In the east there now is a faint luminescence,
A hint of pearly tones etch the edges of the tree crowned hills;
Strong and tall they await the coming,
Of a new day, filled with promise.
---From Cherokee Dawn, a poem by an unknown Native American
If the peak of Shirui Kashung is the home to one and only exquisite Shirui Lily or Lilium Mackleanae Sealy, the picturesque Ukhrul District inhabited by the Tangkhul tribe has also given the world a new age wandering minstrel whose works epitomize freedom, bravery, honesty and age-old wisdom of the people that inhabit the breathtaking hills and dales. It is not so much the ‘travelling’ that this minstrel is known for but his soul searching music. Ask any discerning music aficionado of the Northeast - Who is the father of modern Naga Folk-Blues? They will not take time to give you the answer.
Rewben Mashangva can be a son, husband, father, brother and uncle to many depending on how one reads the idea of ‘kinship’. Beyond the given kinship structure, he is a musician, composer, researcher and a leading torchbearer of preservation and development of tribal folk music for many years now. Rewben was born to Shangphai Mashangva (father) and Lasengla Mashangva (mother) in a quaint small village called Choithar in the Ukhrul district of Manipur. He did not enjoy a “musical environment” in his childhood as is understood in contemporary times, save for the sound of bamboo instrument called “Talla” that his father occasionally played. Rewben dropped out of school after his tenth class (matriculation) and decided to venture into adulthood trying his hands on ordinary jobs around his ancestral abode. Years later, he found his soulmate Happy Mashangva and married her. Her moral support had been unwavering and encouraged Rewben in all his endeavors. They have raised three daughters and a son and are now settled at Nagaram, Imphal.
It is said that Rewben was influenced by the great American balladeer, Bob Dylan and the inimitable Rastafarian and reggae icon Bob Marley. In an article published by The New York Times in June 2008, Rewbwn recalled how he was initiated into music and songs of Dylan when a friend came over to his place with an album of the singer/songwriter. He thought most Dylan songs were “so relevant” to the landscape he grew up with. Rewben remembered how he painstakingly acquired his first guitar at the age of fifteen. The teak wood guitar was brought to him by a trader from across the border in Burma (Myanmar). He grew up listening to western music and learning about the same through the only link – the communication medium of the poor in many developing countries, the transistor radio. Then came a phase in his life when he would simply croon in English and in his own Tangkhul dialect. A closer scrutiny of the man and his craft tells you that the socio-cultural and political milieu he grew up with, had given him a unique place in the world of music. And the so called ‘influences’ do not matter much now. Rewben says, “I began singing inside the church but no one taught me music. I am a self-taught musician. I attended no music classes.” And in a characteristic style befitting a true musician of the soil, he auto identifies “himself” in a song called My Land and People (Lyric by Ahao Horam featuring Baby Alvina Gonson) from one of his music albums called Tantivy (1999), “Oh! I was born and brought up here I am, Here I am, here I am Oh! The son of this land….” If you have not had a chance to see Mashangva in flesh and blood, just construct a mental canvass large enough to accommodate the imagery of the man and his times. Here is someone who is ever enthusiastic and committed to efforts in researching and discovering indigenous musical instruments, promoting them and drawing the attention of the new generation to their roots in the backdrop of other popular musical forms.
Rewben Mashangva can be a son, husband, father, brother and uncle to many depending on how one reads the idea of ‘kinship’. Beyond the given kinship structure, he is a musician, composer, researcher and a leading torchbearer of preservation and development of tribal folk music for many years now. Rewben was born to Shangphai Mashangva (father) and Lasengla Mashangva (mother) in a quaint small village called Choithar in the Ukhrul district of Manipur. He did not enjoy a “musical environment” in his childhood as is understood in contemporary times, save for the sound of bamboo instrument called “Talla” that his father occasionally played. Rewben dropped out of school after his tenth class (matriculation) and decided to venture into adulthood trying his hands on ordinary jobs around his ancestral abode. Years later, he found his soulmate Happy Mashangva and married her. Her moral support had been unwavering and encouraged Rewben in all his endeavors. They have raised three daughters and a son and are now settled at Nagaram, Imphal.
