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Can Traditional Musical Instruments Be The Hope For Melodious Inspiration In Manipur
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By Lata Jha:
From insurgency to counter insurgency to economic blockades, Manipur seems to be always battling it out. But that doesn’t stop the enterprising Manipuris from going out and making a difference.
The traditional Manipuri instruments are pretty much fading away. The Pena, for instance, doesn’t find too many takers today. For several centuries, Pena recital used to be a popular form of entertainment and the instrument was considered the backbone of Manipuri folk music. However, during the 1970s, it was pushed to the periphery as popular Hindi film songs and western music took over.
It is probably the overwhelming affiliation of the Pena with religion and culture that has resulted in its confinement to a small group who are trying to conserve this folk culture, putting the instrument and its legacy on revival tunes, and giving it a fresh wave of hope and survival.
Imphal based Center for Research on Traditional and Indigenous Art, popularly known as Laihui, is trying to infuse life again into the fading enthusiasm of the Pena. Through workshops and live sessions, Laihui is trying to create ample opportunities to analyze and understand the aesthetics of this rare instrument. Workshops are conducted to teach youngsters the basic principles and scientific characters of Pena music, so that these kids can innovate and blend unique and traditional melodies of the Pena with modern tunes and hi-tech gizmos with the larger objective of appealing to the global music lovers. By applying a scientific approach, the effort is to harness the unique sound of the Pena and fuse it with contemporary musical ballads and neo-classical trends.
It is said that the tunes of the Pena are embedded with a deep message of harmony and honour, which the modern Manipuri society, consisting of both hills and valleys, has long forgotten. There is very little consideration for common origins and respect for deities. The race in life has taken people far away from their roots. As Manipur grapples with growing disharmony amongst communities today, perhaps in the tunes of the Pena, people can find melodious inspiration to come together.
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Usham Rojio
The pena music has a distinct vibrative tonal system which expresses different moods thrilling and evoking primary feelings of the audiences. Hepli pabot (connected with the mood and the ambience of courage), sikaplon (expressing mood of moaning), leimaron sheiren (expressing joy and describing beauty), panthoibi sheiron (expressing spiritual devotion and submission), etc. are some of the established aesthetic expressions of pena music. Pena music evolved as a functional music for the purposes of rituals in Manipur particularly Lai-haraoba. However, it has its secular function, believed to have been developed later. There are broadly two kinds of penakhongba (pena players) – asheiba penakhongba and phamsak penakhongba. The asheiba penakhongba are engaged in Lai-Haraoba and other rituals and the phamsak penakhongba are engaged in programmes of secular entertainment. There are also artistes who are expertise in both. The pena players have a strong faith in the pena and have a firm belief that the two main parts represented Lainingthou and Lairembi, the father and mother principles. There is a myth connected with this musical instrument. One needs a dedicated research to explore the mystical aesthetic and its relation to the mystical physiology of body and landscape. The pena music was a necessary component of all rituals and religious ceremonies. But with the coming of Vaishnavism, the art forms, the philosophy and the tonal system of pena singing had been incorporated and new forms of art were introduced like Natasankirtana. This led to the shrinking of the indigenous performance spaces of pena though lai-haraoba has been the only space left for this music. It is important the pena player creates their own space for to make this music alive. Not unfairly, the Laihui Ensemble is generating a consciousness and research oriented workshop to generate interest among young musicians.