Tetseo Sisters: An Evening With Mercy Tetseo

With the genre of music they follow and became a sensation in the tinsel world, I would say that they the “Tetseo Sisters” have got the guts. And as for my blog, to have them as a guest here these evening, it’s star struck. I think my blog might just crash. Hahaha… Jokes apart, I am truly honored and honestly I have no clue where or how to even start introducing them and their sensational music. I am taking my chances.

Tetseo Sisters Performing: Via www.tetseosisters.com

In a land far far away where beauty never ends and the cold kisses the girls cheeks pink, where words were never actually written down and history passed on through generations by the word of mouth; these were the songs of love and of romance, the songs of joy and of sadness, the songs of victory and of loss, the songs of seasons and of festivals, the songs of history and of life once lived. These were the songs of the Nagas and these were the songs that once were a way of life. These were the songs that evoke goose pimples all over. Now it stands near extinction. 

Against the backdrop of the western music and its glamor catching up, within the high walls of the Indian Bollywood music industry rising and with the diminishing appreciation for its value and its aesthetic beauty by her own people and her younger generation, these once a very beautiful and rare form of art now stands at the verge of being wipe out of the face of earth. It stands somewhere in oblivion. Very soon, this rich legacy might never get passed on to the next generation. Or maybe not…

Tetseo Sisters: Via www.tetseosisters.com

Described as the “True cultural ambassador of the North East” by the North East Sun magazine, the Tetseo Sisters are here to win hearts with their “Li” accompanied by an age old Naga traditional one stringed instrument. “Li, the music from a forgotten time and place. Li, the song of the people” as they called it. A Naga folk act comprising of three siblings - Mercy, Kuvelü and Alüne Tetseo, the Tetseo Sisters are leaving no stone unturned on their journey. A journey of the forgotten. A journey less taken. And a journey of the people called the Nagas and their traditions and its folklores.

Now we are One-On-One with Mercy Tetseo.

Zhoniu: Hello, Mercy!!! It’s such a pleasure to have you here these evening. I am already so excited. *smiles*

Mercy Tetseo: Thank you, I am so excited myself. *smiles*

Z: Oh!! By the way you look so gorgeous in that dress. Is it a traditional Naga Dress?

MT: Thank you very much. Yes. It is a traditional Naga Dress worn with a happy twist. We keep playing around with earrings, colors and head pieces – there is so much color and creativity inherent in our traditional gears.

Z: So I heard that most of the dresses you wear on stage are designed by yourself. Is it just a rumor or it is true?

MT: Yes. Some of the modern Naga dresses that we wear are designed by us; some by our mother and all the jewelry are pieced together by us. Lately, we have also worn outfits designed especially for us by our friends –the very talented Naga designer, Keds Krome, and Boney Darang of Arunachal Pradesh. 

Mercy Tetseo: Via www.tetseosisters.com

Z: So, it is true that you make them under the guidance of your mother’s watchful eyes?

MT: She is the guiding force and our inspiration with a lot of support from our father.

Z: So “Li”, can you share us some light on it?

MT: Li is simply “folk songs” – the songs people sing as a community, to express, to bond, to enjoy. We call them the songs of the people because it is precisely that. Our people’s original songs, sung in the local dialects covering a range of topics and emotions – that is Li. Our Li is sung in Chokri – our mother tongue, a dialect spoken by the Chakhesangs of Nagaland. It is a musical and lilting clear tongue.

Z: Thank you Mercy, that’s very insightful and my readers would really appreciate it as they are mostly from abroad with no clue whatsoever about the Naga culture and music (folksong).

MT: There is a lot of musicality and creativity in our land. And it is wonderful to be a part of the world of music, art and history. Life is a beautiful journey of discovery and understanding if you have the patience.

Z: Could you briefly take us with you in your journey so far?

MT: We have been singing for almost twenty years now – at least for me. Our music has taken us from the remote hills of Kohima to the dazzlingly choreographed stages of International Music events and very interesting audiences. We have always had wonderfully appreciative audiences all over the places we have performed. Thank God for that. Between the four of us, we have covered India from Uttarakhand to Tamil Nadu, Mumbai to Arunachal and Thailand. We have performed Li for the Prince of York to the Folks of Pfutsero and have had the most exciting times in between. We do hope to be able to do more in music, culture and art in the coming days.

