Hornbill international rock: five bands selected

Our Correspondent KOHIMA, OCTOBER 17 The State audition for the Hornbill International Rock Contest (HIRC), 2015, was held today at Regional Centre of Excellence for Music and Performing Arts (RCEMPA), Jotsoma. A total of eleven bands participated at the live audition, wherein, five bands have been selected to compete at the HIRC 2015, to be held in the first week of December.The selected bands are - The Gluttones (Dimapur), Tune Up Channel (Mokokchung), Monkey Fingers (Kohima), Sunep Ensemble Band (Dimapur) and Rune Legacy (Dimapur). However, the organizers have informed the possibility of arranging wild card entries so as to open more participation from Nagaland for the HIRC 2015. The other participating bands were - Avancer (Dimapur), Candlelight (Kohima), Zion (Kohima), Digital Junkie (Kohima), Vibrant Illusion (Kohima) and 4 O’clock Inception (Medziphema). The judges for the audition were Thejove Medeo, guitarist of Tribal Instinct, Abemo Enyie, bassist of Tribal Instinct and Andrew Ngullie, bassist of Scarlet Idol. All of them (judges) have been renowned musicians during their time. Going by one of the judges, this year’s audition has improved considerably as compared to the past years. “We have seen lots of improvements this year. The performances were much better, while the music has also improved considerably,” said Abemo Enyie, who had even judged other HIRC State auditions in the past years. Another judge Andrew Ngullie, while sharing his opinion on the Hornbill International Music Festival, lauded the Music Task Force (MTF) for providing the platform to so many upcoming artistes in the State. He added that the Hornbill International Rock Contest is a major attraction of the Hornbill festival. Andrew went on to say that Nagaland is growing up to be a music hub in the country. “When it comes to music, people, including the mainland India, are looking up on us (Nagas),” he remarked. Meanwhile, Thepfühulie Belho, convenor of Hornbill International Music Festival 2015, has informed that one band from Melbourne, Australia, had registered in the international category. It was learnt that a couple of bands from across the country have registered for their participation this year. The winner of this year’s HIRC will win a cash award of Rs. 10 lakh, while the 1st runners-up and 2nd runners-up will also fetch prize money of Rs. 5 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh respectively. Attractive prizes (not cash) have also been set aside for winners of individual categories - best vocalist, best guitarist, best keyboardist, best drummer and best bassist. The organizers further informed that the online ticket sale for Helloween and ABBA shows have started @ www.ticketgenie.in. The Hornbill International Music Festival 2015 is organized by the Music Task Force (MTF), Government of Nagaland, in association with Pepsi MTV Indies and Northeast Today. The event will be managed by Sky Entertainment and Nagaland Outdoors’ Club (NOC).