It is said that Rewben was influenced by the great American balladeer, Bob Dylan and the inimitable Rastafarian and reggae icon Bob Marley. In an article published by The New York Times in June 2008, Rewbwn recalled how he was initiated into music and songs of Dylan when a friend came over to his place with an album of the singer/songwriter. He thought most Dylan songs were “so relevant” to the landscape he grew up with. Rewben remembered how he painstakingly acquired his first guitar at the age of fifteen. The teak wood guitar was brought to him by a trader from across the border in Burma (Myanmar). He grew up listening to western music and learning about the same through the only link – the communication medium of the poor in many developing countries, the transistor radio. Then came a phase in his life when he would simply croon in English and in his own Tangkhul dialect. A closer scrutiny of the man and his craft tells you that the socio-cultural and political milieu he grew up with, had given him a unique place in the world of music. And the so called ‘influences’ do not matter much now. Rewben says, “I began singing inside the church but no one taught me music. I am a self-taught musician. I attended no music classes.” And in a characteristic style befitting a true musician of the soil, he auto identifies “himself” in a song called My Land and People (Lyric by Ahao Horam featuring Baby Alvina Gonson) from one of his music albums called Tantivy (1999), “Oh! I was born and brought up here I am, Here I am, here I am Oh! The son of this land….” If you have not had a chance to see Mashangva in flesh and blood, just construct a mental canvass large enough to accommodate the imagery of the man and his times. Here is someone who is ever enthusiastic and committed to efforts in researching and discovering indigenous musical instruments, promoting them and drawing the attention of the new generation to their roots in the backdrop of other popular musical forms.
A TALE OF CREATIVE ROOTS
Rewben is the principal exponent of “HAO MUSIC”. He has not only rediscovered and reinvented the variegated rich folk traditions of the Tangkhuls but also refashioned tribal musical instruments to suit the Western tonal scale. Rewben is also credited for the amplification and customizing of the Tingtelia, a fiddle like traditional stringed instrument. Rewben experimented for almost a decade with the original Tingtelia so as to enable him to create a distinct sound that goes harmoniously smooth with the modern acoustic and electric guitar and harmonica. The other instruments which accompany his “Hao Music” include Yankahui, a long bamboo flute, and a yak horn played with a mallet apart from an assortment of modern and traditional percussions. “Whenever I travel for performance, my Tingtelia and bamboo flute always accompany me. Even when I get a chance to tour the world, it will be with this bamboo instrument and I am sure my audience and fans will love it” says Mashangva picking up his bamboo flute. Rewben has released two seminal music albums called “Naga Folk Blues” and “Creation”. And one can expect a man who has been so much in love with the rich folk traditions also sing songs celebrating life and beauty. Beauty of the feminine body and grace compared with the nature’s abundant bounty. The most prominent of his compositions and the most popular choice of people who do not even understand the language of the lyric have found something so enchanting and bewitching in his song Chonkhom Philava. The dexterous effort in the total composition is befittingly matched by a numinous lyric. Some parts of the lyric translated into English goes like this…The freshness of youth like the black thorn flower blooms...Lady Chonkhom is the princess of the mountains…She looks like a fairy, an angel…Her dress – like the tail of a wild peahen…When one sings of the feminine beauty, he or she simply cannot be oblivious of the fading green hills: “I walk along this red country road…And those deep green vales just yonder me…When the deep red sun just hit the ground…I stood there like a child…Watching the birds heading home…Under this deep red burning sky.”(From the song Deep Red Burning Sky, Tantivy, 1999).
This Tangkhul folk and blues balladeer might not have wandered or rather ‘toured’ the world as the word is understood in current music ‘industry’ idiom. But Rewben’s assumed apostolic mission of popularizing his brand of music, singing of joy and travails and also reviving age-old traditional folk culture will not just evaporate without a trace. It will definitely have a cyclic impact on many generations to come. Rewben says, “Current crop of young musicians in our region think that to be a successful musician, modern western music is the only option. I choose to differ with this view. Our talented youth can become complete musicians only when they learn about their roots. Just as you can not ignore your parents even if they are blind or maimed, you can not ignore our age-old folk roots. The youth can not treat folk music as outdated.” The idea becomes reassuring whenever one sees his little son Saka Mashangva accompanying him on numerous performances as a regular percussionist and ad hoc backing vocalist. In many concerts, the father and son duo not only sounds harmonious but also looks breathtakingly adorable with their traditional attire and donning a hairdo folks in the land called Haokuirat.