 

Z: And how is the experience working with your own family/sisters? Any regrets or any moment you wanted to hang on to?

MT: It is a lot of fun. The commitment, comfort and trust level is very high, the cat fights also intense (kidding). It helps that we enjoy each other’s company and we are well adjusted. We shop together, watch movies together – basically do a lot of things together and it is so much fun when we have the other person to take care of you or look after. We are a very content lot and pretty efficient. We know each other very well and take good care of each other not allowing any negativity. Democracy rules in our household :)

Mercy Tetseo: Via www.tetseosisters.com

Z: Originally, it was four of you. So what happened to Azi Tetseo? Is she coming back, because we really look forward to see her again perform?

MT: We are four sisters but it rare for all of us to come together on stage for every gig. Azi hasn’t really gone anywhere. She is on maternity leave enjoying motherhood and being a great mother to her little son who will be one soon. Since she got married, she has been occupied but she has joined us on stage for most of the shows we have done except the South India tour of 2013.

Z: Okay, this may sound a little awkward but somehow I have to pop-up because this might be the questions of thousands men out there, including me *giggles*. Are you single?

MT: * No comments *

Z: Oh!!! That’s heart breaking *sad face* but I will leave it there and not intrude your privacy. Sorry guys :(

MT: Let’s just say “It is complicated” :D

Z: Thank you Mercy, it’s been very lovely to catch up with you, I really wish we had more time to chat. Please drop by again very soon, we can’t wait.

MT: Thank you for including us in your musings. It sure was a delight to share with you.

Z: Good Luck and best wishes from all my readers for you and your gorgeous sisters, and from me. “Hiyohey” *smiles*

MT: “Hiyohey” *smiles*

Tetseo Sisters on Stage: Via www.tetseosisters.com

Please do remember to support the Tetseo Sisters and share their cause.
Sharing one of their “Li”. Enjoy the music and spread the word and love.

Thank you.

*Cheek Kisses*

For tour and performances details, please visit http://www.tetseosisters.com

You can also find them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Tetseosisters

Follow them on Twitter https://twitter.com/TetseoSisters

And Reverbnation at http://www.reverbnation.com/Tetseosisters

Kuvelii Tetseo: Via www.tetseosisters.com

          
          Last word: Oh My Gosh!!! They are all so very gorgeous. I think I am falling for them, I can barely concentrate now. Hahaha…Stay tune: Next One-On-One with Kuvelü Tetseo.

Randomness

          A small time gangster decides to leave behind everything that was once his and start a brand new life with the country girl his parents had arranged marriage for him. Don’t exactly remember the years, but three kids later, I was born. It was not a very classic love story but that was how the story was. Four more kids followed but two died as an infant. But this part of the story is not for today.

Title: Random Me

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas 

Size: 30x24 Inches 

Price: Please Contact the Artist Directly. 

Signed and dated at the bottom left hand corner. 

          I was born so tiny that to imagine growing up as a man sounded like a joke, of course it was a good joke.  Then I found my second love within the lines and pages of some random book my big sister bought and it stayed. Soon, I started keeping journal but most of the pages ended up blank. I started writing down some random stories but never got completed. That was the love story.

          Year 1997, a civil riot divided our family into three. My father, my mom and me. My father; because he couldn’t quit his job, so he stayed with my older brother and sister who were in college. My mom; because it was not safe to stay in the town with the civil riot gaining momentum, so she shifted to our now permanent place with my two little brothers. And me; because I had to swap places between mom and dad’s because I was through quarter at school where my dad was and also trying to adjust shifting to a new school where mom relocated. Now it’s all settled.

          Physics was what I should have and math is what I graduated with. It happened in New Delhi. My first love decided to come back again in my life. As expected, we fell madly in love again, romancing between colors and canvas. I quit my job. The journey continues.

          Last Word: Randomness is everywhere and this life we live is a very small part of this very big randomness, i think.

