Mangka Mayanglambam

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA under Workshops, Residencies, Seminars, will create a music workshop on the folk and traditional music and culture of the Chakpa community in two villages, Phayeng and Leimaram which are located 30 km away from Imphal. Mangka Mayanglambam is the Coordinator for this project.

Mangka Mayanglambam is a performer, researcher and teacher of folk music at Laihui Ensemble since 2013. She is a Visharad in Manipuri dance from Shree Shree Govindaji Nartnalaya and has a Master’s degree in Sociology from IGNOU. Although she has acquired the knowledge of Manipuri folk music from her father since childhood, she has been trained in various Manipuri folk forms from reputed Gurus such as Guru Langathel Thoinu, Padmashri Guru Khangembam Mangi and Guru Khumanthem Sundari. She has performed in various parts of India and abroad, including Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Singapore and Japan. She has been recognised as an 'A' Grade folk singer of All India Radio Imphal, an ICCR Empanelled Artiste and she has won Prasar Bharati Doordarshan Annual Award in 2017. Given her experience she is best placed to be the Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

In the music workshop titled The Essence of Chakpa, two Chakpa villages Phayeng and Leimaram are chosen for project implementation. These villages are located nearly 30 kilometers away from Imphal city at the South-Western foothills. The workshop shall be conducted by the few living Gurus/ experts, and the participants will be highly recognised adolescent and young adult folk artistes from the Chakpa communities who practice folk and traditional arts. As the musical traditions of Chakpa communities have not been documented, the project will focus on the interactions with the Gurus and audio-visual documentation of the performances will be done. The performances at the Gurus’ residences, occasional ceremonies, village ritual practices as well as the events at the workshop residential space will also be documented.

The music workshop will be an opportunity for the participants to get introduced to the different styles and techniques of various Gurus. Moreover, the audio-visual documentation will be useful for youth in the future to learn the art forms of the Chakpas. Although, Chakpa cultural traditions look somewhat similar to that of Meiteis, they are quite different in dialect, tone, ritual practices, songs, dances, cuisine, and living traditions. The Chakpa villages, Phayeng and Leimaram, where the project will be implemented are just two out of more than ten Chakpa villages that exist today. As noted by one of the expert evaluators of this project, Chakpas are more of a federation of disparate groups within the ethnic community of Meiteis marked by certain pre-Hindu era social norms such as liquor brewing and meat consumption. Chakpa groups are given Scheduled Caste status in Manipur and they are considered reticent. This reticence can be considered as a conscious introverted response of self-preservation against the wave of conversation of Meiteis to Vaishnavism in the early 18^th century, in order to protect themselves from the homogenisation of cultural practices. They can therefore be seen as pockets resistance. While the project runs the risk of sneaking into the core of their private world that is closely guarded from the Meitei mainstream, it is also important to discover what the Chakpa communities are open about, especially in the context of sharing their living traditions with each other as well as to the world of folk arts, at large.  

The project will be an opportunity for the members of the Chakpa community to learn from each other, and experience their heterogeneous cultural traditions, including a range of rare traditional folk music such as lullabies, work songs, children’s songs, mourning songs, trance music, healing music, proverbs and riddle songs. The project will make use of cultural experiences such as eating together and dancing together, as a way to connect with them. Although Meitei is considered as lingua franca among the Chakpa communities, music will be deployed as the connecting factor between different dialects. The proposed duration of the music workshop is one month. The first phase of the project before the one-month workshop will include research and planning, collection of Chakpa community’s folk music practices, daily rituals and site visits with the participants to observe and participate in local events. The phase after the workshop will be devoted for consolidation of collected materials and knowledge, and preparation of deliverables.

The outcomes of the project would be the workshop, photographs, collection of songs, and a new contemporary performance by the participants. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the photographs, collection of songs, workshop notes and audio-visual documentation of the workshop and performances.

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Practice programme in the manner in which it brings together Gurus and disciples of heterogeneous culture practices from Chakpa community that has distinguished itself from the mainstream Meitei community in Manipur.

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.

This project is made possible with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment Fund.