Manipuri Laihui to perform at UN session

Imphal, May 10: Manipur's traditional ensemble - Laihui - has been invited to perform at the opening ceremony of the sixth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples in New York on May 14.

According to the Centre for Organisation Research and Education (CORE), the prestigious annual international forum would be devoting this session to a special discussion on Asia.

'Laihui' or the ancient invocation to ancestors of Manipur, led by Ima Amaibi Tondon, a Meitei lady, would follow the opening blessing of the annual international conference by Chief Sid Hill of the Iroquois nation.

The Laihuis' performance at the United Nations would be organised by L Somi Roy, Laihui's New York producer, in partnership with the World Music Institute(WMI), Roberta Mucaro Borrero of the American Museum of Natural History and the CORE of Manipur.

The performance would be staged after the Laihui's US debut at a concert presented by the WMI in association with the Asia Society on May 11 at Symphony Space.

On May 11, the six-member Laihui ensemble, composed of singers, musicians on the pena(indigenous fiddle) and percussion and an amaibi(Meitei lady shaman) would perform songs of love and creation.

This concert would be the first time that a classical music and dance performance, devoted to ancient pre-Hindu ancestral rituals from the shaman-led Lai Haraoba festival, would be performed outside Manipur.

UNI