After years of going downhill and maintaining their cold silence in music, Mokokchung is about to witness a live event with an internationally signed band, ‘About Us’ who will be headlining Mokokchung’s World Music Day Celebration. The event organizers, “Blend In Events” is bringing back rock music to the district.
This February, Mokokchung saw its first resurrection on the Rock music scene with Ambong Band winning the Musik-A Festival ‘Battle of the Bands’ open beat contest and now, opening up for the ‘About Us’ concert is the female Rock band, ‘The Spectrums’ who will be debuting their stage performance in the event.
Bands like The Great Decade, Dümchak and a lot more will be seen performing on the night and people can already tell that it will be an eventful night as the ticket sales begin.
Mokokchung – the district once known for its passion for music that pioneered in giving rise to legendary bands like The Shadows and Squadron – seems to be finally waking up from its deep slumber.
Remember, Mokokchung was the district that held successful events after events such as ‘We Care Concert’, ‘M-Fest’, ‘Inter-school Beat Contest’, ‘Inter-ward Beat Contest’, ‘Music Fests’ and the government-sponsored events like the ‘Road Show’ where people turned up in thousands just to enjoy and live the music. The concert hall, as we remember it, was always packed with music lovers.
Mokokchung was also the place where the singing talent show, Naga Idol was conceptualized in the year 2006 which gave rise to a lot of musicians and opportunities in all districts of Nagaland and had five very successful seasons until it was rechristened as ‘Naga Orpheus Hunt’. It was undeniably clear that Mokokchung was a powerhouse of Musicians and music lovers and hence, it deservingly earned the title – Land of Music.
But the craze for it slowly simmered down with the year 2010 coming to an end. Come 2011, the popular show, ‘Naga Idol’ was rechristened Naga Orpheus Hunt and the headquarters was moved to Kohima and the show ended up as something that was never to be heard again.
Slowly, the love that people once had for music soon turned into complaints about ‘terrible’ sound management or management in general and came a time when people accused the artists of being immature and unprofessional. People’s demand for professionalism came at a time when MTV and VH1 ruled the television media while internet accessibility was getting cheaper and easier and people started consuming music that was produced in a well-equipped studio.
The exposure to pop culture significantly affected the type of music the people were catering to. The ‘Road Show’ initiatives by the then Music Task Force suddenly was no longer an event that people were looking up to. Although organizers continued to give efforts in the music scene by organizing monthly beat contests year after year, the participation declined and fans just stopped turning up.
Gradually, people generally started to find rock music dull and eventually became tired of it and the turnout of the crowds ended up with as low as about ten people in one of the Rock Reign shows. However, despite the poor turnouts, those contests did give rise to some of the best bands in Mokokchung existing today, such as the Tune-Up Channel and The Great Decade.
Then, at around 2012-2015, the music scene began shifting towards Indie music, a softer tune and R&B while metal and rock began to get ‘outdated’ and there were no bands in Mokokchung that were giving the music in the season whereas, in Kohima and Dimapur, bands like Polar Lights, Incipit and others stepped up to the scene. And before we knew it, the love and craze that Mokokchung once had for music no longer existed.
Over the past few years, World Music Day in Mokokchung was organized by Mokokchung District Musicians Association (MDMA) formed in 2016, which appeared like the only group that was holding the music scene together. This time, it was not just the genre but a sudden wave of social media such as Instagram, Tiktok and YouTube that took over the younger generation.
And thus, against digital media that influenced people round the clock, people started feeling less attached to physical live events and get-together events such as a local concert or a gig by a local band and then after 2020, the pandemic seized any activity. Adding to that, there was the economic constraint with organizers struggling to find sponsors to organize a show that could bring back people’s spirit towards music as Mokokchung’s economy began to shrink.
However, all hope is not lost. With ‘About Us’ coming to Mokokchung as part of their ‘Rock on Top’ tour, the tone is beginning to set in. The music lovers are once again beginning to gear up as bands are slowly starting to reassemble while the younger generation seems to be looking forward to an event they have only witnessed when they were young.
“Since Mokokchung for ages love rock music, both playing and listening, About Us will be one of the great shows. The band is simply superb with many futures ahead. With the pandemic SOP’s, shows couldn’t be organized for couple of years so I hope this year’s World Music Day will be a blast,” Arsashi, president of MDMA concluded.
“I am sure the bands must be excited to perform on such an eventful night. About Us is an incredible band and it definitely will be encouraging,” says Imtisanen, front man of Ambong band. He also regretted that their band won’t be performing on the night as one of the band members is not in station.