Nafisa Beth Kharsyiemiong and Meban Aibok Blah are students of Shillong Public School. While the former is in Class VI, the latter is starring at a frenzied time before the Class X board examinations. What puts the duo in the same league is music.
Nafisa is soft-spoken and one cannot miss the curiosity in her eyes. But the 11-year-old singer’s countenance changes when she performs. The soft, almost inaudible voice dances with a vigour that stems from her passion for music. She becomes a grown-up, an artiste oblivious to her surroundings.
“I started singing when I was in Class I. Now, I train in pop and classical at an institute in Pohkseh,” says Nafisa, who loves to listen to singers Taylor Swift and Alan H Green.
The young artiste frequently performs in church concerts and hopes to pursue singing later in life. “However, I want to become a doctor,” she says. And this is the reason why she has to dedicate more time to studies and hardly gets time to practise.
Sitting on a concrete bench in the school’s playground, Nafisa looks nervous. It is her first interaction with the media and despite the anxiety she does not forget to wear a smile. Nafisa says her parents encourage her a lot when it comes to singing and at the same time help her maintain the academic standard.
Singing comes naturally to Nafisa and even with little or no practice, “I can just sing when I want to”. The eldest of three siblings, Nafisa also has the responsibility to help the younger ones with studies, and sometimes with music lessons.
Meban, Nafisa’s senior in school, is different. He can easily get into a conversation and talk about his passion, playing guitar.
For Meban, guitar happened only last year and he has already showed his talent and won a competition organised by a local church. “My uncle played guitar and I use his instrument. He is the one who teaches me how to play,” says the young guitarist who admires Tauren Wells.
Meban is part of a music group that comprises five of his friends. “We jam together and play in the church. It is fun,” he says.
But the Class X student also realises that he needs to study hard so that he can continue to play guitar. “My family wants me to become an engineer and so everyone pushes me for better board results,” says the bespectacled young man with a wry smile.
Meban says he wants to learn classical guitar and is planning to do so after the examinations. He also wishes to pursue music and hopes to make a name as a guitarist.
Shillong has a vibrant music scene and that is a constant inspiration for Meban.
Both Nafisa and Meban are part of the school’s music group that participated in Kala Utsav in Bhopal last year. “The group did not win but it was a wonderful exposure for the students who got the chance to interact with several young talents from other states,” says their teacher Jennifer Sohliya.
~ NM
