Asia Music Summit opens global doors for local artistes

President MusicConnect Asia compares state’s music scene to that of South Korea’s

KOHIMA — The ongoing fourth edition of the Asia Music Summit (AMS) in Kohima are not just performances and events but a landmark moment for Nagaland’s music scene that has opened doors of opportunities for local artistes and aspiring musicians.

At RCEMPA, Jotsoma, nearly 500 artistes, aspiring musicians, and students from Nagaland and beyond participated in workshops, panel discussions, interactions and networking, live performances on the second day of the summit.

Chairman Task Force for Music and Arts (TaFMA) Theja Meru, while interacting with a section of media on Friday, said that the summit will help in bringing a change in the perspective of the local musicians from within their boundaries to the global.

‘We want to encourage our musicians through such type of engagement with festival directors and panel discussions, their minds would be opened up to look beyond the country, beyond Asia and the world’, Meru said.

He explained that the fourth edition of AMS is with a focus on Nagaland. ‘We are a small state and people don’t know much about it. The best way for people to discover Nagaland, its music and musicians, is to bring the world to us,’ Meru said. 

Meru said an hour-long meeting would be held on Saturday with the festival directors and the state government officials, where a joint declaration would be likely signed for working together in future.

He said artistes can take the opportunity to talk to the festival directors and promote themselves while having one-on-one interactions.

The chairman further encouraged artistes to add folk fusion in their music as it is something others cannot copy.

President of MusicConnect Asia, Kaushik Dutta, said that Nagaland has got a very rich cultural heritage and the inaugural performances were a glimpse of what Nagaland can really give to the world. There are plenty of talents musicians here, he added.

The idea of the summit is to promote the local talents which is why all the international delegates have come to the state, Dutta highlighted. ‘It is not just about exchanging and sharing knowledge with the locals, but it is also about checking out the bands, musicians, ‘ said Dutta while citing that they wish to send talented musicians to different festivals around the world.

Taking the example of South Korea, where independent music scene has grown so much since the past ten years, Dutta said Nagaland too has the same kind of potential.

By the time the summit gets over, he expressed hope that they would be able to export a lot of bands from Nagaland to different festivals, promote them and show their talents to the world.

Also read: 4th Asia Music Summit kicks off in Kohima