Jambili is a Folk – rock band that was formed mainly to preserve and bring back long forgotten Karbi folk songs that were almost forgotten by the people from district Diphu in Assam. The idea to form a band was conceived when school friends came together and played for the first time, trying to bring back the folks songs that were almost forgotten.

Daniel Engty Kathar of Excruciator fame whose songs are very popular among fans of all ages in the district and has also played with Grammy nominated band from Dimapur Abiogenesis which has performed in countries like Thailand, Russia, Bhutan and Myanmar, is the force behind Jambili. He brought together a few friends and formed the band in 2007.

Though there have been many band members who have come and gone, the current the line-up comprises of Daniel Engty on vocals/kum dengdong/flute /guitars/krongchui (jaws harp), Thong Timung on vocals/  Chenkpi/Chenkso/Chenk buruk (all traditional drums) / kum li eng, Talo Tisso on guitars /vocals / chenkpi, Sarlongki Teron on bass guitar / vocals and Sar-im Tisso on drums/chenk buruk / vocals.

Verus Ferreira had a telephone chat with the band members. Excerpts

Going back to the early days of the band, can you tell us something how the band formed?

Daniel: In 2007 I accompanied some scholar friends who were recording folk songs and stories for archiving and research purpose to the rural part of our district. I found that only few elderly people knew our folk songs and many of them didn't even know the complete versions of many songs which only meant the extinction of our cultural songs which had no written or recorded preservation. So a sudden need to popularize them was realised and a discussion among musician friends led to the ensemble of this venture, to repackage the age old traditional Karbi folk songs with modern equipments and sounds. That’s how Jambili got ensembled and played it's first gig in Diphu the same year in the famous Roots Music Fest of Northeast India. Jambili with just it's first gig got immediate attention and played it's second gig the same year on an invitation to Autumn Fest in Shillong. 

Hailing from Diphu in Assam, did you guys sing in the local language Assamese, or was it English songs and mainly covers?

Thong: We are from the hills part of Assam where we speak Assamese only as lingua franca and Karbi is spoken in our region. Our district is governed by the 6th Schedule of the Indian Constitution as a safeguard to our distinctive tradition, culture , myths and music and so Jambili plays fusion of only the Karbi folk songs and music, though in many occasions we also have performed Bhupen Hazarika classics and Bihu in our own style. 

Daniel: Well cover music was out of question since it's origin had a specific motif, but we'd like to pay tribute to the works of legendary musicians from across the seas in our folk fusion way in the coming days.

How did the band name Jambili come about? Was it known by any other name?

Daniel: 'Jambili Athon' is  a national or spiritual Totem of the Karbis that has five branches representing the five sub clans of the Karbi community. But just 'Jambili' may mean the shorten name for the Totem, but it may also mean 'Jamborong' or 'Jarong' (a traditional Karbi utility sling bag to carry essentials from betel nuts and betel leaves to lime and tobacco to money to pen knife and matches). So to us we justify representing both the meaning as to bringing in spirituality and representation in our music meanwhile carrying universality and essentials in our bags. 

Talo: We had no other name, it was always known as Jambili. 

Who were your musical influences that cemented the way for you to move forward into music?

Daniel: Well there has to be many, right from the rock heroes we've heard from the Radio, pirated Havoc Records to CD, cassettes. YouTube surely has influenced us and on the other hand all the bands who appeared on DD Northeast ,Sun Magazine, The Teenager, RSJ, GIR and in some cases (though very few) Hindi album and movie songs too have inspired us. It's coming straight from the heart of a Northeastern 90s schoolboy..... I can go on with the list..... better we sum it up here. 

Were you or any other member of the band in any other bands before forming Jambili?

Daniel: Yes me and Edward the bass player were members of Excruciator that played Thrash metal music from 1999-2005 and the guitarist Habey Phangcho and drummer Langkai Terang were members of Boycott, the first Metal band to perform Metal in Karbi dialect in the region. We also released an album 'Voodoo du' in 2004. Lastly we included Doloi Terang, the brother of the drummer who played the Muri Tongpo (traditional Karbi wind music instrument) for us and thereby giving shape to the sounds of Jambili to a new folk metal direction. 

Have there been any line-up changes down the years? Can you explain the past and present members of the band and the instruments they play.

Daniel: There has been many line-up changes since it's beginning, at one point it was almost like a season or session band (gets activated only because of gig invitations) for everyone, there was no song writing or recording. Many had left because of jobs or other family priorities and some couldn't continue due to distance as they were from different towns, so relearning and reshaping the songs was a staple for each gigs. 

