May all the roads lead to Ukhrul for Shirui Lily Festival 2019

Ringo Pebam *

The much awaited Shirui Lily Festival 2019 is starting today and it will go on till 19th October. Besides the indigenous games and performances by local artists of Ukhrul, there will be various troupes from different districts who will be performing culture programs in the festival - Maring war dance, Thang Ta, Bamboo Dance, Maibi Jagoi, Mao Dance, Khullang Eshei, Shumang Leela etc; there will also be Miss Shirui Lily beauty contest with contestants from various districts. As a part of Shirui Lily Festival, there is Shirock – where there will be competition for rock bands from across North East India, and performances by two international bands.

Sometime in early 90s when we were in high school, I attended a concert of Dark Krusaders of Churachandpur at MFDC Ground in Imphal. There, the iconic frontman (late) Jessy Ralte belted out Nazareth’s 'Star' that did justice to the voice of Dan McCafferty and left everyone awed. Growing up in the 90s, the songs of Nazareth were our staple diets when we picked up the guitar to learn and perform in school - from 'Where are you now?' to 'Dream on', from 'Love hurts' to 'Star'.

Then came the Cable TVs (RF signal via coaxial cables) in early 90s to Manipur, and we were introduced to MTV / Channel [V]. Extreme's 'More than words' was one of our most sought after videos back then. Nuno Bettencourt was an inspiration to many a budding guitar player of our generation.

Those days, we never ever thought that one day the Scottish band Nazareth and American band Extreme would be coming down to Manipur and perform at Ukhrul. It gives us goose bumps to realize that today Nazareth will be performing at the opening day of Shirock and Extreme on the closing day. The rock music fans of Manipur, North East and the country are indeed fortunate to have these two respected bands coming to Ukhrul.

It is good to have international bands performing in Manipur. There will be interactions with them, our talents will be seen by them, and it might pave the way for our local bands to go international. When Iron Maiden first performed in Bangalore in 2007, Indian band Parikrama opened for them. Parikrama then went on to perform with them at the legendary Download Festival in Donington, UK.

Extreme

I was there at Shirui Lily Festival 2018 with a couple of my friends, and my experience with the brothers and sisters of Ukhrul had a profound impact on me – my love for the people of Ukhrul - Ukhrul gi echil enao sing yaam nungshi - from the ones we met on the highway to the ones with whom we rubbed our shoulders in the concert; from the ones we met at tea shops who talked about their likes and dislikes about the festival to the ones who brought pork and chicken cooked at their homes; from the ones who tried arranging our place to stay to the Ukhrul gi Imas (the women folks of Ukhrul) on the roadside who came to our rescue when we had arguments with the police; from the never ending flow of young boys and girls seen walking (from 6 PM to 8 PM) on the roads leading to the concert venue to the elders and women folk who sat in packed western and eastern galleries of Bakshi ground; from the few Ukhrul friends to whose houses we visited to the ones who served us at the make shift restaurants made on the highway....

Nazareth

The people to people interaction was intense. The people of Ukhrul were happy to have us coming, we were more than happy to be there. The ordinary people are all good, who possess the love for one another.

Hoping this year’s Shirui Lily Festival will be a much better one, bringing about more positivity in many more aspects.

Like our friend Tungshang Ningreichon from Ukhrul, I also believe that - Shirui Lily gives us pride and honour and we must reciprocate with the same honour and dignity by helping build lives and livelihood of women and families of Shirui and the villages at the foothills of the Kashong who not only depend on the forest but also protect and manage the same. That, they will help in the conservation of the Kashong Lily and its wild in whose name we commemorate Shirui Lily Festival.

Last year, on the first day of Shirui Lily Festival, the roads from Imphal to Ukhrul were full of bicycles, motorcycles, cars and SUVs. On the last day, when Queensryche was to perfrom, the scenes on the roads from Shirui Hills to Ukhrul Town (coming from Jessami side), and from Imphal to Ukhrul were never ending flow of vehicles, long stretches of vehicles with head lights ‘on’ on the darken hill ranges. It looked like Woodstock '69. May all the roads lead to Ukhrul with bigger loads this year.

Wishing our brothers and sisters of Ukhrul all the very best for Shirui Lily Festival 2019.