Uncomfortable Silence

          In the past few days, uncomfortable silence has slowly crept in into my world and with it; I am withering, smaller within myself like the Touch-Me-Not flower that had just been touch. Many things that were once mine seems to distance away and I ended up being a mere spectator to the show, but I seem to not liking it, unfortunately. Some of my private galaxies were been blown to bits. I have tried visiting them in my head but then, the small debris from the impact keeps hitting me, it wasn’t comfortable. 10x times, increased my lighting up cigarette. It seems to produce a nice red flame and beautiful smoke rings but from the inside it’s eating me up hollow. 10x times, the rate of my sleep decreased. It seems to give me more time but I found myself with no time. As Charlie Chaplin would say, my lips didn’t know what’s happening with me. It just keeps smiling. But the clouds were slowly forming; now it’s thick and dark. Like an overblown balloon, you never know when it’s going to burst. It’s just clinging on to its final elasticity. It will burst soon…

          BAMMM!!!

Title: The Forlorn Man 

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas

Size: 30x24 Inches 

Price: Please Contact the Artist Directly.

Signed and dated at the bottom right hand corner. 

          Music!!! Because that’s all I was left with and Silence!!! Because everything turned painfully silent. Painting!!! Because it’s the only one thing that had not betrayed me and Me!!! Because I seem to barely know myself. Voids were left behind and boundaries being drawn. It was not a word said but it said it all with a piercing thrust. So I tried to withdraw but unfortunately, so did a big chunk of life from the inside. I wasn’t ready for it but it happened and things were never the same anymore. Uncomfortable silence spread; soon it took over most of the things that were once the first thing of the day and finally weaned me like a baby. Options were clear; but options I didn’t want to choose. I needed a hideaway.

          As the world came crashing in from, it seems, every direction, questions started to bang my door. I didn’t open. As the confusion over shadowed, I was left to talking to myself. It was no comfort but it seems to be the only comfort. Silence was what was killing me from the inside but silence was all that was found. Memories became more vivid, but this time they wanted to haunt. Somewhere unknown, a Black-Hole was created and it was doing what it should. There seems to be no escape from it, except that you run as far away as possible. But this was a black hole unlike any and it catches up soon. I was tired out running. It’s like one of those days when I am painting and couldn’t decide upon what color to use; those times when disaster always happens in my works. You never know what to expect. You are only hoping for the best when its finish. This is a lonely place and I am an artist inside it. I have problems telling my story and that’s why I paint. I just keep telling myself, “I will get over it”.

          Last Word: All these are over now it seems and in a few days, I will be meeting my family. I am so excited about it. I have been missing my mom so very much lately. I can’t seem to even remember her face now…

Where am I?

         Ever wondered how big our Universe is? I do that a lot of time and every time I do, it always takes me back to where it started. They say it all started with a Bang and then never stopped. Now even our most brilliant scientist finds it almost impossible to even study. Of course, I will not describe how big or how unimaginable its size is or what’s happening inside. Leave that to Stephen Hawking, I am no expert. But yes, my love for the Universe goes way back, just that I never had in me to become a scientist. Whatever!!! I just wanted to show you how big I am in this very big vast space that surrounds us. Maybe I am wrong.

Title: On The Horizon

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: 36x24

Price: Please contact the artist directly.

Signed and dated at the right hand bottom corner.

 April, 1912.

 

          Four days after she left Southampton, UK, on her trip to New York, US, she hit an ice berg and sank. The date was 15 and yes, it’s the Titanic story. It was her maiden voyage and she carried with her 2,224 passengers and crew. 1502 people died just because there weren’t enough life boats for everyone. Yes we have seen the movie and some of our girls cried the whole North Atlantic Ocean out of the movie. But this isn’t Titanic’s story remember? Okay then, we continue…

          Our scientist estimates that our Universe might contain as much as 500 billion galaxies and among one of them is our very own “The Milky Way”, which is supposed to contain approximately 200-400 billion stars. Whatever that figures means, I’ll just take it as something that we shouldn’t even try counting. Now, I’ll not even try to get into light years, I might end up getting exploded (lol).

