Wortam: The Rising Young Mashangva

Nimmi Rajkumari *

cover art of 'Leikashi' by Wortam Mashangva

As Plato once said, "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything" and with the music cult on the rise, the scenes have changed.

Music has no barrier and this has proven to be true in our very own hometown with different new genres of music and artists popping up.

Yet there still remains many gifted and talented artists that are unexposed and fenced in. It so happens that in a recent event I was introduced to this soft spoken person who is a professional singer.

Meet Wortam Mashangva, who like many of us struggled to keep his dream, passion and desire alive. At the young age of 7, he started singing and instantly knew that that was what he wanted to do.

Wortam, or better known as Tam, started his journey towards becoming a professional singer by engaging in his community church choirs and similar events which was his first step. But things started to slowly take a turn when he hit puberty and his vocal changed i.e. voice breaking. That was when his actual battle began.

Having no mentor to begin with and no guidance whatsoever, it took him a while to get back on track. There were moments of frustration when he couldn't hit the right note or pitch/scale and would scream out in defeat. Adding to that, he did not get much encouragement when his family found out he wanted to be a professional singer.

But that was not enough to stop him as he persevered and kept practicing. At some point it lead to mild complaints from the neighbours so he would lock himself up in his closet and sing and yell his heart out.

Sometimes, he would also muffle his face with a pillow while trying to hit the right notes. The struggle was real indeed.

Wortam Mashangva

During his teenage years, he joined a choir group called "Voice of Symphony" albeit they mostly performed at weddings, jubilee and centenary celebrations etc. within the community. The band got an invitation to perform at the North East Choir Competition which was held in New Delhi as a special appearance.

While it takes only a few weeks to produce a music album, Tam had to struggle for seven long years before the release of his first solo music video called "Leikashi" - Tangkhul word for "Love", in 2017 on a CD format.

As though the universe conspired, his work was accepted widely to such an extent that people began to upload it on Youtube. "Leikashi" gave Tam the boost and recognition he deserved, leaving a good number of people impressed.

Owing to his music video, he got an opportunity to perform at the Sangai Festival, 2017 and also B.W Band received an invitation from the Manipur Tourism Department to perform at Night Plaza where Tam was the lead vocalist.

His perseverance and his will to not give up on his dreams got him to a point where, now he will be going on an international tour. The first on the list is Bangkok and several cities in the USA. This is a proud moment for us and for our aspiring artist.

We wish him the best in all his future endeavours.