The founding members were all old school metal musicians. So at that initial period it sounded very folk - metal in it's approach and there was only one folk musician in the band - Doloi Terang who played Muri Tongpo and Kum li eng, to bring in the sound of the roots, but he had to leave due to his government job and so it became a hard time for the band to find his replacement. Eventually, our search ended with another young folk percussionist Longbi Tisso (played Chenkpi,chenk buruk and all the Karbi traditional drums), but he too had a short term in the band due to the same reason Doloi left. So in order to handle the situation, I had to pick up playing folk instruments like Kum Dengdong (two stringed instrument) and pongsi (flute). Then a few years later all the members left due to some reason or other and the band disbanded from for 2009-2011 again from 2012 -2015. 

Jambili returned in late 2015 again with a new line-up of young and brilliant musicians, but this time our sound was totally reshaped with less old school metal influence and more of funk, jazz and progressive elements, but the motif remained the same. We started our touring across the nation again, but our sound came full circle only when Thong Timung (a folk instrumentalist, folk singer and cultural activist), joined in to fill in the void since Doloi and Longbi left. Thong plays traditional drums like chenkpi, chenk buruk, chenkso and also plays Kum li eng, a one stringed traditional bowing music instrument.

Talo: Rest of the members are also trying to bring in a little more folk elements through the modern instruments that we play. It's a struggle and challenge to throw away the traditional way of playing and go about hitting the bush trying to figure out something that we can bring to the table to call it our own. 

Have you also released any albums, EPs, music videos to date? 

Daniel: First song to be ever recorded with Jambili was a single Drums Struggle Movement (later an amateur music video was shot with a handycam by a friend in 2011, you may want to check it out.....it's still there). Though we've not released any full length album as yet, we have songs like Kingchili Liberation Front (a song protesting the use of Kingchili gas to put on protesters in place of rubber bullets) and Kaziranga (protest song against the poaching of one horned rhino in Kaziranga National Park) that were released in 2008 in a compilation album 'Spell Peace' along side various artists of Northeast India produced by Henry Martyn Institute Hyderabad (International center for Research, Interfaith relations & Reconciliation). Later in September 2015 we released singles Oso Menthu and Hacha Kekan collaborating with Vishal J Singh of Amogh Symphony (Internationally critically acclaimed avante garde instrumental band). We have also done an OST for an aftermovie of 44^th Karbi Youth Festival in 2018 called 'The Spirit of Hachakan' an instrumental track produced by Hongjai (The Karbi Vlog). 

Thong: And in 2018 we've been selected alongside 5 other bands from North East India to record two tracks for a compilation album 'Brahmaputra Raga Jazz' produced by Banyan Tree in association with Tata Trusts, Oso Menthu which is a rework of our previous single 

Sar-im: In December 2019 we released a Christmas song Sining Arecho. And this year in February 2020 we released another single Dei Arnam (a prayer of the Karbi pagan faith) 

You are a folk / progressive metal band. Can you tell us what kind of music you guys play.

Daniel : If we talk about the sound of Jambili since it's beginning, then of course the different phases of line up brought in different influences of metal, then trash metal, later progressive metal, but now our musicians are heavily bended towards modern progressive so we're trying to blend in anything to creatively fit into the progressive folk fusion sound. But lately we've been focusing on writing music of our songs aligning with the lyrics and mood. So now we’re trying to bring out the Jambili sounding folk music. This is better than putting ourselves into a genre that the music labels may categorise us into. 

What do your lyrics speak about? Is there any message in your songs?

Sarlongki : Songs like Drum Struggle Movement talks of the passing of our tradition to the next generation through the oral tradition which was practiced by the community as there were no written or recorded format of Karbi folk songs, music or stories. The song is also about resisting to acculturation and because of the identity crisis situation across the region many youth have been brainwashed to join the arms struggle movements. So this song plainly counters the act.

Thong: Again songs like Hacha Kekan talks about the harvest and the custom to call for a feast to celebrate the abundance of the harvest with the fellow villagers have been depicted, a traditional practice of the Karbis which we still do. 

Daniel: Most of our songs are protest songs but it heavily involves myths, spiritualism, brotherhood, nature, peace and justice to address our Karbi culture and tradition in its lyrics. 