          Figure says, Titanic was 882 feet and 9 inches long and 92 feet and 6 inches wide (wow!!! That’s huge). 106,400,000 km² is the size of the whole Atlantic Ocean (That’s where the Titanic sank). With this numbers in mind, we take The Milky Way as our tragic Titanic and the whole of the Atlantic Ocean as our Universe. Now, our Solar System, wow!!! It’s almost invincible. Earth!!! Where is Earth? Oh! There it is. It’s visible only through the microscope. Yay!!!

          But wait!!! Where am I??? Where am I??? Where am I???.............

          That’s the fact. I am nothing at all in the whole universe and so are you. Still we say, “I’m this”, “I have done that”; “My name is”, “My father was”; “Who are you?”, “You are nothing”. That’s our ego and we are even proud of it. Does this make any sense at all? Yes it does and that is shame.

          Last word: I know it was not the perfect metaphor. The Universe is still expanding and we are getting even smaller. Ahahaha… Be blessed :)

In another's world

Colors are what I use as a medium of telling my stories, but my first love was “words”. And it’s a shame that I never got mastered enough over my first love to merry her into a book, but my respect for writer’s had and would remain immense. As an artist, to me, to create a fictional character and win hearts at the same time is the most perfect form of art. Creativity can’t get any better than this. So, just the thought that I got the honor today to introduce two such awesome writers on my journal is too much for me to contain. You can say; I am as excited as a little kid over a new toy to play with. Honestly, I am sitting on edges now as I write this and my mind playing haphazardly. I think I am losing my mind (Not joking). But before I introduce these two very sensational writers, let’s first see what surprise we’ve got in their recently published book “Ten Yen True”. (A synopsis of the book by the author herself, wow!!! we can’t get any luckier than this).

You may also purchase the book by Clicking Here.  (The writer’s would have really appreciated it).

Synopsis:

Ten Yen True tells a story of hope, love, forgiveness and miracles.

Through the mystical ways of a monk in Japan who, following the recent tsunami, finds himself questioning the work of the gods, four people each receive a ten yen coin.

Initially, none of these people understand why they have received the coin, nor do they recognize its purpose.

Each recipient has a different background and a story to tell: we follow their lives, learning what made each of them who they are today.

Tommy is five years old and dying of cancer: he has not seen his father since he was a baby and is desperate to meet him before he dies something his English mother Holly has tried to make happen.

Paul Somerville, Tommy’s father and former Hollywood actor is campaigning to be governor of Kentucky, his natal state. Having battled drink and drug addictions in his past, he is keen to show he is reformed, but his motives are not purely unselfish.

Caitlin, a strong-minded career woman has closed her heart to everyone after the loss of a sibling during her childhood and the subsequent desertion of her father.

Joseph Jackson (JJ) former nurse in the US Military has for years struggled to tolerate his oppressive pastor father. He relocates to Louisville Kentucky to work in a Children’s Hospital.

Eventually, the lives of these characters become inter-linked as they come to terms with what happened in their past and they learn to accept their past grievances and to forgive.

The story takes us from Japan to England and onto Kentucky where the characters come together to witness a miracle.

----X----

The book is dedicated “To Anyone Who Ever Lost Hope”

And I think it’s already falling in love with me. Oh God, I am such a romantic (lol). Well, I wouldn’t keep you waiting any longer to meet this two awesome people and artist.

Amanda Armstrong: 

A friend and a sweetheart, Amanda has been writing since she could hold a pen. What was I doing at that time? No clue!!! In 2011, she had her first debut book “Rose” released. Ten Yen True is her second book. Amanda lives in Bexley, UK, with her husband and daughter. The last time she invited me over dinner, I ended up cooking and doing the dishes, so it might not be a very good idea to invite her over a dinner (hahaha…I was just kidding). However, you can follow her on twitter @mandymia and maybe say “Hello”. You will not regret this, I will give you my word (and she doesn’t bite back). But on the serious note, she is one of the sweetest and very cheerful person’s I have met and it’s always amazing to catch her up over a chat. No surprise, I call her sister now. And, she has the cutest daughter in the whole world, Mia. 
And now for our next guest, I will let Amanda herself introduce her to you.

Do visit her website and read more about her at http://www.amandaarmstrong1974.co.uk/

You may also want to purchase and read her first book “Rose”,  ClickHere.

