Kohima: Following the Chief Minister’s announcement of a partnership between the Task Force for Music & Arts (TaFMA) under the Government of Nagaland and the Seven Seas Music San Francisco, Advisor to TaFMA, Theja Meru on Tuesday expressed hope that this partnership will create new vistas especially for Naga folk and fusion music.
Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio announced this news on Twitter on Monday. “I am happy to learn that @sevenseasmusic San Francisco and @TafmaNaga #Nagaland have joined hands to promote Naga music globally. I wish this partnership all success,” Rio tweeted.
Meru said the tie-up is an “incredible world platform” to highlight music from the state. “There is a lot of good folk music, but it has just not been explored, and they are looking for pure organic form of music.”
The Adviser hoped that with the new partnership, local singers would also benefit. “This is also going to be a motivation for artists in the villages to connect with music producers”, he added.
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Speaking about the current musical trends, he said that people now look for “very exotic kind of music from around the world”. This, according to him, is because “in a flat digital world where everything is the same, anything organic is going to stand out and have the potential to sell well.”
He also urged the need for local music producers to start focusing on folk music. “The time is NOW because there is a market for it”, he said.
Meanwhile, Meru thanked Brooke Wentz, Founder-CEO for partnering with Nagaland, giving the local musicians “a much-needed platform to let the world hear and discover music from Nagaland”.
He also acknowledged the chief minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio for his vision and aspiration to share Naga music to the world and making Nagaland a true centre for music and arts.
Further, Meru said that Senti Toy Threadgill has been instrumental towards this partnership. He appreciated her for contacting the Seven Seas Music and for making the partnership become a possibility.
Senti Toy Threadgill is a singer, songwriter and an ethnomusicologist based in New York City and hails from Kohima. Her music album “How Many Stories Do You Read On My Face” was selected by the Wall Street Journal’s Top 5 listings (2007) in the alternative music category, a list which included Radiohead and Leslie Feist, one of the most spectacular debuts in music history.
“We are thrilled to empower both sides – producers and artists – and deliver memorable audio-visual experiences to audiences by offering the most compelling music from emerging and established artists from around the world, representing over 30,000 songs by 3,600 artists from 155 countries,” Founder-CEO Brooke Wentz also said.
Musicians from Nagaland who have original music, particularly folk and fusion music, are encouraged to contact TaFMA at tafma2019@gmail.com or call 9863192767 for further details to make their music available on the Seven Seas Music platform. Each artist may submit up to 8 songs.
Seven Seas Music is a music licensing and discovery platform that helps media professionals quickly stream and license authentic music from around the world (www.sevenseasmusic.com). It is a platform where music supervisors, producers, and other creators can search for culturally diverse sounds to accompany their visual content via custom search tools and unique features that make discovering and licensing international talent fast, easy and streamlined.
Users can purchase individual or blanket legal licenses for their favourite tracks in just a click, and the money collected go back to the artists in their respective countries.
The company is overseen by two of the most respected names in music supervision and licensing, Brooke Wentz and Maryam Battaglia, who have a combined 100+ film credits to their names and founded the prestigious Rights Workshop, distinguished music supervision, licensing and creative clearance company.
