Guru Rewben Mashangva and son put up a stirring performance
  • 5 years ago
Guru Rewben Mashangva - King of Naga folk blues with his son Saka singing at NagaFest '12...

Guru Rewben Mashangva is a folk musician and singer hailing from a small village called Choithar in the Ukhrul district of Manipur, India known for reviving musical tradition of the Tangkhul Naga community of Manipur. Rewben is also a composer, instrument maker, researcher & guide for the preservation and development of his tribal folk music. It's been more than 15 years that he has been doing this. He is known by different names like, Bob Dylan of the Nagas and King of Naga folk blues, Father of Naga folk blues. Influenced by musicians like Bob Dylan and Bob Marley, Rewben Mashangva has created many Naga tribal folk songs based on blues and ballad rhythms. He is a recipient of the National Tribal Award 2011-12, for his contribution to the development of tribal music from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India. Mashangva was featured in the first season of The Dewarists along with The Raghu Dixit Project.

Being from the Tankhul tribe, the music Rewben plays is called HAO music and the main instruments used when performing are the 'Tingtelia', a traditional violin type instrument which took him 7 years to modify to suit what he was doing musically and the 'Yankahui', a long traditional bamboo flute which he has now modified to be more consistent tonally. The acoustic guitar and harmonica are the other two instruments Rewben uses a lot. Thus far Rewben has released two albums 'Naga Folk Blues' and 'Creation'. These days whenever possible his son Saka joins him onstage playing a traditional cowbell and singing. They both have the Tangkhul hairstyle called 'Haokuirat' and its quite interesting seeing people's reactions when they see the two of them. Rewben Mashangva is managed exclusively by Keith Wallang for Springboard Surprises.
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