'Kohima arts & jazz festival’ on April 30 at Jotsoma

[caption id="attachment_245174" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (From L-R) Vesato Thuluo, Hovithal Sothu, Temjen (NCMFA student), and Hynjun Chris Choi during the press conference held at Dream Cafe, in Kohima on Monday.[/caption] For the first time in Nagaland, ‘Kohima arts & jazz festival’ coinciding with the International Jazz day on April 30 will be celebrated at RCEMPA in Kohima. The event will be organised by the Nagaland College of Music and Fine Arts (NCMFA), Kohima and the Music Task Force (MTF). This was announced by the organisers during a press conference held at Dream Cafe in Kohima on Monday, April 22. ‘We have decided to celebrate all the important days of music in the state including Jazz which is the first one coming in line. We want to give equal importance to all the genres in music,’ said Dr. Hovithal Sothu Project Director of MTF. The primary objective is to promote young local talents by offering them a platform where they can showcase their works. Many artists are not getting avenues to pefrom so we are creating one for them, said Sothu. He informed that all activities, programmes, and plannings are done by the NCMFA, even to the extent of getting a jazz expert Hynjun Chris Choi from US. The USA-Korean Hynjun Chris Choi, who is also an assistant professor at NCMFA, explained jazz as a folk song. Jazz contains a lot of indigenous rhythms, language, and culture and Nagaland is the perfect place to put this genre, said the jazz artist Choi. ‘We want to promote local artists, crafters, musician, painters, and restaurants along with Naga folk music.’ The platform is an open invitation to all Naga folk groups and artists irrespective of age group, he added. The main purpose for the event is to celebrate and to help the Kohima community and to be united, he said. Managing director of NCMFA, Vesato Theluo informed that such fest is the first of its kind in Nagaland. Acknowledging the fact that Nagas like rock music, he also felt that events for other kinds of music such as classical, blues, jazz, etc should be conducted. 'This time around the event will be a day affair, yet in the coming years we hope to extent the days, even inviting international bands to perform along with the local artists,' he added. The event features indoor and outdoor stages of continuous music, fine art, crafts, and food, inflatable castle for kids and information booths in a beautiful, outdoor setting for a whole day. Apart from local musician performing lives, various local artists will exhibit their works. The programme will start from 11 am and will continue till 7pm on April 30 at RCEMPA in Jotsoma. The first half of the event will feature local musician performing lives at free of cost. By 4 pm, there will be a jam session to be followed by a concert. The listed bands and musicians included Tetseo Sisters, Blue print, Virie, Nagagenous, NCMFA jazz ensemble, Mengu Suokhrie, Arneu Usou Zao & the choir, and Chris Jazz Trio. Tickets for the concert are available at Dream cafe, Radiant restaurant, Impact Centre point complex, Bible house, Music garage, and Unitex. The donor’s ticket cost INR 2000 while for the normal it is INR 300. Our Correspondent