17 Northeast bands in Great Eastern Rock 2

The music scene seems to get only bigger in the region with each passing day. After the huge success of Great Eastern Rock 1, the second volume of this popular compilation has recently hit the stands. And to bring a smile on the faces of all the rockers, as many as 17 bands have been featured in this edition of the cd – a tremendous boost to the local music scene. The 17 bands were selected out of 723 entries sent by musicians and bands from all over the world to The Northeast Today (TNT), the magazine which has produced the endeavour and with which the cd is being distributed free of cost.

The response to the first Great Eastern Rock CD was tremendous to say the least. We were pleasantly surprised with the manner in which the crowd received our endeavour, and the same was a huge boost for us. Keeping in mind their recommendations, we have made a number of changes to ensure that this album is much better than the previous one,” said says Geetharatha Mushahary, a talent spotter in the TNT team. Gareth Lyngwa, one of the key individuals behind this concept, added, “With entries from as far as Singapore, Sweden, USA and also different parts of India, it was a task which was not easy and finally we narrowed down to17 tracks, which, according to me, is the best balanced record.”

With almost no sponsorship coming in and the entire cost of the CD being borne by The Northeast Today Magazine, this is truly a commendable initiative by TNT. In the words of their Managing Editor Rajoo Sharma, “This album came out because of our genuine love for music. It is not just a marketing ploy as many others have been doing with music. Though many sponsors promised to pitch in with producing this cd earlier, they all backed out with the passage of time. But we still decided to go ahead with our endeavour to promote the musical talents of Northeast India, because that is what our heart said was right.”

This time the album features two bands from Assam- Silver Tears and Dark Horizon. The other bands in the album are Atiar, Northwind, Eye2Eye, Horjwlai, Infinite Ashes, Dima Project, Recycle, Polyticks and Girish Pradhan, amongst many others. “We decided to give the CD free with the magazine without any added cost because we want people to listen to our local musicians. Our aim is to promote local musicians and talents and not to make money,” says Joe Lanong, one of the talent spotters for the GER Vol 2. The man behind the initiative, PBK Manikya Deb Burman, who is himself a huge music fa,n said that TNT would continue to strive and promote talents from the Northeast and give the bands a platform to be heard beyond the region.