A Naga musician's note finds harmony in Kerala

New Indian Express

17 hours ago

The first chord
'My father was a pastor in one of the biggest churches in Asia,' he recalls, speaking of his upbringing in a family of ten siblings. 'The church and music were inseparable. I still remember being a little boy, sitting in the pews, drumming on my knees as the choir sang.'
Another memory is etched just as vividly: standing on the verandah, a paper microphone in hand, singing his heart out before his parents, his only audience. 'Even then, I would tell them. I want to be a musician.'
In Nagaland, the bond with music is communal. 'Every Naga family has a guitar,' Anovi says. 'Even if we weren't formally trained, we learned from each other. You know something, you share it with your friends and neighbours. That's how I learned.'
For the youngest in a large family, Anovi's path was shaped by his older brothers. 'One of my brothers dreamed of being a musician, but he couldn't pursue it. So he passed that dream to me,' he says. Another insisted that Anovi learn the drums so the brothers could form a band. 'We played locally, but later, everyone got busy and it stalled.' Still, the spark was alive.
But, of course, there were many hurdles when he committed to his dream. Like many Indian parents, Anovi's family worried about stability. 'Even in Nagaland, people said I should become an engineer or a doctor. They used to say, How else will you survive?' he remembers.
Yet, with his parents' blessing and his brother's encouragement, Anovi refused to give up. 'I believed, maybe God had a plan for me.'