LAIHUI perform at opening UN Permanent Forum

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Manipur's Laihui ensemble to perform at opening ceremony of
- United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues on May 14th 2007 -

NEW YORK CITY May 5, 2007 ----- The Imphal-based Laihui ensemble, renowned for its traditional performances of Meitei shaman rituals and ballads from Manipur, India, has been invited to perform an invocation at the opening ceremony of the Sixth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples in New York City on Monday, May 14, 2007.

The ancient invocation to ancestors, led by Ima Amaibi Tondon, a Meitei female shaman, will follow the opening blessing of the annual international conference by Chief Sid Hill of the Iroquois Nation.

Laihui's appearance at the United Nations is organized by L. Somi Roy, Laihui's New York producer, in partnership with World Music Institute, Roberto Mucaro Borrero of the American Museum of Natural History, and the Centre for Organisation Research & Education (CORE) of Manipur.

The May 14th performance follows its US debut at a concert presented by World Music Institute in association with Asia Society on Friday, May 11th at Symphony Space. On May 11th, the six-member Laihui ensemble, composed of singers, musicians on the pena (indigenous fiddle) and percussion, and an amaibi (Meitei female shaman), will perform Songs of Love and Creation. The concert marks the first time that a dance and classical music performance devoted to ancient pre-Hindu ancestral rituals from the shaman-led Lai Haraoba festival will be performed outside Manipur.

Laihui performances - Photo Courtesy: WMI

Laihui's appearances in New York provides the world a rare opportunity to see the music and dance of Manipur, an isolated province of India bordering Burma (now Myanmar), where its cultural traditions have been preserved in their purest forms and kept out of reach from much of the Western world. Manipur is located in the foothills of the southeastern Himalaya, bordering Burma, and is the cradle of the civilization and culture of the Meiteis, a Tibeto-Burman people.

Laihui: The Centre for Research on Traditional and Indigenous Arts has been a leader in the traditional art forms of Manipur in contemporary idioms. Based in Imphal, Laihui was founded by its Mayanglambam Mangangsana Meitei, under the guidance of Thongam Thoiba, his Pena Oja (teacher). Laihui conducts research in Manipur's traditional arts and presents seminars, workshops and performances in India and internationally. To date, it has produced over 40 interpretations of traditional performances and three documentary films.

For information on the Sixth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum of Indigenous Peoples, please visit http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/.

For more information on the World Music Institute's concert on May 11, 2007 and ticket purchase and information please visit the World Music Institute's website at www.worldmusicinstitute.org. or here .

The above Press Release is provided by Somi Roy, a Manipuri-American arts curator living in New York . This announcement was webcasted on May 06th , 2007

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