Christina St. Clair:

 

Hi, I’m Amanda, the author that my good friend Zhoniu has mentioned. He has kindly allowed me to intrude on his blog, so now it’s my turn to be honoured!

I just wanted to tell you a little about Christina St. Clair, my co-author for Ten Yen True.

She is also my aunt and she lives in Kentucky, USA. She has written many articles, essays and fiction, of which you can take a look at on her website www.christinastclair.com

Christina and I had so much fun writing this book, the idea of which came about from a very strange reality. You can read about this on my blog entitled Ten Yen True – The Reality Behind The Fiction, which is available on my website.

Ten Yen True was such a journey and an experience for us, so much so that we are currently working on the sequel, Ten Yen Forever. 

We also continue to work on our own separate works, updates and previews of which are also available on our websites.

Ok, I’m going to stop blabbering on now! Thanks for listening and (hopefully) reading our book. Thank you also to Zhoniu for having me as his guest on here.

Bye for now :)

---X---

Thank you Amanda dropping by and also it’s such an honor to have you as a guest on my blog. It seems now that my blog is taken to the next level. Be blessed.

One Cold Winter Night

          The place where I come from, we never get to see the snow and the minimum temperature it can drop during the winter would be around 4°C. And now it would be unfair on my part to even try to explain how cold a winter can get and by the way, our winter here is almost over when I am writing this. So I will not even try to do that. But yes, I would want you to come with me on a walk through some streets one cold winter night.

           If you ever have had the opportunity to walk through the crowded streets of New Delhi before, you will know what I mean. But if you haven’t, here is what it looks like. As you would have already guessed it, it’s always crowded and honestly, it’s not even very safe to walk but the irony is, you are even at your worst if you are driving. It’s almost like a circus show where a person throws knife at an apple placed on another person’s head as the bull’s-eye. You are never safe. One moment, a car will honked at you when it’s almost about to hit you and the next moment you realized a beggar is pulling you from behind (you can even say molesting) for just a two rupee coin. Don’t fall for that unless you have a million in coins. One moment you will realize that you just got hit by a motorbike on a bicycle lane (Yes that happens) and the next moment, someone just pulled you to a corner to show you branded Ray-Ban goggles that you can buy it at “Only For You” price. Of course it’s a fake. And if you are a foreigner or a tourist, God himself will find it hard to save you from all the Auto Drivers and Rickshawpullers (but this I will leave it as homework for you to find it out for yourself). But then, the winter night sets in. Now we walk.

 
Title: The Sleep 

Medium: Oil on Canvas 

Size: 30x24 Inches 

Sold to a Private Collector from UK

Signed and dated at the bottom right hand corner.

          The streets become deserted; fogs rule the roads and some stray dogs cuddle up somewhere in the corners for some sleepless night because of the cold. It’s just the starting. Soon, another layer of coldness will swipe over, that will be near enough to wipe out anything on its way. And then another layer, that will leave the bones of the stray dogs to chatter. Now the show starts and until the first light of the morning takes over and wipe out what just happened last night. You know these layers I am talking about. You have had the taste of its chill even with your warm clothes on and beneath the roof. But somewhere down these streets where we are walking right now, in some corners, someone is taking the same cold with a different degree of coldness as a cut on their skins. Another person is trying hard not to chatter his teeth because it makes him feel even more colder. One kid is shivering so bad that it might even woke up the person next to him. A mother is trying hard to warm her child, but she seems to run out of heat herself. What they need? No!!! They don’t have the strength to think right now. They are too busy trying hard not to be in the list of people who, “Seven people reported death last night due to the cold wave that swipe through the capital”. 

          Now, my painting doesn’t tell the story of any this people. Nor does it tell the story of what their suffering is or what they need. It was a painting I did here in winter when the cold was at its lowest and a theme based on winter night when sleeping inside the warm blanket seems like the only comfort left in the whole world. But, that doesn’t mean, their story is not worth telling. It’s a shame that the government seems to be doing nothing for them and even these filthy rich are too busy attending late night parties. And it’s even a shame on me that these are the people who had pulled me for a 2 rupee coin, overcharged me for a rickshaw ride and enticed me for “Only For you” price for some fake Ray-Ban goggles during the day. I hope you like our walk. Stay warm.