SHILLONG, July 25: The Meghalaya Grassroots Music Project (MGMP) has come under scrutiny following a series of allegations from several artistes who claim the project is plagued by unprofessionalism, favoritism, and a lack of transparency.
Artistes have accused MGMP of not allowing certain performers, particularly those from outside the state, to participate in events. They also allege that the selection of performers is based on personal preferences rather than merit. Furthermore, they have raised concerns about being paid Rs 12,000 per gig despite not being able to perform for the full hour due to mismanagement. They also claim there is no established roster, resulting in gigs being distributed randomly.
One artiste, who was reportedly banned by MGMP, seeking anonymity, said, “There is no professional behaviour on the organisers’ part, and they hand over more gigs to their friends, while there is no roster in place. One artist is getting 2-3 gigs a month, while several others are struggling for a gig in two months. How is that fair?” he questioned.
Another artiste expressed frustration, stating, “They are not giving a fair chance for us to perform and are banning us without any reason.”
There were also allegations brought forth about organisers themselves performing and scoring gigs.
In response to these allegations, one of the MGMP organisers, in their defence, explained, “We have artistes who lip-sync, and when we didn’t allow it, they started taking to social media.”
He further said, several artistes have gone around cancelling last-minute shows and don’t show up and use abusive language while performing, which is not allowed. Additionally, some artistes become political or trouble other performers by passing negative comments, demotivating them, he said.
“Several artiste managers have come up to us and complained how they were demotivated because some artistes went around shows criticising them, so we had to take a step. Banning does not mean we are not allowing them to perform for MGMP anymore, but we will not allot them gigs for a while,” he said.
The organiser further elaborated on the role of the artiste managers, stating, “We have our artist managers like Jeremy Mawlong, Sten Redeem Pakma, and Ian Kharbuli, who are well-known musicians themselves. They grade artistes and aim to build a community together. We also take artistes’ feedback, which is equally important.”
