Oinam Doren: Songs of Mashangva. 2010

Rewben Mashangva is a Tangkhul Naga tribal musician and researcher from Ukhrul, Manipur, India. His quest and journey remains the most important one in the sphere of preservation of traditional folk music of the Tangkhul Nagas which stretches back more than a thousand years. With the explosive infusion of western music, coupled with a social order transformed radically via Christianity, Rewben struggles relentlessly against the turning tides to embrace an oral musical tradition which is on the verge of extinction. Oinam, a former student of mine in Shillong, filmed Rewben’s quest and journey for more than a year to give us this important and culturally vital document – a document that is reflective, respectful and reverberant. Take a look.

Songs Of Mashangva

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Deirdre Towers
Deirdre Towers
11 years ago

Wonderful cinematography! Sad to learn about how debilitating the intro of christianity was to this culture! Submit this doc to the Margaret Mead Film Festival 2013 in NY!

Andrea B
Andrea B
11 years ago

Fascinating project!

Clayton Farrer
Clayton Farrer
11 years ago

The tunes are haunting man, priceless recordings.

gunita
gunita
11 years ago

ty for sharing! I think India needs more documentary like this so dat we dont end up being western entirely as a race

Jitto
Jitto
11 years ago

Good to see a tangkhul naga taking so much effort in protecting culture

sujit
sujit
11 years ago

Hey, nice documentary, anyway to contact oinam?

jeanie
jeanie
11 years ago

I am writing an ethnography paper that the prof has allotted two weeks to complete. I was unsure of what to write on, till i came across this! Mr Taid thank you very much!

L Canela
L Canela
11 years ago

This is quite amazing,,,I am (somewhat) surprised to see how much Christianity has threatened traditional culture in parts of India