Nagas' Nite - a cultural and musical extravaganza
- History revisited Bangalore -

7th March, 2009

From time unknown the head-hunters have been prowling the lands of the North-East. Today, they have ventured out on to the land of Bangalore in search of a better prey - this time for their own heads, a head of knowledge and wisdom. And it was a result of these heads coming together that gave live to the Nagas' Nite on Saturday, the 7th of March.

For the past 40 years, the Nagas have had their presence in the city, but never had there been a gathering like the evening at the Palace Grounds, where over 4000 Nagas came together for the 7th edition of the cultural and musical extravaganza.

The event, which had revamped after almost 3 years, was a one of a kind platform where all the Naga tribes got an opportunity to portray their ethnicity and uniqueness. Never was such an event so big organised with such vigour and energy sprouting out from every individual. A pride of being one of the biggest event ever organised by the Nagas outside the homeland.

This history-making 'nite' was possible because "We are here because we dared to dream dreams, we dared to envision visions," President Aran A Chihui said.

So, with the blessings from Pastor Zhabu Imsong, the Naga Christian Fellowship Bangalore (NCFB), the evening came to live as the first item, "The Legacy" portrayed the various unique traditions of each Naga tribe - the ethnic fire making by the Zeliangrongs, the tug-of-war- between the men folk and womenfolk of the Aos, and the various activities of the tribes all to show how the Naga society lived in the earlier days.

With a colourful and lively rendition of their contemporary traditional song, the Poumai tribe set in the mood for the evening. The Zeliangrongs had the crowd on their feet as they performed their harvest dance, tapping to the drum beat that got faster with every passing minute. It did not end there, the Tangkhuls picked up the momentum and had the crowd swinging to their War Dance.

The Nagas' Nite, which was sponsored by the Music Task Force, Govt. of Nagaland, saw a crowd that ranged from near and far… Bangalore and beyond. The director MTF, Mr Gugs Chishi acted as the chief guest for the occasion, while among the distinguished personalities, the event was also graced with the presence of Dr H.T. Sangliana, member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India.

Other participants on the stage included the Center for Music Education (CME) choir and the CME band. While the CMEs had "The Hallelujah" and "Coloured People" to entice the crowd, Naro Longkumer serenaded the crowd with her rendition of Celine Dion's "To Love You More." Enyar Jamir, a young classical guitar player, had the crowd swinging as he hit the high notes of his guitar recital.

With the evening aimed at promoting the cultural ethnicity of the Nagas, the stage set forth young couples who lined up to display their traditional attires.

And to add to all these, the Nagas' Nite had two special features- Divine Connection from Nagaland and Rewben Mashangva from Manipur. The adrenaline rush seemed to never end for Divine Connection as they took the stage rocking to their originals from their album "El Roi".

Rewben Mashangva, the folk music singer, entertained the crowd with his melodious, groovy tunes of traditional 'Naga folk blues'. The night finally came to a close as the whole ground stood up to receive the benediction from Rev Mulato Chishi, advisor to the NSUB.

The Nagas' Nite is just another attempt to converge the traditional with the modern, the crude with the refined, the old with the new. As the chief guest rightly put... "this is just a small glimpse of what Nagaland is about."

For everything, above and below, visible and invisible... to God be the Glory...

KUKNALIM!

Raymond Ronamai
Sub-Editor
Greynium Information Technologies Pvt. Ltd
http://www.oneindia.in
http://www.click.in

View photo gallery for this event here.

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This information is courtesy of Raymond Ronamai, Sub-Editor, Greynium Information Technologies Pvt. Ltd . He can be contacted at raymond(dot)r(at)greynium(dot)com
This was webcasted on March 13th 2009

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