of Guns and Guitars…

[originally published on ‘one India one people’ magazine, January 2015] The idea of ‘Guns and Guitars’ came to me on a casual monsoon morning in Mumbai, while I was accompanying Lou Majaw, legendary rock artist of Northeast India to a shop selling musical instruments. That shop owner happened to mention that a very large percentage of his customers belong to the music loving Northeast region of the country and hence he has a soft corner for the musicians of that region. This set me thinking and I wondered aloud to Lou about this paradox – while the choicest of alcoholic beverages are easily available in the neighborhood wine shop in the Northeast, for something as basic as guitar strings the large number of musicians are dependent on music shops from outside the region! Maybe there’s another story hidden here, but that for some other time…

For past 40 odd years now, Lou has been organizing an annual concert on Bob Dylan’s birthday and now this has become somewhat of an occasion in itself. During our drive back, as we were discussing the music scenario in the Northeast region, I asked Lou about this concert and his thoughts behind this unique way of paying respect to his idol. He said that one day way back in the 1970s he felt a strong urge to thank Mr. Dylan for the way his songs had touched Lou’s life, and rather than writing him a postcard, thought of thanking him with a birthday concert. Since the concert was very popular with the local audience, he was requested to repeat it the next year and the year after and the trend continues till date… and that year, he is planning to celebrate the birthday by inviting a rock group each of eight of the northeast state to play with him in the concert.

More often than not, the Northeast finds a mention in the national media for all the wrong reasons – when there is bomb blast, ambush, economic blockade, drug haul, so on and so forth. With no mention or focus on the positive energies in the region, the default focus has been on the negative energies….For years, I have been troubled by this and have tried to bring out various, lesser known and more positive side of the region through my films. The above mentioned discussion with Lou, the upcoming concert and the unusual proliferation of music and bands in the region triggered a thought process in me and ‘Guns and Guitars’ was born.

With this film, we traveled through all the 8 north eastern states, as an attempt to understand the land & her people. This journey gives us an excuse to glance at what gave shape to the voice and music of the land, its cultural and socio- political milieu …talking to the kid singing in the local pub and the budding rock bands from in and around… catching up with the man on the street… sharing a few thoughts with music fans young and old… trying to understand how times have changed or not at all!

In Mizoram, meeting with my father’s old driver was an emotional moment. Mr. Lalhmingliana, whom we fondly address as ‘Kapu’ (uncle, in Mizo language) was almost like our family member. And as an ex-rebel of Mizo National Front, he does have an interesting past. When we interviewed him for our film, he recollects how in the late 1960s they used to fight the Indian army during the day and used to sing Jim Reeve’s ‘This world is not my home…’ once back in their hideout!

Manipur has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of insurgent groups in the northeast. I was once told that the govt. employees – including the police – often has to pay ‘tax’ to 29 different extremist organizations once they got their salary. Amidst these, we met the rock band from Imphal, ‘Cleave’, for our film. We found them jamming with a popular Bollywood number. ‘But isn’t Hindi supposed to be banned in Manipur’? Yes, it is – they replied. So what will happen if an insurgent group finds out that they are playing a Hindi number? ‘Well, we could be shot’ – was their matter of fact reply!

‘Cleave’ is a ‘death metal’ group. In a place where you ‘get’ electricity for an average of three hours on a good day, how they manage to practice with all their plugged in instruments? This is a problem, they agreed. For practice, they have to depend on generators. And in a state where ‘economic blockade’ is a way of life (often they are cut off from the rest of the countries for months due to the blockade of the connecting highways by different groups of the neighboring state on one or the other pretext – and of course, till date there is no railway connectivity to the state!), besides other essential commodities getting a regular supply of fuel is also a challenge. Often petrol and diesel is sold at four times the price of the rest of the country on black market. The group members of ‘Cleave’ told me -that many a time they had stood all night on a queue just for that 1 or 2 litre of fuel! And they used that fuel to start the generator, so that they can play their music…

‘Every Naga can use a gun and everyone can also use a guitar’ – says Dr. Nicky Kire, elected representative and the advisor to the Nagaland’s ‘Music Task force’ when he was talking to us during our sojourn in beautiful state. Paradoxical although he may have sound, he was speaking the truth. After all we were in the land which has witnessed one of the oldest unsolved insurgency problems in the world. And it is also the only state of the country to have a wing of a ministry dedicated to music – viz., ‘Music Task Force’. In a place where it is not uncommon to find youngsters lured by gun for the alternative form of income & livelihood due to the absence of proper infrastructure to earn a honest living, the thought of dedicating a ministry to develop the music industry to provide that very alternative… quite a revolutionary idea indeed! And they do have abundance of local talent to make that idea a roaring success. For example, the examiners from UK who visited Dimapur’s music school ‘Hope centre for excellence’ (affiliated to the Royal school of England) had observed that the centre is producing results which can be matched by only two music schools of London!

In Assam, the biggest musical super star of the region and a dear friend Zubeen Garg (yes, the hit song ‘Ya Ali’ fame) had shared with us how the news of separatist organization ULFA’s bomb blast on 2004 independence day celebration in the Dhemaji town killing 18 school kids shook him. He composed a song overnight, flew to Guwahati (from Mumbai) early morning and led a protest with that song decrying the horrific incident…

On another occasion, the young kids playing in the Assam’s band ‘D’luzion’ had confided in us, ‘Everybody seems to have a reason…even the people who does the bomb blasts claim to have a reason… We don’t really understand all these – just feel bad… This can’t be the way to achieve something!’ And that – ‘the things that we can’t express in words, we try to express with our music…’

The journey with ‘Guns and Guitars’ is indeed an eye opening and enriching experience – whether to know about the rare and shocking instance in the history where India air bombed her own citizen (1966 IAF bombing of Aizawl, Mizoram)… or visiting the home of a legendary folk singer Menchuka – In the last town in the Indian side near the Chinese border in north Arunachal Pradesh – to hear her sing of plaintive tales in a voice that quivers like the cold wind that blows against the mountain…or visiting the village in the midst of nowhere in Meghalaya, that practices an wonderful custom of dedicating an individual ‘tune’ to every child instead of giving them a pet name… Yes, certain things in life can’t be described adequately in words – you need to experience it…

Hopefully, you will agree with us when you get the chance to experience the same through our film, ‘Guns and Guitars – a musical travelogue’…

Bidyut