchom *

After successfully organizing musical concerts aimed at bringing peace and harmony in the strife torn state of Manipur and to promote rock music in Manipur since 2007, 'River Boat' which is an event management team comprising of young music lovers committed to bring a change in the turmoil state of Manipur once again organized a musical concert titled 'C Minor'.

This concert is held under the theme "Reminiscence of western music in Manipur" to trace the roots of the advent of rock music in Manipur as well as to instill a sense of peace and harmony among the youths through music. The concert featured ex-members of the erstwhile bands like Phoenix and Cannibals among others. It may be noted that 'River Boat' had earlier organized 'A Minor' and 'B Minor' under different themes which received critical acclaim.

As the state continues to reel under chaos and confusion making people go through immense hardships, the event management team 'River Boat' once again came forward with an effort to bring peace and tranquillity through music. Titled 'C Minor 2010' as a successor to 'A Minor and B Minor' which River Boat had earlier organized successfully, the musical concert was organized under the theme "Reminiscence of western music in Manipur" and featured various personalities who initiated the movement of rock music in Manipur.

The eminent artists featured in the concert gave an enthralling performance to much delight of the admirers of rock music of the state. The artists who were featured in the concert once formed bands like Phoenix and Cannibals who introduced live rock music in the state and the concert gave a rare chance to the people to watch them perform again.

Large number of audience irrespective of age turned up to witness the concert in which rock legends of the state including Sando, Jagdish, Vivek Sharma, Vivek, Nutan, Momocha, Ringo, Ziangam, BK, Bobby, Paras etc brought back the good old days in the musical evening.

Meanwhile the show added another dimension by the performance of the in-house band of River Boat with Bulo, Boss, Naresh, Rabi and Bungo. A vive of peace ran throughout the concert while different artist on the show expressed hope that music can bring a profound change in the turmoil state of Manipur.

The performances of the artists were received with lot of applause from the audience and according to the audience even though the artist had been staying away from music for a long time, their performances were tight as ever. The concert also gave a scenario of rock music from the early days to the younger generation and one of the significant aspects of the concert is that the organizers, performers and audience all share a common desire to break the monotonous everyday's existence and yearn for peace.

In the nostalgic atmosphere of the concert there were also memorable and notable moments and among them is a drum solo by the eminent drummer of the state Momocha and the enthralling performance of Tangkhul folk singer Guru Rewben Manshangva who performed two peace anthems and the melodic songs of Rewben enthralled the crowd.

All in all, the concert demonstrated that music is a powerful medium to bring peace and harmony in the state apart from easing the tension that had become a part of everyday's life in Manipur.

Browse a Gallery photos on this event here.