Kohima: The first ever Bamboo Guitar will be launched in Nagaland on the World Bamboo Day at the state-level celebration of the at the Nagaland Bamboo Resource Centre (NBRC) at Dimapur on September 18 next.
According to sources the Nagaland Bamboo Mission has something to offer music aficionados of the State, especially guitar buffs. It will be launching its exclusive string instrument product ‘the Bamboo Guitar’ on the Day.
The anticipated ‘Bamboo Guitar made in Nagaland’ is made of laminated strips of the bamboo species ‘Bambusa Tulda’ and ‘Schizostachyum Dullooa.’ Bambusa Tulda is also called ‘Khoprei/Rietho’ in Angami or ‘Longmei’ in Ao dialect and the electric guitar is made out of this.
The box guitar is a combination of Bambusa Tulda and Schizostachyum Dullooa. Schizostachyum Dullooa is Anih in Ao and Ah in Phom dialect.
‘We have been working on the guitars for three years with odds stacked against us. And now, finally, we will be launching them on September 18’, said an official of the NBRC.
The one working behind the scenes is Nungsang Jamir and with word from musicians from around the world that bamboo might be equally good or even superior than the otherwise ‘guitar woods,’ the bamboo guitar might actually see a healthy market here in the State as well as outside.
This is the third year running since the first World Bamboo Day 2010celebration was held in Nagaland, which was held at Kisama, near here with the Vice President Dr Hamid Ansari, this year’s commemoration under the theme ‘Green Future 2012’ has on the tray a food court with bamboo based food delicacies, bamboo craft sale and exhibition and an interesting competition on innovative bamboo products and applications from various entrepreneurs and craftsmen from the eleven districts of the State. (UNI)