In conversation with Guru Rewben Mashangva

Eastern Mirror: Can you tell us a bit about your family, your son in particular. Guru Rewben Mashangva: I have a family in full swing-4 chidren, 3 little birds (daughter) and one master son called Saka. And I hope one day he will be my successor, but the decision is not mine. My first lady is my faithful wife, school teacher, family maker, she has been taking care of the family for the last 15 years for ‘a concrete and happy family.’ Eastern Mirror: Tell us about your first musical instrument. How old were you when you bought that guitar? Guru: My first musical instrument was made by my father which is a local made guitar..And the second one was a Burma teak guitar bought it in the year 1978 that cost me 80 rupees.Eastern Mirror: What’s the most difficult thing to do in finding the balance between your family and your career? You’ve been doing this for decades Guru: My wife is the key for all the balance that I make. Society cannot understand me but my wife does. To make it short she is the harmony of my music. Eastern Mirror: Five things you cannot live without Guru: Food, indigenous rice beer, traditional attire, festival and music songs and dance. These five things are the most important thing for Guru Rewben Mashangva and women. Eastern Mirror: You’re called Guru, how did that start? And how do you feel about it? Guru: In the year 2004, North East Zone Cultural Center (NEZCC) Dimapur, Govt. of India entitled me which I wasn’t expecting at all. I was just doing my things for the society and for myself. I was not able to accept the Title because I felt that it was too huge but then I realized that the society needed to be changed and transformed through this indigenous ways. Today I am proud to be who I am. Ha ha ha.... Eastern Mirror: You’ve played across the country and abroad as well, the best and worst places experiences? Guru: Yes!! Well I feel that good and bad experiences are always part of my job. Hence I do not want to be specific on which one was the best and which one was the worst as ‘the experiences in life never end.’ Eastern Mirror: What would you be doing if you weren’t playing music? Guru: If I am not a musician then I’ll be saying my goodbyes to this world. I will just spread my wings and fly away from this lovely world.. Eastern Mirror: When it comes to the music scene, here in the northeast, people are usually generous with their praises but there’s always room for improvement. What are the areas we need to work on to take or music to the world. Guru: The improvement that we need in the North Eastern states is that we listen to the current chart music while failing to listen to our own music from within NE. For me this is the major thing that needs to be changed. We need to come out from the spoon feeding music. Be an activist through your music and not only listeners.. Eastern Mirror: Something about your hair. Do you have a special barber? What is your hairstyle called? Guru: I do have a particular barber shop for me and my son. My hairstyle is called the ( HAO KUIRET) indigenous Tangkhul Naga Haircut. Eastern Mirror: The younger generation has not really picked up on folk music... which bands should they listen to, to start learning about folk music? Guru: Your question is so relevant to our society and musician. Yes, our people always has this thinking that others are always better than him or her or he is always lesser then them. We need to break this mentality to outgrow ourselves. We should listen to all the music without categorizing to learn and improve be it local or international or national. Folk music not only has a traditional melody but it also has stories to tell, so younger generations should catch up with local artists whose interests are folk music.