Gospel band Petra

Shillong, Nov. 17: Meghalaya?s picturesque capital town is preparing to heat up its typically harsh winter with some sizzling music.

A series of concerts has been lined up for an entire month, beginning next week. American rock band Firehouse will perform at a fundraiser for the Meghalaya Games on December 11, while Grammy-winning gospel group Petra will be on stage on November 27.

?We want to showcase Shillong as a destination anybody in love with music must visit. That we have invited Firehouse to perform here indicates our seriousness,? said minister of sports and youth affairs Paul Lyngdoh.

The Firehouse concert, organised jointly by the Meghalaya Olympic Association and the sports department, will be at the expansive Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The event is co-sponsored by some corporate houses.

?It?s a gigantic task involving huge expenditure and, therefore, we have had to rope in corporate houses from outside the state as well. The funds raised from the concert will be used to host the Meghalaya Games in December,? Lyngdoh said.

Music aficionados from across the region have begun making enquiries about the availability of tickets to the Firehouse gig. But for the moment, it is the Petra show, to be held at the same venue next week, that is generating excitement.

Winner of four Grammy awards, Petra has a huge fan base in this part of the globe. The group?s latest album,Jekyll and Hyde, is fast disappearing from music-store shelves across the Northeast. It last performed in India a couple of years ago. The concerts were in Bangalore and Kerala.

Sam Rajkumar, director of the event-management company Common Colours, told the media that the Petra concert would ?lay the foundation? for Meghalaya?s emergence as ?a destination? for all international rock acts.

?I am confident that Petra will set Shillong on fire,? Rajkumar, whose company is managing the event, said.

Acclaimed pianist Neil Nongkynrih?s Shillong Chamber of Choir will perform before the Petra act. A troupe led by Neil had staged an opera at the Arts Forum Festival in Geneva a few months ago. The opera was based on the Khasi folktale, Soh Lyngngem, about a girl who turns into a nightingale.

Rock music fans said the Petra concert would be the perfect build-up to the Firehouse gig. ?I just cannot wait to see Michael Foster and Perry Richardson of Firehouse crooning top hits like Don?t treat me bad and Love of a lifetime,? said Sainbor Lyngwa, a student of music.

Adding variety to the music calendar for the winter will be GenNext stuff from some famous Indian DJs. A dance music show is slated for this weekend.