The North East has consistently produced music that is synonymous with brilliance. Besides soloist and groups, several all-women bands are proliferating.The Tetseo Sisters’ are a household name that performs traditional Naga music. They hail from the Chakhesang tribe; the sisters come from a small village in a town called Thüvopisü in Nagaland.

The quartet consists of four sisters, Mütsevelü (Mercy), Azine (Azi), Kuvelü (Kuku) and Alüne (Lulu). Their genre is folk – traditional Naga folk songs in particular. They are trained in performing Li songs of the Chakesang tribe by their parents who have been actively involved in the cultural revival movement of Nagaland. An ‘a cappella’ style of singing combined with storytelling  and the occasional use of one-stringed instrument 'tati' or 'heka libuh' (mithun horn), their compositions are mostly folklores on Nagaland. Some of the folk songs they sing have been compiled in the traditional songbook, ‘Li kukre kutiko’.

The sisters were one of the bands that recently performed at the Ladakh International Music Festival (30^th April, 1^st May and 2^nd May 2022) and returned with beautiful memories.

Verus Ferreira spoke with Mercy to find out their experience there and at the same time also delving into the music of the Tetseo Sisters who along with their brother guitarist Mhaseve, have performed at festivals across the globe including the US, UK and other countries.

You are probably the first ever band from the North East to perform at the Ladakh International Music Festival. How do you feel about it?

It was a wonderful feeling to sing our hearts and lungs out at the Ladakh International Music Festival. We are privileged to be the first “NE/Nagaland” band to perform at many beautiful events and this is another magical moment to keep in our hearts and praise God for his grace.

How different was singing in the mountains at the music festival, although it is also something that you are surrounded by back home in the NE.

Our lands are beautiful, but Ladakh is like another world. The altitude, crisp cold air, the energy of the audience and the beauty of the physical settings of the Festival was breathtaking. Something unique in the whole world happened at Leh and we were literally out of breath from Joy. We also got to adorn ourselves with the beautiful traditional Mogos (dress) of the Ladakhi people through our collaboration with Namza Couture of Leh during our performance to show our respect for Ladakhi culture as a fellow mountain tribe.

What was your experience at the Ladakh International Music Festival and one of the world's highest war memorials, Rezang La (18,045 ft). What did you like about the music, environment and audience at this event? What memories have you taken back?

Performing our songs at technically the top of the world was an amazing experience and the audience was so warm and appreciative. Many people came up to say hello and told us they loved what we are doing and we hope to come back to learn\hear\play more. The vibrant music of Ladakh needs to be heard by more and we look forward to interact more with musicians from there and hopefully, create some more mountain magic. Everything was beautiful. The team, setting, hospitality – the weather, people, timing! It just all fell into place. Thank you, Ladakh.

Were there any special songs related to the event that you decided to sing at this concert from your repertoire?

We performed our favourite original songs which were very well received. It was heartwarming to have so many people sing along and dance to our hit Rhosi. We performed a short tribute - a cover of Teri Mitti, (Film Kesari) for the organizers of the festival, Picturetime and the Indian Army, without whom the event wouldn’t have happened. We also performed As we go, a single of ours, the music video was shot in different parts of Ladakh on an earlier visit in 2016.

To someone who has not heard your music, how would you describe it?

Our music is the sound of the hills, a tribute to nature, the dreams and desires of the people of the hills and the experiments of a band of siblings who are proud of their roots and want to make a mark in the chaos of the world with their Naga simplicity and unique Naganess. Our music is simple, honest and uplifting.

Besides singing in the Naga dialect, what other language do you use in all your songs?

We sing Chokri Naga, Tenyidie Naga, English and some Hindi, but we have covered songs in Punjabi, Japanese, Korean and very recently Mizo. We are working on more.

Through your music, you also promote your culture. Tell us more about it.

We got into folk music because of our parent’s encouragement, but we fell in love with the folksongs of our people and started writing our own songs too over time. Our performances are a glimpse into the world of Li or the Chokri folksongs of our ancestors, and move into Folk Fusion and originals in Chokri and other languages, reflecting our own personal journey as people/musicians/artists in the medium of music. Our colourful costumes reflect our roots and also the region we represent which is Nagaland, and the many NE states and also the artists that we collaborate with to tell stories of our people and region. And not just our people, but we lend our voices to causes that we feel needs to be heard.

What is the common vision shared by the members of ‘Tetseo Sisters’?

To make happy, memorable music and to document, preserve and promote brand Naganess/ Nagaland and showcase the beauty of hill tribes, the voices that need to be heard more and to create moments of joy for all humans and remind everyone that we are all beautiful children/creations of God.

What music are you presently working on, new songs, singles, shows coming up?

There are quite a few interesting things happening including the OST of an indie film, an acoustic EP, a bunch of singles and some collaborative projects. Shows are opening up too so here’s to more live shows, travel, great music and inspiration for even better music.

The last we heard was that a few of you had relocated to Delhi.

We have been operating out of Kohima, Delhi and Mumbai and wherever life took us but during the Pandemic, we were holed up at home with our parents in Kohima. Now, things are slowly opening and getting back to normalcy so we will figure out again where best to operate out of. Travel is also easier now as NE has better connectivity now compared to 5 years ago, so probably stay closer to our folks and see how it goes.

The Tetseo Sisters have been singing for a couple of years now. Have any of you settled down into married life?

We have been singing and performing since our childhood and through school, college, jobs and now, our chosen professions outside the realm of music. Azi is married since 2011 and on maternity leave at the moment. She just delivered our darling little niece. Mercy is newly married. Alune is now a Medical Doctor and Kuvelu lead the band. But we are all settled in music, food, culture, travel and the places and experiences that our music takes us to.

Have you ever met with criticism? If yes, how did you handle it?

We do receive many helpful suggestions and sometimes, how others feel we should be or sound like. We are always open to hear people out but in the end, we follow our hearts and stay true to our vision. At the end of the day, we do what makes us happy and somehow, so far, we have been able to keep up with expectations. Not that we are trying to live up to other’s expectations. We are quite laidback and refuse to react/interact with negativity. Some people feel that as an artist, we should be able to handle criticism easily but we are human after all and criticism is not always easy to take but life goes on and like everyone has a right to voice their opinion, we conserve our right to decide on how to make our music.

What do you think of the Indian Music Industry? Is there any change that you'd like to see in terms of music and artists?

The Indian Music Industry continues to grow and there is a sense of excitement post pandemic. The audience for non-Hindi music is expanding by the day and it is heartwarming to see and hear so many independent artists doing so well especially with digital platforms opening up new avenues for artists to be heard by so many more people. Language barriers are breaking down and so is the genre barrier. People will consume good music no matter where it comes from and we wish all artists and musicians to keep breaking barriers and unite humanity with beautiful art.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira