Whispers of mizzle gave way to a downpour at Bakshi Ground, Urkhul District, about 84 km north-east of Imphal, Manipur, hours before a state tourism-backed festival was about to get underway. The temperature needled at a biting 15°C and the mostly soil-top ground that has been the venue of many dos was mucky all over. “Who would venture in this condition,” asked a naive mind. “Who wouldn’t,” Ukhrul sniggered.
By the time an ebullient Rewben Mashangva twanged his D-Open semi-accoustic guitar to commence the four-day Shirui Lily Festival on October 16, the collective frisson had settled to snugness.
Fittingly, Mashangva, wearing a Tangkhul (a Naga ethnic tribe) attire, opened with ‘Shirui’, lending his harmonica-driven, Texan & Chicago blues inflections to trad-folk. They wrapped-up their stage time, cutshort by half, with an Inpui tribal-folk staple, but not before Mashangva — cheeky that he is, despite having his son by his side, an accompanying vocalist, who kept time on Shan Maji (cowbell) — proclaiming that, “I am married to one but I need more women”. What he implied was to make the society, particularly in the North-East, more inclusive and empathic to women.
People began to come into the ground even while the ShiRock 2019 voice competition, an addition this year, was on. Nazareth comprising Pete Agnew (only original member, bassist), Carl Sentance (vocalist), Jimmy Murrison (guitarist) and Lee Agnew (drummer, Pete’s son) took the stage amidst chants with a native fervour and immediately connected with the 25,000 strong audience with ‘Turn On Your Receiver’ followed by ‘Never Dance With The Devil’. They performed their standard set of 16 numbers including ‘Hair Of The Dog’, ‘Razamanaz’, ‘Miss Misery’, ‘Where Are You Now’, ‘Go Down Fighting’ and of course, ‘Love Hurts’.
But the most defining moment for me occured off-stage when I met a bespectacled primary school teacher, who had come from the neighbouring block, escaping her monthly school inspection. Her words, “Nazareth should be proud to play in front of these die-hard fans in such a remote place”, left me impressed.
The next two days saw the continuation of solo and band competitions. During the solo round the sizeable crowd was given to vehement pleads of ‘kula bidhu’ (roughly translated as friend in local dialect) implying that “be a friend and sing a rock(ing) number”. Unlike similar competitions, one winessed remarkably diverse genres such as metal, progressive, punk, neo-soul, funk, blues, djent, trad-rock, experimental and trash metal. Varied no less was the audience specially for the international acts.
No doubt that Extreme pulled in a full capacity crowd — 40,000, if counter sales figure are to be believed. Many were refused entry for the sake of safety. Truth be told, though Gary Cherone maintained his on-stage mannerisms, his voice couldn’t keep pace.
Kicking-off with ‘Monster’, the band trudged through ‘Get The Funk Out’, ‘R.I.P’ to go accoustic with ‘Tragic Comic’, ‘Hole Hearted’, and stayed so till four numbers from the end. Nuno Bettencourt, who one can say has outshone the band and easily drew the loudest cheer, was on fire as usual. His accoustic prowess on Midnight Express and Flight Of The Wounded Bumblebee (intro) / He-Man Woman Hater (outro) with its meld of picks, hammer-ons, palm-mute inter alia was as crisp as the Yen Makok / Maku (chicken head/skin), a regional delicacy that I had on my way to my lodging.
Waikhom Ibohal, Director Of Tourism, Manipur, explained the purpose of launching the Shirui Lily Festival. “Shirui is the state flower of Manipur and endemic to Shirui Valley. There had been attemps to grow it elsewhere but all were unsuccessful. Now due to change in climatic conditions, waste-dumping and indiscriminate plucking, this rare species is in danger of extinction. We want to create awareness through this event. It’s a pink flower but under the microscope it can show seven different hues,” said Ibohal. But doesn’t it make sense to hold this festival during April-May, the blooming season? “It’s only this year that we are holding it in October to follow the election code of conduct,” he clarified.
The district really throws its weight behind the festival. Most of the local schools are closed, traffic-arrangement announcements are made in the newspapers, dedicated bus services are available during festival-days from Imphal city / airport to the venue or one can stay in homestays, like the painstakingly built and lovingly decoratedChamroy’s at Phungreitang, where we were put up.
As for the solo competition, Imphal (East) girl, Asherie Haokip, 22, the only female participant, rendered one-hit wonder, 4 Non-Blondes’ ‘What's Going On’ and Led Zeppelin’s, ‘Whole Lotta Love’ to walk away with the ₹ two-lakh prize money. ₹ 50,000 each was won by joint runners-up Dziipani Athiisi (Senapati) and N. Sanjeev (Imphal West) and Pemmichon Rumthao (Ukhrul).
In the band competition, Nightmares from Sikkim, picked up a cheque of ₹ 10 lakh. The joint runners-up Sword Tune (Mizoram) and Paper Sky (Nagaland) were given ₹2.5 lakh each. The third place went to High Volt (Manipur). Individual prizes of ₹25,000 went to Origami, Mizoram (Best Originals), Anong Timung, Nephele, Assam (Best Lead Guitarist), Dwang Dwang, Sword Tune, Mizoram (Best Drummer), Richard, Larger Than 90, Meghalaya (Best Bassist), Aboy Awungshi, Oking Band, Manipur (Best Rhythm Guitarist) and Raj, Innocent Eyes, Manipur (Best Vocalist).
Unlike similar competitions, one winessed remarkably diverse genres such as metal, progressive, punk, neo-soul, funk, blues, djent, trad-rock, experimental and trash metal.
Music for people here is as comforting as the meifu, a clay oven containing burning charcoal that keeps them warm from the perennial cold.