Commenting on his experimental music, Rewben says that once anyone masters the given traditional folk musical roots, it is easy to fit in the elements into western music or add western elements to the folk. Most music compositions of Rewben have the guitar sounds replaced by sound of folk instruments or folk instruments’ sound supporting and supplementing other sounds produced by modern instruments. It is a creative fusion of sounds deeply rooted in the many folk traditions of his tribe. Rewben has been sharing experiences with great musicians of the Northeast like Rudy Wallang of Soulmate, Meghalaya, Momocha Laishram, the master percussionist and Mangang, the famous Pena (indigenous folk fiddle) artist of Manipur. Rewben had also participated in several music fusion projects. Through platforms like the annual “Roots Festival”, he had shared music space and performed and interacted with international artists too. He is part of the Folk Art and Cultural Guild (FACG), Manipur and has taken part in many kaleidoscopic cultural shows and festivals in the state. When the Naga Folk Blues exponent was asked what his most memorable experience was after setting on the musical journey, he said that it was the composition and the recording of the song called Isholla (Yaho). “I spoke to many elders and tried finding out what is the actual meaning of Isholla (Yaho). Some of them said that the word/phrase did not exist while others said that there definitely is a meaning but beyond description in words. I think it is something that can not be described in words but can be felt from within. I understood the essence of Isholla when I felt like crying my heart out when we recorded the song. I had hardly felt this kind of experience earlier”, Rewben said. What made the man cry? Nobody knows for sure but Rewben conjectures that it could be the extreme longing for freedom that every human being seeks based on individual struggles and set backs quite distinct from the politicized notion of the same.
KNOWING MUSIC, KNOWING NATUREThis Tangkhul folk and blues balladeer might not have wandered or rather ‘toured’ the world as the word is understood in current music ‘industry’ idiom. But Rewben’s assumed apostolic mission of popularizing his brand of music, singing of joy and travails and also reviving age-old traditional folk culture will not just evaporate without a trace. It will definitely have a cyclic impact on many generations to come. Rewben says, “Current crop of young musicians in our region think that to be a successful musician, modern western music is the only option. I choose to differ with this view. Our talented youth can become complete musicians only when they learn about their roots. Just as you can not ignore your parents even if they are blind or maimed, you can not ignore our age-old folk roots. The youth can not treat folk music as outdated.” The idea becomes reassuring whenever one sees his little son Saka Mashangva accompanying him on numerous performances as a regular percussionist and ad hoc backing vocalist. In many concerts, the father and son duo not only sounds harmonious but also looks breathtakingly adorable with their traditional attire and donning a hairdo folks in the land called Haokuirat.
Commenting on his experimental music, Rewben says that once anyone masters the given traditional folk musical roots, it is easy to fit in the elements into western music or add western elements to the folk. Most music compositions of Rewben have the guitar sounds replaced by sound of folk instruments or folk instruments’ sound supporting and supplementing other sounds produced by modern instruments. It is a creative fusion of sounds deeply rooted in the many folk traditions of his tribe. Rewben has been sharing experiences with great musicians of the Northeast like Rudy Wallang of Soulmate, Meghalaya, Momocha Laishram, the master percussionist and Mangang, the famous Pena (indigenous folk fiddle) artist of Manipur. Rewben had also participated in several music fusion projects. Through platforms like the annual “Roots Festival”, he had shared music space and performed and interacted with international artists too. He is part of the Folk Art and Cultural Guild (FACG), Manipur and has taken part in many kaleidoscopic cultural shows and festivals in the state. When the Naga Folk Blues exponent was asked what his most memorable experience was after setting on the musical journey, he said that it was the composition and the recording of the song called Isholla (Yaho). “I spoke to many elders and tried finding out what is the actual meaning of Isholla (Yaho). Some of them said that the word/phrase did not exist while others said that there definitely is a meaning but beyond description in words. I think it is something that can not be described in words but can be felt from within. I understood the essence of Isholla when I felt like crying my heart out when we recorded the song. I had hardly felt this kind of experience earlier”, Rewben said. What made the man cry? Nobody knows for sure but Rewben conjectures that it could be the extreme longing for freedom that every human being seeks based on individual struggles and set backs quite distinct from the politicized notion of the same.
As Rewben erects milestones with his experimental music, he can not forget the umpteen visits made to Ukhrul district and how he burrowed through the hills and dales looking for enlightening interactions with the gradually vanishing traditional folk crooners of his tribe. Each of these interactions had given him immense folk wisdom which would have otherwise been hidden or extinct. He embarked on several fact-seeking trips to the interiors where he learned about these folk arts and instruments. Rewben remembers folk experts Shamphang of Nungshang Village, Akhothing of Phungyar, Shimeingam Shinglei and Stephen Angkang who had all imparted rich insights on different folk art forms and the use of indigenous musical instruments to him. While researching for over a decade on the traditional folk instruments he uses now, he had also inadvertently re-discovered the delicate relation between the people and bamboo which is called the green gold for the Northeast region. With all seriousness he says, “The livelihood of most communities in the region entirely depend on the rich varieties of bamboo grown here. The plant provides not only construction materials for human shelter and other handicraft products but also food and musical instruments.”
