Meet Ruata Renthlei of Avora Records, a guitarist par excellence

Meet the man behind the mellow riffs and sweet sounding tones of the guitar from the band Avora Records of Mizoram. Ruata Rehthlei, or just ‘Ruata’ as he is known to many across the globe, is setting new benchmarks in creating soulfully-blended music from the Northeastern region of India.

The 23-year old defines skill, talent and discipline with the music that he creates. Ruata said that he picked up his first guitar when he was around 11 or 12 years — a locally made guitar — and since then there has been no looking back.

Ruata is a very keen listener of all genres of music and also implements them when he plays the guitar. The soulful player has achieved a lot in his career so far; the best guitarist at the Hornbill International Rock Contest 2017, best guitarist at the 1^st Scavenger Rock Idol 2013 and the best guitarist MZU VIBRIO Rock Contest 2017 are a few achievements that are worth a mention.

During a brief interview with VibesMojo, Ruata commented that it was during his high school when emo, punk rock and metal was big that he picked the guitar and learned the songs of the bands like Pantera, TRIVIUM, Slipknot and also some classic rock bands like Skid Row and Mr BIG. He fondly remembers his first performance, where he played Tokyo Hotel’s Monsoon while he was in middle school. Professionally, though ABLY was the first band from where he started his career in music, but it got disbanded after a year and from then on he is a member in the well known band of Avora Records from Mizoram.

On querying about his inspirations for his creations, Ruata said, “I can’t say I have a specific formula to write tunes or a step by step method to come up with a good song in general. But I enjoy creating tunes with the right mixture of melody and technique. For me, when I listen to any song or an instrumental I’ve always been a keen listener to both the melody and the technique put up in the song; I believe these should be the yin and yang to actually judge (if you’re a critique) any good song/ piece; an over emphasis on either of the sounds is just blatant abuse of power for me. I personally like to think it’s a kind of an obligation for an artist to learn how to mix those two to survive especially on the scene we have in India in this trying time.”

Apart from being a very well-known guitarist from the region, Ruata is also a huge Pokemon fan, he spills that he has watched all the episodes of Pokemon and also every movie of Pokemon that he could get his hands on. He further says: “Now I had saved enough (thank you music) to get me a Nintendo switch where I can relive those stories all over again. Guys! If you have completed the levels too, let’s have an adult, matured switch conversation about it! I’m also a huge ass marvel fan, spidey has my comical heart!”

When being asked about his childhood fantasy, Ruata said that on being introduced to music during his high school years, he had always pictured as how cool it must be to sleep inside a studio or a jam room with bandmates — making or playing music. He said that he had the same experience after all these years with Avora Records and added that it was “not as cool as I thought it would look. It was, honestly as stressful as writing a board exam when it comes to that extent and dedication, overall it was still a dream come true”.

Ruata is venturing out with his solo instrumental single over the recent times and is making the social media go crazy. His maiden release was titled as ‘BLUE’, which is a very sweet and pleasant piece for any music lover who has a sweet taste bud. He has also released his second piece titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, Guthrie Govan, Scott Henderson, Tiroh and Eric Johnson were some of the few guitarists that he adored and idolised. He signs off giving a sweet message to aspiring musicians, ““Practice, work hard, and be committed to whatever you’re trying to achieve, practise and practise even more. Appreciate every musician, small or big, I personally feel that you can learn from anyone and everyone, just because you’re more skilled or senior than someone doesn’t mean you’re superior in every way.”