Hornbill Music Festival

Slain from Karnataka recently won the Hornbill National Rock Contest which was a part of the seven day Hornbill Music Festival in Nagaland.

Guillotine from Delhi and Incipit from Nagaland had to be contented with first and second runners-up respectively out of the nine bands which took part in the grand finale.

The Hornbill National Rock Contest 2009 saw 21 bands - Dementia (Nagaland), Digital Suicide (Assam), Alice in Wonderland (Nagaland), Incipit (Nagaland) Slain (Karnataka), Faded Black (Nagaland), Tormentors (Arunachal Pradesh), Sunep Assemble Band (Nagaland), Street Stories (Meghalaya), Da Primitive Future (West Bengal), The Dirty Strikes (Manipur), The Fringe Pop (Rajasthan) Not Yet Decided, (West Bengal), Guillotine (New Delhi), Rosemary (Maharashtra) Melodrama (Nagaland), Death on the Horizon (Assam) Sixes and Sevens (Mizoram) Cleave (Manipur), Restless Desire (Meghalaya) and Tripwire (Maharashtra)

Rosemary, Incipit, Guillotine, Sunep Assemble Band, Slain, Melodrama, Street Stories, Not Yet Decided and Dementia were selected for the finals of the Hornbill National Rock Contest, 2010 which was presented by Airtel.

The week long show was organized by the Nagaland government’s Music Task Force (MTF), Department of Youth Resources and Sports and the event was managed by XL.

The Hornbill Music Festival at IG Stadium, Kohima was officially launched by Beth A. Payne Consul General, US Consulate General, Kolkata.

Launching the Hornbill Music Festival, Beth A. Payne applauded the Nagaland government and stated that Nagaland is the only state to have a Music Task Force and hinted that it would be good if the Music Task Force is replicated in the US.

The Consul General also thanked the Nagaland government for inviting her to launch the Hornbill Music Festival and for the Naga hospitability accorded to her during her stay in Nagaland

An 11 member American musicians’ group – the Americana Music Group by led by multiple Grammy Awardee J D Miller also performed during the event and enthralled the crowd.

On the last day of the event, Megahlaya’s Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma was the Chief Guest of the finals and gave away the prizes to the winners.