Tetso College hosts ICSSR-sponsored seminar on indigenous languages and music, emphasising preservation of cultural heritage in Northeast India.
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DIMAPUR — A two-day Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR)-sponsored national seminar on the theme “Interwoven voices: Indigenous languages and music as cultural anchors in Northeast India” was held at Tetso College in Chümoukedima from January 29 to the 30th.
The seminar, held in hybrid mode, brought together scholars, researchers and students to deliberate on indigenous languages, music and knowledge systems of the Northeast, stated an update.
It was jointly organised by the Department of Music and the Department of Linguistics, Tetso College, and consisted of seven technical sessions conducted both on campus and online.
The inaugural programme was held on January 29 at Lorin Hall, with Dr. Prashanna Gogoi, Director of North East Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC), Dimapur, delivering the keynote address.
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In his address, Dr. Gogoi highlighted the richness and diversity of indigenous cultures across the northeastern states and stressed that language and music function as living cultural archives that preserve community memory, worldview and values.
He said indigenous musical and linguistic traditions should be understood as knowledge systems rather than mere performance forms and highlighted the need for systematic documentation and academic engagement to safeguard them for future generations. Noting the pressures of modernisation and cultural homogenisation, he called for collaborative efforts between institutions, researchers and communities to strengthen preservation initiatives.
Addressing students, Dr. Gogoi underscored the importance of cultural awareness and rootedness, stating that identity and belonging are grounded in one’s cultural heritage.
Day two featured parallel online sessions on indigenous music and knowledge, oral tradition and indigenous language documentation. The sessions covered ecological imagery in Khasi song texts, music and landscape in literature, symbolism and worldview in folk songs, oral narrative traditions, ritual and gender in festival contexts, and indigenous language documentation studies.
On-campus sessions held at Conference Room Saturn included a session on “Indigenous musical instruments and folk songs as cultural continuity”. Student researchers presented papers on fading traditional instruments, music–land relationships, folk song traditions in Waromung village, the role of folksongs among the Rengma Naga tribe, and Zeliang Naga musical instruments and craftsmanship.
A second on-campus session on “Memory, identity and transformation in Naga Indigenous Music” featured presentations on folk fusion and modernity, storytelling through traditional songs, heritage and nostalgia in literature, lullabies and early language transmission, and Ao Naga lullabies and cultural transmission by Limajungla Walling.
The valedictory keynote address was delivered by Dr. Donovan Kitborlang Swer, assistant professor and head of Department of Music, Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong, who stressed the need to document and promote indigenous musical and linguistic traditions, particularly among younger generations.