NEW DELHI, April 26—For the North-east rock music is folk music, so said the organisers and the first-ever Doordarshan (DD) North-east Music Fest began with a bang that left the music lovers rocking like never before. If the DD, Department of Development of the North Eastern Region (DONER) and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), the organisers of the event were looking for a subject to showcase the other face of the trouble-torn North-east, they sure hit the target, as students, youths off-duty executives and tourists swayed to the hipswinging numbers by rock bands from the eight North eastern States as they vied for the top slot.
The event, first of its kind has been sponsored by DONER, DD and Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) was inaugurated by Minister for DONER, Dr C P Thakur and attended by Union Youth and Sports Affairs Minister, Vikram Verma and Director General DD, S M Quraishi besides a host of dignitaries is being held on the sprawling lawns of Ashoka Hotel here. Elaborate arrangements has been made by the organisers as glittering lights and thousand watts of acoustics boomed, as each group tried to outdo the other on an open-air stage, straight out of an international rock show.
Fifteen rock groups from each of the eight North Eastern States were selected through preliminary rounds held in the Region. The finalist included Shivling and Crunch fest from Sikkim, Project Blend Ltd and Evan Band from Meghalaya, 4th NAP and Oleanders from Nagaland, Wayward Son and U Phonik Tranze from Assam, Boys Blue, Daniel Borax Desting and Big ‘O’ from Arunachal Pradesh, Bad Combination and Gospel River Band from Mizoram and Dabanol and Obisidian from Tripura, among others. A passport to the world of music awaits the winner, which would be promoted by the National channel. The international Music channel MTV has been roped in as advisers and DD for starters would have the groups song recorded, both video and audio in top-class studio. The entire event has been recorded by the DD, which would be showing it on its channel.
Inaugurating the function, Dr Thakur said that there should be more connectivity between the North-east and mainland India. “When I say more connectivity it does not only mean road, rail or air connectivity but connectivity between hearts and sentiments of the people from the region.” he said. The DG DD said idea to organise the event was the result of the efforts of the then Information and Broadcasting Minister, Sushma Swaraj, who gave the go ahead to a suggestion by the then DONER Minister, Arun Shourie at a meeting of the MPs of the region that the Region’s tremendous potential in western music should be nationally showcased.