Yay. Post number 300. Another milestone reached. I haven’t written any music post in a long time (ah, those weekly Music Monday days!), so I’m going to celebrate this grand occasion with a music post.
Do you believe in love at first sight? I believe in love at first sound.
A couple of days ago, I came across a Mizo song by Ramhlun North YMA Group featuring the band SAGA. The song is called “I Phal Dawn Em Ni”. I was completely entranced by the song. It was perfect – the lyrics, the rhythm, the contemporary music fusion, the symphonic gothic ambience and the Broadway art dance performance in the background. I’ve played it more than like a 100 times since then.
With permission from ZoVidz, here is the song. It’s in Mizo, but I have written the translation below.
Beautiful, isn’t it? Of course we all have different taste, but for me, I’ll even admit that this is the best Mizo song I have heard so far.
Here are the lyrics of the first verse and chorus. As this is a YMA (Young Mizo Association) production, the song is naturally about Mizo sentiments and fueling the love for Mizoram.
Ka pian ka seilenna aw zoram nuam
sappui nun ngai lova tual kan chaina
i chhingzo ramdang awm hian ka ring thei lo
thlangkawr vai leh anpai zingah pawn e
ka chhuang thin che asin aw zoram nuam
i sakruang mawi nghilni reng ka nei ngai lo
[Chorus]
Vala tho la, i ram hi han thlir ta che
Zo lanu hmeltha, i chhingmit meng la, han thlir vel teh.
English translation:
Beautiful Mizoram where I was born and brought up
where we roam and play without envying the western world
There is no other nation that compares to you
Even when I'm in the land around us
I am always proud of you, oh beautiful Mizoram
A day never goes by when I forget your beauty.
[Chorus]
Young man, get up and look at your land
Oh pretty Mizo maiden, open your eyes, and look around…
Amazing song. Especially the part [2:55] when RK-a, vocalist of SAGA sings his own part and totally killed it. Heavenly voice huh? He’s the second runners-up of last year’s Mizo Idol contest.
Here’s another music video of SAGA I found online, called "Seed". The song is in English. You gotta give it to RK-a, it’s freaking awesome!
I really don’t know why Mizo bands like this are not known across India. The songs are in English so people can understand them. In the death metal scene, IIIrd Sovereign is still rocking but the fan following is limited. Boomarang is making noise in Bangalore and Delhi, but the rest of the nation is still oblivious of their existence.
Here is another amazing song [English] by the Mizo band DrLUKE. It’s called “I’m sorry”. Although the chorus is a tad similar to the chorus of “Stellar” by Boomarang, it definitely has a very catchy and clear rhythm. The vocals is immaculately pristine and crystal clear.
Earlier, the vocalist of DrLUKE was a guy called Andrew. The song “Home Sweet Home” [English] by DrLUKE is definitely worth listening too.
Here is Andrew again, this time singing for the gospel band called Act Of Giving and the song is called “Only You” [English].
Speaking of English songs composed and performed by Mizos, this is one of my all time favorite. It’s performed by the school choir of Home Missions School, one of the renowned schools in Mizoram. They are all kids, but what they delivered, shot right past anybody’s expectation. It’s called “Together as one”.
Mixing Mizo songs with this collection, here is a recent song by F.Laldinmawii entitled “Lung a leng em mai”. There is something about this song that pulls me right into it. Listening to it, I just feel like crying, but in a very masculine way, you know…
Pensy’s latest song “Fak zel che nuam ka ti – II” is another great song, with a really cool music video. The entire video was shot in a few takes, pretty much like “Sweetest Thing” by U2. This video was shot in Lunglei, and I can image how much the director and people must have planned to run each scene smoothly as I am sure no CGs were used in this video. Check it out:
I like Pensy a lot. I will end this post with an English song of hers called “Thank you Grandpa” which is one of my favorite gospel songs. Very touching and emotional.
Thank you so much ZoVidz for allowing me to embed most of your collection. For those of you who love music by Mizo artists, kindly subscribe to his channel on youtube.
Take care, and hope you were entertained.
