Nagaland Gets A New Music Hub

The site for the new music institute in Nagaland

Nagaland’s Music Task Force (MTF), the only state government-appointed organization in the country to promote music, is working overtime to finish one of their most ambitious projects yet. MTF plans to open a music institute in Jotsoma, a village close to the border of Kohima district. The name of the institute is a mouthful ”“ the Centre of Excellence For Performance Arts And Music ”“ but MTF’s director Gukhato “Gugs” Chisi is not one to use words like excellence loosely. Says Gugs, “It won’t be like a regular music education institute. We have some of those across the state, even in schools. A lot of music schools teach instrumentation but we want to take it to the next level.” By this, Gugs means courses in music arrangement, composing, audio-visuals and sound engineering. Adds Gugs, “We’re hoping all this training will lead to employment opportunities.”

The institute will also train music teachers in the state. Says Gugs, “This is why we’re looking for super specialists as faculty members. The need of the hour is skill building so we can build on the talent that we have here.” The plan is also to turn the Centre of Excellence For Performing Arts And Music into a hub for music professionals. “This will be the venue for all music promotional activities, performances, workshops, seminars and special courses not offered by educational institutes,” says Gugs. To start with, the workshops will be offered free of cost to encourage students across the state.

The Centre Of Excellence For Performance Arts And Music is slated to open just in time for the Hornbill Music Festival in the first week of December.