So are all the musical instruments in the band locally made? Can you explain each traditional instrument used in the band

Thong : Yes, all the Karbi musical instruments are locally made. I play the 'kum li eng'(one stringed bowing instrument), the sound hole is made from dried guord and the strings are supposed to be made by rolling out of a kind of tree core and the bow strings supposed to be horses tail hair, but I have made a shift to get the best tone and have attached an electronic pick up to amplify the volume for live performances. Again all the traditional drums are locally made and sold. 

Daniel: I play Kum Dengdong (two stringed banjo kind of instrument) the 1st string from down up is ‘Deng' and the 2nd string is Dong so it's called Dengdong. I've attached pickups for amplification too. 

Daniel, you are one of the oldest members in the band, what tips do you give to the other new band members?

Daniel: First thing I tell them is to believe in the ideas and creativity we'll be putting in together in the songs and the second is to be brave enough to break away from all that's cliche and be different, so there's no need to follow a trend but keeping focus on our ideas might someday make us become the trend too. Lastly I tell them about my failures through the years as a musician and as a bandmate. I'm of the view that I may not be able to suggest for the do's but the don'ts are surely my experiences. The don'ts will surely help in understanding group work and discipline to keep the musical gathering in sync and moving. 

Daniel, you also acted in the film Enter My World. What part did you play in the film and how was it acting and also singing in the film?

Daniel : Oh gosh, that was an amazing experience finding myself as an actor, Moa (from Ambiogenesis) called seeking some actors for their movie "Enter My World" from my hometown Diphu to which later he confirmed having me in mind for the role instead and I landed up on the set to do an Ahom warrior who would fight a Naga warrior in the Assam Nagaland bordering forest..... Oops!! Was that a spoiler??..... Lol... Anyways I hope I didn't ruin Arena's movie?....well I didn't have to sing for this role. 

What do you aspire to be in the future musically and what are your future plans, an album maybe?

Daniel : We have always neglected the most essential part of the music business specially by not being active on social media or releasing any full length album, so this time around our plans are for a music album, music videos and also make ourselves available on social medias with our updates so people could follow our activities get our feeds regularly and the good thing of all is there are enough materials ready to be worked, reworked and released. 

Can you tell us somehting about the Dimasa-Assamese folk fusion music video that encapsulates a slice of Dimasa culture and your collaboration with Rajlaxmi Bora?

Daniel: Well Rajlaxmi (a multilingual folk singer who sings in different indigenous dialects of Assam) wanted to do this Dimasa song Rajabasa and she wanted a collaboration, as she thought that Jambili's approach to the song could go well. So we jumped into it and first recorded Ajanta Charangsa (a Dimasa folk instrumentalist), then we laid our sound over the Dimasa traditional melody and Rajabasa was ready and to top it up the mixing was done by Siddharth Barua of Lucid Recess Studio (an absolute boss for the craft) and the video was done by the amazing Kamki Diengdoh of the State of Mind production, Shillong. 

Besides music, what do you and the other members of the band do? Do you have regular jobs that keep you occupied? What else do you do in Diphu?

Daniel: I have a small recording set up at home so I arrange and record music for different local artists too, I also have started a video production house called Ruru Rara Entertainment that make Karbi short films, music videos and commercials for local clients. 

Thong : I'm a cultural activist and I'm totally  involved in all cultural activity right from organising events to performing and teaching traditional Karbi dance and music. I'm also part of the Karbi Cultural Society Diphu-Manja zone that hosts Zonal Karbi Youth Festival every year. The youth are taught all the traditional Karbi arts to perform and compete. But besides all these I'm also into farming, I've cultivated all the seasonal crops which are almost ready for harvest by now. 

Sar-im : I do sessions with many different bands and artists, so sometimes I land myself in some wedding gigs too, I'm still pursuing my graduation so it's music and study all the time. 

Sarlongki : I was into teaching in Higher Secondary school and giving private tuitions for students, but now I've stopped the teaching business so I could say music is all I have to be full time with.

Talo : I'm involved with different bands and also into event management organizing concerts to promote local music scene and get myself involved in all things musical. 

Is there anything else you would like to add with regard to your music?

Daniel : Sometimes we don't fit in as we're too folk for some rock concerts and too loud for folk fusion festivals, but again sometimes it's overwhelming to be belonging to both when appreciation and invitation arrives from both the ends at the same time. By now we've also conditioned ourselves to acclimatize to the platforms...... meaning invite us to any gigs.... Lol. 

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira