On a cool morning in Manipur’s Noney district, you would possibly hear the sound of leaves rustling, distant footsteps on gravel, or the low hum of a generator. However pay attention extra carefully, and you might catch one thing else — a melody rising gently by means of the hills. A guitar riff. A piano be aware. A voice studying to carry a tune.
This isn’t the sound of silence breaking. It’s the sound of kids therapeutic.
Throughout these distant, conflict-affected hills, life has by no means been straightforward. Tales of displacement, concern, and deep uncertainty dangle within the air. However inside the school rooms of Paangkriang Friendship Academy, one other story is taking form. One in every of friendship, rhythm, and hope.
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Right here, a gaggle of younger college students between the ages of 13 and 17, many from tribal communities and economically deprived properties, have come collectively to kind one thing exceptional: The Friendship Band.
A college on a hill, a band within the making
Paangkriang Friendship Academy stands tucked away in a nook of Northeast India that not often finds area in nationwide headlines. Reaching the college usually means strolling uphill—each actually and metaphorically. A lot of the college students right here come from distant tribal villages, and few have ever had entry to the sort of assets or alternatives that city college students would possibly take as a right.
However in 2022, one thing started to shift. A number of college students, curious and tentative, started gathering round guitars and a keyboard. They didn’t have formal coaching or stage expertise. What that they had was a want to study — and a college that believed in giving them area to take action.
Siam Piate from Sunbird Belief, the non-profit organisation that helps the college, remembers these early days effectively. “To start with, solely a handful knew find out how to play devices,” he says. “However as they practised collectively, their confidence grew, and the thought of forming a band started to really feel actual.”
It wasn’t lengthy earlier than this spark of curiosity become one thing larger.
A present that modified all the things
The turning level got here when Mr Joseph Gomes, Director at Furtados Music, a musical devices retailer, visited Ijeirong, a distant village in Manipur. Invited by the founding father of Sunbird Belief to witness their work on the bottom, Gomes hung out on the college, assembly college students and listening to their voices — unpolished however stuffed with potential.
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He was deeply moved.
The kids had a easy want: to study music, if solely that they had the devices. Gomes didn’t simply provide a number of. He helped set up one of many first music academies of its sort in a college in Northeast India. Guitars, keyboards, drums — all of the necessities arrived, opening a world that had beforehand been out of attain.
From that time, The Friendship Band started to take root — not as a cultured, picture-perfect ensemble, however as a gaggle of younger learners discovering rhythm, confidence, and connection by means of music.
How love for music grew into a college band
Not like many college bands, there have been no auditions, no uniforms, and no set line-up. The Friendship Band grew from shared curiosity and the enjoyment of creating music collectively. Some college students began with no expertise in any respect. Others taught themselves by watching and listening.
Because it started in 2022, 17 college students have been a part of the band — studying devices, composing songs, and performing collectively.
Siam, who has guided the scholars carefully, explains that in lots of elements of Northeast India, youngsters usually develop up surrounded by music — by means of church choirs, conventional gatherings, and group celebrations. “Most children listed here are musically inclined,” he says. “It’s a part of our roots.”
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This pure connection helped the scholars decide up devices rapidly. As their abilities grew, so did their confidence. They started performing at school occasions and group gatherings, regularly inspiring others to hitch in.
What makes this band much more distinctive is the way it evolves. Older college students graduate. Youthful ones step in. The road-up adjustments, however the music carries on. Between homework and harmonies, these college students are studying extra than simply find out how to play — they’re studying find out how to lead, adapt, and develop.
Songs that talk for a era
Their first unique composition, By no means Give Up, captures precisely what its identify guarantees. Written by Siam, the tune speaks on to the insecurities many rural college students wrestle with — feeling left behind, doubting their value, believing they’re in some way lesser than youngsters from the cities.
“Many children right here imagine the kids from city are smarter or higher,” Siam shares. “The tune tells them — should you preserve attempting and by no means hand over, nothing can cease you from flying excessive.”
For Diana, the band’s pianist, the message is deeply private. “Every time I play that tune, it offers me power,” she says. “It’s for all these college students who really feel like giving up, who’ve walked away from college as a result of they misplaced hope. This tune is for them—to remind them to maintain going.”
The band’s identify, too, carries a quiet energy. ‘The Friendship Band’ displays the college’s ethos, and Sunbird Belief’s imaginative and prescient of Peace Via Training. At Paangkriang Friendship Academy, college students from various tribes research and play facet by facet, constructing bonds that defy the divisions round them. On this spirit of unity, the music was born.
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Music born within the midst of battle
Among the many songs composed by the band, one which stands out for its uncooked emotion is Smile. Written by Siam throughout a time of intense battle in Manipur, the tune displays not simply political unrest — however private ache.
“Once I wrote Smile, Manipur was within the midst of battle. I couldn’t even return dwelling,” he shares. “In that chaos, I requested myself: Am I actually glad? Can I nonetheless smile when all the things appears to collapse? The reply was no, however then I realised that life is brief and fragile. We solely have one likelihood to reside it. Why carry hatred or grudges when as a substitute, we are able to select love and forgiveness?”
The tune asks a disarming query: Are we the explanation somebody smiles, or the reason for their ache?
Vocalist Gainimei holds the tune near his coronary heart. “Every time despair pulls me beneath, that tune pushes me to rise, to maintain smiling, to maintain hoping,” he says.
For the scholars of The Friendship Band, music isn’t just efficiency. It’s a mirror to what they’re feeling — and a path by means of it.
Bidding our juniors a rock farewell
Because the band’s older members ready to graduate, they determined to depart one thing behind—a tune that would communicate louder than phrases. The consequence was Keep Robust, their first unique rock composition.
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“We’ve at all times jammed to steel throughout follow,” says Luriang, the band’s drummer. “This time, we created our personal — and it felt unbelievable.”
With its uncooked power and heavy riffs, the tune carries a message meant for many who will observe. It’s a reminder to carry your floor, preserve going, and imagine in your power — even when issues really feel unsure.
“As we put together to depart college, this tune is our message to the juniors: it doesn’t matter what comes your means, preserve your head up and keep sturdy,” Luriang provides.
Keep Robust marks each an ending and a starting. It’s the seniors’ means of passing on braveness, telling the subsequent batch of scholars: the music is yours now. Preserve it alive.
Turning the amount up on hope
For most of the college students, The Friendship Band marks their first step in the direction of a dream. It’s an area the place confidence grows, friendships deepen, and self-belief takes form.
“Enjoying music is my dream, and I like it. I hope that in the future I turn out to be a fantastic musician, and this band is my first step,” says Luriang, the drummer.
Their latest efficiency at The Voice Longmai—one of many greatest occasions in Noney district—was a proud second. It wasn’t solely about being on stage. It was about being seen. For Lantip, the guitarist, it boosted his confidence. For Abhija, one other guitarist, their every day after-school jam periods started to really feel extra significant. “Enjoying collectively has turn out to be simpler—and extra enjoyable—as a result of we continue learning from one another,” he says.
In a nook of the nation the place goals usually get misplaced earlier than they start, these college students are holding on to theirs — with each palms and all their coronary heart.
The band gave them greater than music. It gave them the braveness to face up, the facility to be seen, and the idea that their voices matter.
Within the hills of Manipur — the place battle has taken a lot — these youngsters are selecting to create. Each time they decide up an instrument, they’re refusing to be outlined by concern. They’re constructing one thing stronger than silence.
And they aren’t performed but.