Dymbur pays tribute to U Tirot Sing

Staff Reporter

Shillong, April 5: “Dymbur”- a local Khasi folk metal band on Tuesday released its music video titled “U Tirot Sing -Unsung Hero”.

The song speaks about the freedom struggle led by the legendary freedom fighter U Tirot Sing Syiem against the British.

Speaking before the release of the music video, Dymbur co-founder Cornelius Kharsyntiew said that this is an important day for the band because of the support received from KSU to come up with this massive project.

Kharsyntiew said informed that Dymbur was formed in 2012 and in the earlier days, the band was a progressive band and its lyrics are always related to what is happening all around the world but the band switched from progressive metal to Khasi Folk metal in 2019 to take part in various competitions all round the world.

He added after switching from progressive metal to Khasi Folk metal, the band uses both traditional and Western instruments for music and in the earlier stage they received criticism as they were having difficulties in playing local traditional instruments but the band believes that music is universal.

“The idea of coming up with the song U Tirot Sing- Unsung Hero is to highlight the journey of our freedom fighter and we have seen many bands or artists who have contributed their music to U Tirot Sing Syiem but we have not seen any metal band from Meghalaya who have done the same hence we decided to contribute our song to our freedom fighter,” said Kharsyntiew.

Meanwhile, general secretary of the Khasi Student Union (KSU) Donald V Thabah said that the KSU has always lent support to anyone who has the talent to bring glory to the state be it businesses, music of any genre, sports, arts and culture or in any fields.

Thabah said that the KSU took the decision to lend support to Dymbur for this project as Dymbur is the first metal band to make a song about U Tirot Sing Syiem hence the KSU felt the need to lend support to this band as everyone knows Meghalaya does not have specific institute or schemes to help musicians.

“In Meghalaya, people are not aware of the date of birth of U Tirot Sing Syiem but people know about his death which is on July 17 and KSU has thought of releasing this music video on his death anniversary but the band felt it is too late hence we have decided to release today the 4th April as a mark of the awakening day for the Khasi community,” said Thabah.

Thabah said that this song by Dymbur will act as the vehicle to carry forward about the life of U Tirot Sing Syiem who was the king of the Khasi community and led a rebellion against the might of the East India Company or the then British empire.

Ex-Servicemen to join protest over OROP

Staff Reporter

Shillong, April 4: The General Secretary of the Meghalaya Ex-servicemen League Buam Myrthong today said that they will be forced to take part in the protest against the disparity when it comes to One Rank One Pension (OROP).

Speaking to media persons, Myrthong said that all ex-servicemen from the state have decided to lend support to the fellow ex-servicemen who will be protesting in Delhi against the alleged disparity in the OROP.

Myrthong said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken the decision to implement OROP I in 2014 but there are still many issues which the ex-servicemen faced since 2014 which compel the ex-servicemen to come and protest in Delhi to demand for review of the OROP II.

He added that there is a disparity in the OROP as there is a difference of Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 50,000 between one rank within the army and since the cost of essential commodities is increasing day by day, it is injustice for ex-servicemen who have served the country.

“This protest against the alleged disparity in OROP is not only happening in Delhi but it is witnessed in different parts of the country and those who can travel to Delhi are already in the national capital to take part in the protest for the common interest of all ex-servicemen,” said Myrthong.

Myrthong said that it has been 42 days since the ex-servicemen are protesting in Jantar Mantar in Delhi but till date there has been no response from the central government to address this issue of all ex-servicemen.

He added that in the OROP II, the central government plans to implement equal pay for all who are in the same rank and who have the same amount of years in their respective services.