BENGALURU: Ask singer-songwriter Taba Chake on whether his local language, Nyishi, gives him better command on his song writing process and he promptly replies that the dialect is fairly difficult when compared to English or Hindi.
“My language is a dialect and we don’t have any script. So when I am writing songs, I need to call my elders in order to guide me with the words and put in the right emotion, which is very difficult,” he says. In Bengaluru for the Under 25 Summit, the Arunachal Pradesh-born musician tells CE that music was something which came to him when he was six years old. “Like everyone else, I started by listening to music and later tried recreating the melodies. When I was 11, I started penning my own songs and that’s been the story ever since.
I always knew I wanted to be a musician, there was never a doubt,” says Mumbai-based Chake.In 2019, Chake released Bombay Dreams, his debut full-length album, which was widely acclaimed by critics and listeners. The trilingual album–(English, Hindi and Nyishi) revolves around subjects of love, unity, hope and most importantly, on positivity. “I just want to spread positive messages. I know people go through depression, including myself.
My journey into music throughout was very difficult. Coming from Arunachal Pradesh, for me, Mumbai was a different world. I don’t think we have any Bollywood actors or singers from Arunachal Pradesh,” he adds. Speaking about the tracks from his album, Chake provides excerpts from two tracks, Shaayad and Meri Dastaan. While Meri Dastaan speaks about his journey and struggles, Shaayad is a track which looks on the positive notes of life, which one should keep in mind while moving forward.
Speaking on the ongoing protests against CAA, NPR and NRC, Chake says, “I come from Arunachal Pradesh and know what is happening there. There are no nationals news. What happens there, stays there, just like Kashmir. The current issue started with NRC in Arunachal, which also witnessed a 15-day standoff between the locals and forces, but nobody knows about this because news channels didn’t telecast it and the internet was shut off. Even the Assamese neighbours didn’t know and later it slowly caught up to what it is today. What’s happening now is not good and if my saying can change that, then that’s very well.”