Perhaps, it is Rewben’s uncanny knack of understanding the relation between music and nature that has made his mission so vibrant and arresting. He has gained copious amount of knowledge on human being’s harmonious as well as destructive relations with the land, forests and animals and the associative values attached to these very relations. Right from his first music album produced by the Naga Cultural Development Society in 1999, his passion and love for “ecology” has been unmistakably evident. While longing for a “Green Green Home”, he is also disturbed by the wanton destruction of the forest land and calls for an awakening “To save our land from vanishing”. Rewben sings, “Like a romantic man I just stood there…Smelling the mild sweet fragrance…Dying to hold the flirting wind…If I should die may it be here…Under this deep red burning sky…I don’t want to lay my head…under some strange foreign sky…Set me free, set me free…Where I belong…Under this deep red burning sky…May be I’m just a real great fool…Or may be I’m a real dreamer…Just beholding the empty sky…When you’re busy loading your guns…Slaughtering the wild beasts that you make…I need a land of love and peace…Under this deep red burning sky.” It is indeed a feeling so deep that no critics can do justice just by inking a rhetorical piece. One is free to make an attempt at portraying the “man” but the risks involved are enormous too. For instance, while just enjoying Rewben’s kind of music, no one can do away with the intrinsic politics of poetics ubiquitous in all his songs, lyrics and the sound.
Unlike many who believe in just showcasing talents without even enabling themselves and others to know that there is a “twine” that binds all forms of sounds with nature, Rewben has gone ahead to give an unequivocal statement that human-made or even the “amplified sound” can harmoniously exist with nature and also cement peace between human beings. Through his interactions with the aged and experienced great folk artists, Rewben has not only revived passion and interest in the age-old tradition but also created an innovative space for himself. It was not just a sense of joy and relief he experienced while commencing a musical voyage. If Rewben has received high accolades for his experimental folk music from the critics, he should also be credited for showing the way and inspiring many young artists towards innovative ways to preserve and develop folk music.
Perhaps, it is Rewben’s uncanny knack of understanding the relation between music and nature that has made his mission so vibrant and arresting. He has gained copious amount of knowledge on human being’s harmonious as well as destructive relations with the land, forests and animals and the associative values attached to these very relations. Right from his first music album produced by the Naga Cultural Development Society in 1999, his passion and love for “ecology” has been unmistakably evident. While longing for a “Green Green Home”, he is also disturbed by the wanton destruction of the forest land and calls for an awakening “To save our land from vanishing”. Rewben sings, “Like a romantic man I just stood there…Smelling the mild sweet fragrance…Dying to hold the flirting wind…If I should die may it be here…Under this deep red burning sky…I don’t want to lay my head…under some strange foreign sky…Set me free, set me free…Where I belong…Under this deep red burning sky…May be I’m just a real great fool…Or may be I’m a real dreamer…Just beholding the empty sky…When you’re busy loading your guns…Slaughtering the wild beasts that you make…I need a land of love and peace…Under this deep red burning sky.” It is indeed a feeling so deep that no critics can do justice just by inking a rhetorical piece. One is free to make an attempt at portraying the “man” but the risks involved are enormous too. For instance, while just enjoying Rewben’s kind of music, no one can do away with the intrinsic politics of poetics ubiquitous in all his songs, lyrics and the sound.
Unlike many who believe in just showcasing talents without even enabling themselves and others to know that there is a “twine” that binds all forms of sounds with nature, Rewben has gone ahead to give an unequivocal statement that human-made or even the “amplified sound” can harmoniously exist with nature and also cement peace between human beings. Through his interactions with the aged and experienced great folk artists, Rewben has not only revived passion and interest in the age-old tradition but also created an innovative space for himself. It was not just a sense of joy and relief he experienced while commencing a musical voyage. If Rewben has received high accolades for his experimental folk music from the critics, he should also be credited for showing the way and inspiring many young artists towards innovative ways to preserve and develop folk music.
Khorjei Laang and E-Pao.net Team originally written for
http://e-pao.net/yellout/
1 comment:
Good for people to know.
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