Finally Li in Manipur at World Tourism Day, Andro.

Round Two at Ziro Festival of Music: September 2015

Our first experience at Ziro Festival Music was memorable but we thought we might not be heading back without Lulu and Azi in tow for the next one, if we were invited again :D 

Come back, we did. But just Kuvelu and Mercy with Mhaseve, for another round of magic and it felt great to see the open skies, green grass and fields of grain and corn. The winding roads and slush no less a dampener. This time round, we even managed to squeeze in a Grazia photo shoot in the 2 days that we stayed at Ziro. Next up was the World Tourism Day celebrations in Andro, Manipur and we had to slip away once again from beautiful Ziro mid way through the festival. 

Hope we get to share our music at Ziro again. Thank you.

Wearing beautiful Naga Jewellery and traditional Chakhesang Shawls, with costumes by Keds Krome and péro by Aneeth Arora.

Stories and laughter and songs.

Swaying to the beats of Cepho Celho - The Cherry Blossom Song. 

Mhaseve Tetseo on the Guitar.

Photo ops with fans and friends of Li.

Photography by Rohan K Abraham, Ronex Oinam and ZFM sources.

A gala evening: Achievers' Award by Eastern Panorama, Shillong 2014

In early 2014, we were pleasantly surprised to hear from Eastern Panorama. We were even more delighted to find out that we were being bestowed with the honour of the annual "Achievers' Award" for excellence in Music. So, the happy day soon arrived and we landed up in Guwahati and drove to Shillong. We stayed in the cosy comforts of Pinewood Hotel and spent the lovely afternoon prepping up for the evening's gala award ceremony and special music from Tetseo Sisters.

It was on the 12th of April 2014 that Eastern Panorama – The News Magazine of the North East celebrated yet another milestone in its journey of serving the people of the North East region of India. The month of April 2014 marked the completion of 22 years of uninterrupted publication of the magazine since its debut issue which came out in April 1992. This milestone was marked through the organizing of the second edition of Eastern Panorama’s Achievers Awards which seeks to acknowledge the efforts of people who have made immense contributions in their respective fields and thereby impact the region in a positive way.

The Chief Guest of the function Smti. Roshan Warjri, Minister i/c Home (Police and Jails) said, “We can see that Eastern Panorama is very unbiased and it speaks about the facts, facts that we know, we see and hear about regarding the problems of the North East region.” She added, “It is a channel through which information about the North East is disseminated to other parts of the country.”

In this edition of the Awards, Eastern Panorama felicitated ten outstanding personalities and organizations for the commendable work they have done for the general uplift of the North East region and its people. These ten personalities and organizations include the Tetseo Sisters of Nagaland for their contribution to music, the State Bank of India for its corporate social responsibility, the Martin Luther Christian University for its success in providing quality education at affordable prices to the students of the region, Wansuk Myrthong for the mammoth achievement of being the first woman from Meghalaya to scale Mount Everest, Anshu Jamsenpa for her success in scaling Mount Everest numerous times, the GVK EMRI’s 108 service of Meghalaya for its success in saving lives in the State, Sumar Sing Sawian for the volume of work he has done in promoting the ethnic culture and tradition of the Khasi people of Meghalaya to the outside world, Utpal Baruah for his ability to capture the mesmerising beauty and quaint qualities of the North East region in photography, Shankar Lall Goenka for the social support that his Jeevan Ram Mungi Devi Goenka Public Charitable Trust has been able to provide to the underprivileged and Chandan Bora from Karbi Anglong who has been able to promote the spices of the region to the outside world.

Mercy Tetseo says a few words of acceptance.

“We look at this as recognition of our efforts and not an achievement because we have been doing music for almost twenty years but everyday it seems like we just started and we really thank Eastern Panorama for this wonderful opportunity for us to have our moment and be acknowledged for all the hard work we have put in. Let this be an encouragement to all the musicians in the North East.”

With our brother Mhaseve after the ceremony.

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A new day arrives. A new song too.

And so another year came to an end and a new one has begun.
Amidst relatives visiting and numerous rounds of tea and cakes, the new year just establishes itself and lo! it's already almost two months into the new year.

We started the new year foregoing the annual tradition of making resolutions. We did not sit down and argue back and forth the merits and demerits of resolutions like we often do. This was due to all sisters being in different places around Christmas and New Years. However, the focus is growth - personal, spiritual and professional. Lulu is away at medical school and Azi is busy playing mommy to two delightful little boys, Chire Nienu who is two and half and Unu Nienu, just five months old. That leaves Mercy and Kuvelü to continue the musical journey ably assisted by the Tetseo brother, just like the old times once again.

Change is definitely on the cards. Travel and of course, more creative aspirations.
We do not like to think of ourselves as ambitious but we do have a dream and we will chase it for sure.
We haven't always planned ahead but somehow the best of things have happened to us and for that we are truly grateful to the good Lord who has never failed us.

The new year for each one of us will be a lot of different things but most importantly, another chance to live it up to His glory and be faithful to what we do but also a chance to better ourselves and allow for growth and positive change. It is not always easy to accept certain changes but we have to learn to grow beyond the limits we set for ourselves and push ahead.

Lots of plans in our heads including a new album, more music videos and hopefully more exotic travel opportunities. Praying in our hearts that the Divine powers will bless our dreams and make it all happen.

The new Tetseo Sisters Single "Cepho Celho Lizo" available on sale from 12.02.2015 at indihut. Buy your copy today.

"He makes all things beautiful.....in His time." Including the cherry and peach blossoms.

Amen.

Content copyright Tetseo Sisters © 2015  All rights reserved. Do not use any images/content without prior permission.

Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2014 Experience

In early 2014, we received a call from Kohima to come and audition to be a part of a lineup of artists and dancers who were to represent the country at an International Festival. We duly signed up, sent in our application and details along with our passports and soon enough, was called to the orientation.
Formalities having completed, we headed out to Jotsoma where the Music Task Force of Nagaland has its head quarters. After two gruelling months of training physically and vocally everyday, we set out with the rest of the group (More than 150 people applied and some 60+ started training but eventually was whittled down to 45 by the end of the training process) to proceed to Kolkata for the UK visa application process.

The mission was to perform at: The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Scotland. Inarguably the greatest show on earth - a 24 day festival with a series of Military tattoos performed by British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and International military bands and cultural display teams on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. The event takes place annually throughout August, as part of the wider Edinburgh Festival and is watched by over 10 million people annually.

The 45 strong Naga Folkloric Group comprising of musicians, singers, performing artistes, students and working professionals from all walks of life with a bent to be a part of this once in a lifetime experience came together to put on a 5 minute show displaying the essence of Naga Culture to a 10,000 strong crowd every night for 24 days in a row. In total, we performed 27 Tattoo shows and 3 other shows in 3 different cities at mini Tattoos besides performing on the Royal Yatch, Brittania.

Along with a 1000+ cast from the commonwealth countries of UK, New Zealand, Malta, Shetland, South Africa and Trinidad & Tobago, we ushered in the happiest party of the decade every evening, come rain or shine and it did rain a couple of times. Not to mention the icy gales.

There were some crazy moments, painful moments and highs and lows, but the Tattoo experience will be an unforgettable milestone in our journey as performing artistes. We learnt much and unlearned a lot too. Made many friends and came back better human beings with memories to last a lifetime.

On rehearsal day at the Royal Barracks, Edinburgh.