Music is something the world would be lost without! We feel it, we breathe it, we love it! Eastern Mirror’s – Rhythm of Love- connects our readers to music through conversation with artists as they share their experience with their love …… MUSIC
Music moves us, opens our emotions – passing all barriers. Music is a piece that we can all connect to so Readers get connected with your favorite artists every Friday with Rhythm of Love.
Formed in the year 2012, ‘Purple Fusion’, one of the few Naga folk fusion bands has been promoting the dying traditional lore through their melodious and infectious approach.
Purple Fusion over the past few years since formation has not only been reviving the traditional music but has also brought international fame to Nagaland by winning the best Folk Album/Singer award at the Akademia Awards Los Angeles 2014.
Their debut music video “Tring Tring- Marks of War”, released on January 4, 2013 has been featured in leading music channels like VH1 and MTV, and are also being used in many documentaries and presentations internationally.
The band incorporates indigenous ethnic music with genres of the west like Blues, Jazz, Funk, Reggae and rock, creating a blend of music which is unique from what we usually get to listen to in this modern electronic age.
They are also the only band from Northeast India to have performed at IIFI (International
Film Festival Of India).EASTERN MIRROR: A little intro of “purple Fusion” as a band
PURPLE FUSION: Purple Fusion (PF) is a folk fusion band that incorporates Naga folk tunes and chants with western genres such as blues, Jazz, Rock, funk etc.
EASTERN MIRROR: What do you think is the role of indihut when it comes to promoting the young talented musicians of Nagaland and outside as well?
PURPLE FUSION: Cant really comment on Indihut because we are not really, tightly associated with them as some bands are, but by the looks of it a lot of upcoming artists are benefiting from it.
EASTERN MIRROR: What are your thoughts on the present progressive development of music programs and training rising within Nagaland now?
PURPLE FUSION: Progressive development on music?? hmmmmmm…. its kinda hard to answer that question because first of all we never were associated with any institute or conservatory for that matter. We operate as a band not really delving into the classical format. But i presume institutes and conservatories are doing a great job in formally training students who are interested in that field. Well since we have music teachers from Korea and the Philippines in our state i think it would be proper for us to say that we are positively progressing and developing in music.
EASTERN MIRROR: What’s your view on the indigenous music scene at present in Nagaland? What’s your say on it?
PURPLE FUSION: Western music has definitely overtaken our indigenous music, this is why PF is trying to preserve our originality in however small a way we can.
EASTERN MIRROR: What constitutes a good live performance in your opinion? What’s your approach to performing on stage?
PURPLE FUSION: For us a good live performance is determined by various factors such as a good sound, how well we execute our talents or instruments, how we interact with the audience, how people interact with our songs, and of course how we enjoy playing on stage etc….
EASTERN MIRROR: How do you balance the need to put your personal emotions into the music you play and the intentions of the composer?
PURPLE FUSION: We think that whoever writes the songs, be it the guitarist or the bassist or the drummer or the singer himself or herself in our case we need to understand what the content and the intent of the song is all about. When this is accomplished the emotion to whatever genre the singer sings comes out through her automatically.
EASTERN MIRROR: What is the plan of ‘Purple Fusion’ as a band? What would you like to accomplish in the future?
PURPLE FUSION: There are so many dreams we want to accomplish, countless we should say. One thing we would want to do at the moment would be to make ourselves better musicians and human beings individually, and become a tight unit as a band and to go Global.
EASTERN MIRROR: A little background on your debut music video “Tring Tring- Marks of War’’….
PURPLE FUSION: Tring Tring- Marks of war is a Sangtam Folk song and is basically about a champion warrior called Yangbongse. We went all the way to Kiphire to shoot the video.
EASTERN MIRROR: What or who was/were your biggest influences as an artist?
PURPLE FUSION: Most of us have our own influences individually, but Rahul Ram of Indian Ocean did really inspire us and took us under his wings.
EASTERN MIRROR: What are the most played songs on your playlist?
PURPLE FUSION: Guess the most played song from our list would be Tring Tring- Marks of war, Ho Hey! You came along, Longmi Khi and Sohi Mozo.
EASTERN MIRROR: Most prestigious award that ‘Purple Fusion’ has received?
PURPLE FUSION: Well we had a couple of awards recently , First one was the award for the best Folk Album/Singer award at the Akademia Awards Los Angeles 2014 and the more recent one was we won the 2nd runner up at the Sinehheiser upcomming band in India 2015 where nearly 300 bands submitted their entries from all over the country. The contest was judged by Shankar, Eshan , Loy and Salim , Suliman.
