For Rida Gatphoh, music does not stop at singing. It encapsulates many other spiritual parameters such as travelling, seeking and finding.
Having studied design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Rida’s musical journey and her compulsion to document the intricate craftsmanship that goes into making a good piece of music began about four years ago, when she sought to explore the Khasi tribe of Meghalaya. Her band Rida and the Musical Folks came out with its first album Musical Nature , an ecological art project in collaboration with folk musicians of Meghalaya, in the year 2010.
“I am a half Khasi myself,” says Rida, who performed songs from the album recently at The IIC Experience, a festival of arts. “I have been singing since childhood and my mother has been my greatest influence. I am essentially a designer with a keen interest in handicrafts. This is what drew me towards Shillong as I wanted to explore my own tribe and the kind of handicrafts they made; everything from pottery to musical instruments.”
The band seeks to blend the traditional way of singing and playing instruments with the contemporary styles around. “We have to be very careful about not losing out on authenticity here. You see, the youth of Shillong identify themselves with Rock and Blues as the two genres of music. But here, we have our own traditional way of making music which is at par with Rock and Blues when it comes to entertainment,” Rida adds.
Music is something that has stayed with Khasis since times immemorial. A wide variety of musical instruments such as the male drum (Ksing Shyrang), the female drum (Ksing Kynthei) and the traditional windpipe (Tangmuri) goes into the making of their traditional folk music.
“When I was making my documentary on the cultures and traditions of the Khasi people, I came across this school called the Sieng Riti Institution in Wahkhen. The founders of this institution make the traditional music instruments there and also teach how to play them. I was so intrigued by their talent and now two of my band members are traditional musicians from here. We started off as a team of five and now we are eight,” she says, delightfully. “These musicians never played a minor note. They play in what is called skits.”
Their music has everything from ballads to lamentations, harvest songs and fables. Owing to the folk nature of it, many songs have no origin or history but have been passed down the generations orally.
