Socio-cultural organisation Eastern Beats Music Society on Saturday announced the Rhythms and Aromas of Northeast India project and called for auditions talented artistes and musicians at four places, starting in Dimapur on Monday.

Auditions for the first-of-its-kind pan-Asian music project will move to Aizawl in Mizoram on January 4, Shillong in Meghalaya on January 7 and Ukhrul in Manipur on January 10.

Musicians from the eight northeastern states have been invited to be a part of the unique exercise, being held with the support of North Eastern Council, Shillong, which will culminate with the 4th Guwahati International Music Festival 2020 in the city in the last week of February.

The first state-level music audition for artistes from Assam and Nagaland will be inaugurated in Dimapur on Monday by ICCR Guwahati regional director Madhur Kankana Roy in the presence of Theja Meru, adviser, task force of music and arts, government of Nagaland.

Rhythms and Aromas of Northeast India is being held in multiple stages across the region where local talents will be identified, mentored, groomed and provided a platform to perform alongside celebrated artistes of the region and other parts of the country.

The three-month-long exercise includes a unique music conference where stakeholders of the music industry will be invited to deliberate on latest musical trends as well as the business side of music.

The objective of the project, to be held in the format of a festival promoting Northeast India through its rich and diverse music traditions, is to nurture and celebrate the musical talent and ethnic cuisines of the region and use it to foster people-to-people connectivity with the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) and other Asian countries. In the grand finale in February, the artistes will perform alongside music legends of Asia. The best of the selected Northeast artistes/bands will walk away with a prize money of Rs 1,50,000.

“The initiative will have multiple benefits. It will help identify and groom musical talents of the region, document its musical landscape and establish new cultural relations with our neighbouring countries and countries in far-east Asia through music and food. The project also seeks to look at music as an industry and focuses on the creation of a vibrant musical eco-system,” Eastern Beats Society founder secretary Aiyushman Dutta said. A team of co-ordinators from all the northeastern states have been working tirelessly to identify new progressive musical talents and groups, he added.