Musicians perform at the Folk Nations Symphony concert in Shillong

The sound of music reverberated at the U Soso Tham auditorium on Sunday as Folk Nations Symphony went live.

Shillong’s famous flautist Benedict Hynniewta brought the event to its feet by doing the opening act in traditional style.

Folk Nations is a British Council project devised to foster creative exchange and collaboration between traditional artistes from the UK and India. It represents a delicate weaving of UK and Indian folk patterns that speak immediately to the cultural heritage of these regions as well as its place in the contemporary music industry.

Joining Hynniewta were renowned musicians Patsy Reid (Scotland), Hannah James (England), Georgia Ruth (Wales), Saurav Moni (India), Suhail Yusuf Khan (India) and James Mackintosh (Scotland).

For the last two years, Folk Nations invested in research, exploring opportunities for development of the music sector.

Benedict Hynniewta

The auditorium was crammed with music lovers from the city to get a glimpse of the international artistes, which included Reid, a fiddler and cellist, James, singer, accordionist and champion clog dancer, Ruth, songwriter and harpist and Mackintosh, a drummer.

Besides these international sensations, the auditorium also witnessed the natural pearls of the country like Suhail Yusuf Khan, the Sarangi expert, and Saurav Moni, a traditional folk singer.

Folk Nations represents a synthesis of the UK and Indian folk music that speaks of the cultural heritage of these regions as well as its place in the contemporary music industry.

They have recently performed at Celtic Connections, Glasgow’s biggest winter music festival, to rave reviews. The performance not only represents the resurgence of folk music internationally, but was also selected by the Southbank Centre to represent contemporary South Asia. It had also performed at the popular Alchemy Festival in London in May 2014.

This year, Folk Nations extended its branch to the Northeast, joining hands with the Meghalaya department of arts and culture and the Sahaki Society, Shillong, to organise the mega event.

Benedict Hynniewta is a visual artist and musician hailing from Shillong.

He completed his masters degree in painting from Visva Bharati Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan, in 2005.

As a practising artist, he had done two solo exhibitions and workshops in different places like Delhi, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Goa, Chennai, Kochi, Guwahati and others.

His passion for music is equally strong.

He took private lessons in music from his guru, Uwe Neumann, while in Santiniketan and plays the bamboo flute.

He is also an active member of the fusion band Na Rympei, which has performed in many places like Calcutta, New Delhi, Amritsar, Goa, and Mizoram. His flute playing is folk-based, but over the years he has tried to explore other genre like Indian Celtic, jazz, and others.