Bound by their love for music, and the desire to share it with the world, the Shillong Chamber Orchestra from Meghalaya is one of the numerous musical groups that rule North East India. Who could have thought a small choir group’s music could be fun and even survive outside the four walls of a church? But under Neil Nongkynrih’s supervision, it did. It was the only choir group representing India at the World Choir Games in Shaoxing, China and won three gold diplomas, won the India’s Got Talent Season 2 finale and most recently performed exclusively for US President Barack Obama.
“We started as a small group of 12 musicians who wanted to make choir music fun. And even today, with just 19 members (three from Nagaland and 16 from Shillong), it’s still very small, but what made us tick was our non-traditional approach to choir music,” says Nongkynrih, adding, “Initially we used to struggle to sell tickets. People thought of choir music as church music. But once we performed, everything changed. People loved us.”
They became annual visitors to the Presidential house in New Delhi with a special invite from the then President APJ Abdul Kalam in 2005, but life changed when they participated in the reality show India’s Got Talent this year. Nongkynrih says, “The boys are now recognised by people, and even people from smaller cities and towns know us.”
Nongkynrih’s satisfaction comes from the feeling that maybe somehow, their achievements would give hope to a lot of musicians in the North East region.