Rhythm of Love: In conversation with MoonDrip

Listeners everywhere are vibing to Duo Artistes Ropenlo and Helipi a.k.a MOONDRIP’s soul soothing music!

They’ve recently won the Best Pop Song category at the Musicians Guild Music award 2021 for their song ‘Lt. Dwn.’

Learn all about the duo that is MoonDrip in today’s Rhythm of Love!

Eastern Mirror: Could you introduce yourself to our readers?

MoonDrip: Hey folks! We are MoonDrip.

And though we don’t like using labels to identify ourselves or our genre, I guess as of now you can call us an Indie/dream pop duo band, but you can always expect elements out of the spectrum in our music.

Our band consists of two members: Ropenlo Kent Aka Rono Kent (Vocalist/ Lyricist of MoonDrip) and Helipi Anar who is the Guitarist/ Producer of MoonDrip.

We were both pals ever since high school and grew up in Kohima, Nagaland.

Eastern Mirror: Who or what was the inspiration behind pursuing music as a career and what has been the most important influence in your musical careers?

MoonDrip: We both shared a deep passion for music ever since we were in high school.

And though we shared the occasional banter, talked about indie bands, hip hop culture, shared music via pen drives and CDs like any other adolescent millennial high school buds at the time did, never in a million gargantuan years would we have guessed that we would be making music together in a couple of years.

But I guess it was around the time we joined the hostel and got to play the guitar for the very first time that we actually got hooked real well, and suddenly the notion that we could make a living out of music didn’t seem that ridiculous anymore.

Fun fact: Ironically Ropenlo was the first person who taught Helipi (The guitarist of Moondrip) the guitar since he joined the hostel later than Rono.

Eastern Mirror: Who is the lyricist and the composer in this duo?

MoonDrip: We each have cardinal roles to play in our song writing process. Ropenlo composes the songs with a guitar and writes the lyrics whilst Helipi adds elements into the song, like guitar riffs, percussion, embellishments, keys, etc. and produces it.

Eastern Mirror:  Tell us about your recently released single “Ocean Waves” music video.

MoonDrip: Originally “Ocean waves” was supposed to be an acoustic song until Helipi decided to add the notoriously catchy baseline into the song giving it a more upbeat sound and hence, deceiving the listeners. LoL.

Though “Ocean waves” sounds like an upbeat and chirpy song, it’s actually a really melancholic song about how two individuals can’t be together because their fates were never aligned.

Eastern Mirror: What was your reaction when it was announced that Lt. Dwn by Moon Drip was the winner in the category of Best Pop song during the recently concluded Musicians Guild Music award 2021?

MoonDrip: We were astonished when we found out that our song won the title for best Pop song of the year.

We felt so blessed and euphoric.

We’d like to thank our fans, friends and family for always supporting us, the panel of judges for acknowledging our music, and of course to Musicians Guild for giving us and so many other artists the platform and the opportunity.

Eastern Mirror: Latest song that you’ve heard or are listening to.

MoonDrip: We listen to a lot of underground indie/r&b/neo soul bands.

At the moment we are listening to a lot of 92910 and Adoy amongst the many others.

Eastern Mirror: Which artiste from Nagaland are you most impressed by?

MoonDrip: There are so many talented musicians in Nagaland and we can’t name them all.

But we really get inspired when we listen to artiste and bands like Abdon Mech, Trance effect, Temsu clover, Virie, Vitz Zhimo, polar lights, etc. and so many more.

Eastern Mirror: Which one would satisfy ‘MoonDrip’ the most as an artiste; winning a music award, performing on stage or winning a competition, and why?

MoonDrip: Though all the options sound appealing, we would have to go with “performing live” for the people.

Eastern Mirror: What’s your take on Nagaland Music Award?

MoonDrip: Honestly speaking for something so new in our industry, we are awestruck by the pizzazz and the professionalism of the event organised by them.

They will definitely open many doors for us musicians in generations to come.

Eastern Mirror: Every musician prefers a certain type of music and especially during his/her early career as a musician, they are influenced by the voice or the vibe of particular artists. Is there any particular person/s you have been influenced by or have tried to be like?

MoonDrip:

Ropenlo: For me, the first time I decided to make music into my career was when I was in a hostel watching television. I remember the scene vividly, I was watching world stage on Vh1 and one of my favourite bands (Linkin Park) was playing. That was the first time I saw Linkin park playing their songs live and I remember how wonderstruck I was by Chesters (God rest his soul) voice.

I wanted to be like him and started singing songs that were flat out of my range lol.

But that was the event that triggered the inner musician in me.

The same year I went back home for summer break and one of my friend gave me his pen drive which was filled with new music. And God bless that boy cuz I came across John Mayer’s live concert of “Where the light is” in it. That was the first time I actually really connected with an artist and his songs on an intimate level and from then on I knew in my heart I was meant to be a musician and the rest is history.

Helipi: Music has always been present yet absolute.

It has only manifested as something interesting when I experience it firsthand with the mechanism of how it is created and from then on my interest aroused in indie rock music particularly bands like Arctic Monkeys, the Kooks, etc. especially with the rift of the guitar that has an alluring lure to it. Their music style has a notch of Juvenility that I felt and related to growing up as an adolescent. And with time my exposure to the different genres has imbedded in me an expression of music that is an accumulation of all the experiences I have had with music.

Eastern Mirror: Can you tell us the response you have been receiving on your music which is streaming on various digital platforms especially in Spotify, iTunes (Apple Music) and Soundcloud?

MoonDrip: Our music on streaming platforms is doing quite good, especially on Spotify.

Big thanks to Spotify India for getting us play listed in Radar India.

Eastern Mirror: As we all know this pandemic has affected the lives of many people but from a positive point of view what have you learned as a musician during this pandemic?

MoonDrip: Initially, I think we all became professional procrastinators haha…, which later on transitioned into learning new things, spending more time with our loved ones, making use of the lockdown by directing our energies into productive activities, reigniting old hobbies or discovering new ones, etc. and so many other things.

But overall I think the pandemic has shown us that even in times of trials and tribulations love and unity always conquers all. Let’s all continue to help each other get by one day at the time little by little, as the little things in life though it may seem insignificant has a lot more impact than we as individuals can imagine.  Stay safe folks and may God bless you all!