Tura, July 29: Tura turned musical capital today as the Chief Minister’s Meghalaya Grassroots Music Program felicitated its ‘Achiever of the Month’, with the government unveiling plans to take Meghalaya music to a global stage and build major infrastructure to back it.
Speaking to a packed gathering of musicians, entrepreneurs and youth, the Chief Minister said taking governance and celebration to the people is key. Citing the Meghalaya Games in Jowai, he said 90% of athletes from Garo Hills had never been to Shillong. “This is why it is important to take governance and celebration to the people,” he said.
The ‘Achiever of the Month’ initiative, started in 2018 to promote entrepreneurship, will now be extended to other sectors. Every month, a department will be chosen and an achiever recognized at the Chief Minister’s level. “This month is for music, next month for sports,” he said. He also highlighted two recent entrepreneurs honoured for making health bands and fitness equipment in Meghalaya, and for earning ₹60 lakh from recycling garbage.
On music, he said it is the heartbeat of the state’s identity. “The talent of the people of the state in music is known across the world, yet the efforts to promote the music and the musicians were not enough,” he said. That gap led to CM-MGMP, which today supports thousands of artists.
The focus now shifts to originality and professionalism. Artists were urged to create original compositions and fuse them with traditional instruments and sounds. “Your originals will give you identity. We need to create music that can be shared on a global stage, like the Ziro Festival model,” he said. He directed that major festivals including Cherry Blossom must have dedicated slots for original music by local artists.
Big infrastructure announcements followed. A 40,000 to 50,000 capacity performing arena is coming up in the new Knowledge City at Mawkynrew, Shillong. The state will also set up a music-themed hotel with daily live music, a Music Institute in Tura, and a Film City and Film Institute in Shillong.
The CM stressed that musicians need a strong business ecosystem too. “Musicians are musicians. We need entrepreneurs and professionals to run studios, manage bands, and build the business side.” He pointed to the absence of world-class recording studios in the Northeast as a huge investment opportunity, and said the government will push music theory, reading and writing music, and the science behind it. “There is no harm in understanding the science behind music. It will only help us improve.”
He later sat with musicians from across the state, listening to their concerns to shape a more viable and livelier ecosystem.
CM-MGMP Season 4 is set to launch soon. Paid performances will continue, but the new season will add stronger support for original music, artist training and workshops, better registration and classification, a dedicated CM-MGMP website, transparent scheduling, national and international exposure, and tighter monitoring.
