MUMBAI: It was last month when the students and mentors from Centre of Excellence in Indian and Western Music (CEIWM) Meghalaya launched their original compositions in Mumbai. Also to support and encourage Indian classical music, top names from the music and film industry Shaan, Amit Trivedi, Tochi Raina, directors Onir and Habib Faisal amongst others, came together for the release of the song Tu Le Ja Mujhe from the album Rahi.

The students of CEIWM within just one year of their training came up with their original compositions, out of which seven songs were released at a Music Event in Mumbai.

The song Tu Le Jaa Mujhe sung by Rahi a mentor at the institution who is just 21 yrs old himself has already crossed four lakh views on YouTube and is becoming the new sufi sensation.

Watch the song below:

The songs released were of genres ranging from Indian Classical music, Sufi, Reggae, Rock and Folk genres.

The event saw seven original compositions, produced by Centre for Creative Excellence, Mumbai. The collaborations have been written, composed and sung by the students and mentors of the Shillong and Tura campuses of the Centre of Excellence in Indian and Western Music. The Centre’s core team was present in full strength, comprising Sucheta Bhattacharjee (Programme Director), Booma Hangsing (Lead Mentor - Guitar), Sayed Rahi Umair (Mentor – Sufi Music), Sielsang D. Marak (Mentor – Folk Music) and ShubhoShekhar Bhattacharjee (Chief Creative Mentor).

The Centre’s Yearbook, #TheYearThatWas, was also unveiled at the event. It chronicles the first, and very successful, year of the pioneering institution and features landmark events and words from renowned mentors who visited the school for sessions with the students through the year.

Said ShubhoShekhar Bhattacharjee “In Meghalaya, music is not just a hobby but an integral part of life and upbringing. The Centre of Excellence in Indian and Western Music was established with the vision of giving wings to the young musicians there. Our approach in the entire process of mentoring has been to help them manifest their own original expressions and individual voices and not create clones of famous singers. Thanks to the unprecedented support of the Government of Meghalaya, both in money and spirit, the Centre charges no fees from the students, and selects students solely on their talent and enthusiasm. Their exposure to Indian music was restricted to contemporary Bollywood. We are glad that within just a year of our mentoring, our students have excelled enough in both Indian and Western music to have their first set of original compositions released. We promise to bring you fresh compositions every year.”

After Tu Le JaMujhe (Sufi Alternative Rock), the other songs to be released include Bhoomi Managalam (Vedic chant rendered into a contemporary collaboration/ fusion), , Sarmast (Sufi Alternative Rock featuring a verse in Garo language of Meghalaya), Um Shalala (Unplugged love ballad), On My Heels (Reggae), Stay (Contemporary EDM Pop) and Peer Yaar (Sufi).

These are in-house created songs and recorded on-campus in the Centre’s fully equipped session rooms. The songs are available for viewing on the YouTube channel ‘Seven’.