Music, for many, is about love, longing, or loss. For folk-rock ensemble Imphal Talkies and the Howlers, it’s all that—but also about home. About Manipur, a state that has lived under the shadow of violence and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) for decades.

Formed in 2009, the five-member band has built their sound on protests, turning protest into melody, besides storytelling of insurgency, racial violence, and everyday survival.

Last week, the group performed in Delhi at the Voices of Diversity festival, organised by KNMA, at Sunder Nursery. Akhu Chingangbam led on vocals and guitar, accompanied by Jimbo Ningombam (bass), Charanjit Lairenjam (electric guitar), Binodkanta Ahanthem (violin and pena), Mocha Kangjam (drums), and Amarjit Pebam (saxophone). For Chingangbam, the band’s founder and frontman, being back in Delhi felt like returning to an old chapter of his life.

Chingangbam began the band during his time as a PhD student at Jamia Millia Islamia in the 2008. “I’ve not been in Delhi for over a decade. It’s nostalgic, especially in autumn, in October. My friends were mostly activists—they really shaped my music and my understanding of the world, so it’s fun to be back and sing all these songs in Delhi.”

Chingangbam began singing on the streets of Delhi with his guitar and mouth organ, sharing stories of Manipur that he had witnessed before moving on to university campuses. Now, with four albums—Tiddim Road, When the Home Is Burning, Maria and the Flower Child, and Ema gi Wari—the band has become a powerful voice against AFSPA, a law that gives the armed forces special powers in “disturbed areas”.

Their tracks, a mix of English and Meiteilon, seeth with rage, and push back against state violence. Songs like ‘Eche’, a tribute to activist Irom Sharmila; ‘Fake Encounter’, a searing response to extrajudicial killings in the state; and ‘Stand United Against CAB’, a rap track featuring Chingangbam and Lairenjam, condemning militarisation and discrimination, define their early sound. “In our early albums, there was a lot of anger,” says Akhu. “We were loud, raw, and restless. But as artists, we’ve calmed down a little now.”

In 2015, the band began working with children from marginalised backgrounds, teaching and producing music through their programme A Native Tongue Called Peace—an initiative that has also reached rehabilitation camps across Manipur.

The experience, Chingangbam says, brought new calm and perspective to their art. “We work with children and try to nurture their innocence. The politicians who represent us now won’t last long, but the children—they are the future. They just need to be shown kindness, love, and stories,” he says.

Over time, even some of their angriest songs—born out of real-life moments of violence against the band like ‘Mr. President is Coming’ or ‘Fake Encounter’, have taken on new meaning. “They’re memories now,” he admits. “We don’t perform them much anymore because they bring back too much pain. But they’re all there in our archives. They’re part of who we are.”

Through A Native Tongue Called Peace, the band recorded several songs with children, even in relief camps during the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur since 2023 between the Meitei community and the Kuki-Zo tribal community from the surrounding hills. “It’s my way of coping with what’s happening around me. When everything feels uncertain, I turn to music,” says Chingangbam.

Home from afar

For Akhu, growing up in Manipur meant living through constant curfews and protests—routines that felt normal until he moved to Delhi. “We didn’t even realise how strange that was,” he recalls. “When I moved to Delhi, I could finally look back and understand what kind of childhood we had. That distance helped me see Manipur more clearly.” That distance also shaped the kind of music he made, reflecting not just personal pain but a collective truth. “My music is just a mirror of what I’ve seen—how I see India, how I see racism, how I see Manipur,” he explains.

He resists being called a musician. “I’m not trained. I’m not a great singer or guitar player,” he says. “For me, it’s about expression. If you see something disturbing, something wrong, you have to say no to it. You have to oppose it. Life is too short to not do that.”

Right now the band is working on a new 12-track album, their first in several years. “The songs talk about militarisation, dissent, unemployment—all the things people are going through,” says Akhu. Some tracks also feature the pena, a traditional Manipuri string instrument, tying their modern folk sound to their roots. Once the album is ready, the band plans to tour across the country.

But more than anything, Akhu hopes the music continues to create change. “That’s what music has always done,” he says. “If you look at the civil rights movement, songs were the heartbeat of protest. I’m a different person because of the music and literature I grew up with. Without that, I’d probably be teaching in a university somewhere.”

[Written by Aditi Reena Ajith of The New Indian Express]