Rhythm of Love: In conversation with Dümchak

Penning down thoughts of five minds like a squad marching on to conquer the world, ‘Dümchak’ is an upcoming young band from Mokokchung who are trying to reach out to the audience through their melodies and unique taste in music.

Eastern Mirror shares an exclusive interview of Dümchak’s musical journey in today’s Rhythm of Love.

Eastern Mirror: Could you introduce ‘Dümchak’ to our readers and the role each of you take on?

Dümchak: Greetings to all, Dümchak is a band from Mokokchung, comprising five members namely Kilangtemsu (Vocalist), Imkongmeren (Rhythm Guitarist), Reshilong (Lead Guitarist), Wabangtoshi Jamir (Bassist) and Limanuksung (Drummer), formed in the year 2019.

Eastern Mirror: What is your inspiration behind the name Dümchak?

Dümchak: The word ‘Dümchak’ is an onomatopoeic word for the sound produced by a drum which is also sub-textually used as a local expression for a musical glee. The word “Dümchak” was adopted as our official band name a few weeks after the band was formed. In all honesty, a group chat was created for the band and Dümchak was given its name because our humour had grown into giving weird names to anything and everything. However, owing to its significance and meaning, we decided to continue along with the band name as ‘Dümchak’.

Eastern Mirror: How do you describe your music?

Dümchak: In most cases, almost all bands have a specific style of music structured within their vision or aim on working along their standards. As for Dümchak, experimenting on various styles keeps our ethics flowing, enriching our channels and broadening our musical abilities.

Eastern Mirror: What is the main goal and vision of Dümchak in the long run as a band?

 Dümchak: Given the fact that we are all students, studies and music come as two sides of the same coin. Juggling the two is a difficult task but we still manage to get past them with ease. As students, we keep our main focus on our education but when it comes to music, our aim is to allow our thoughts to flow through it, our minds be penned down in those lines, verses and melodies and to get our music across those who relate to them. On a light note — performing on stage, the adrenaline rushing in, the people supporting us — that’s what keeps us going and we do believe people will get to see our excitement and enthusiasm, relate to our music and enjoy them in the long run.

 Eastern Mirror: If given a choice to choose education or music career, what would you choose?

Dümchak: Like the five uneven fingers in our hands, the five of us individually exhibit our own traits, abilities, thoughts, feelings, aims and goals. We each have our own individual visions we want to achieve in life, for one, music comes as a hobby and for the other as a life-line. Neither you nor I can say what tomorrow would dawn upon us and this way, no one can predict one’s future or what one may become. Focus on music and you are left with no bread to earn, focus on education and you might end up unemployed. Either way, the stakes are high and we are still trying to figure out which route to commence forward to within our individual selves. This comes as a difficult task yet again and we cannot bring ourselves to give a definite answer. However, we cannot fret because music lives on, we may prioritise different subjects but we will always make music together one way or the other.

Eastern Mirror: Many new bands come up and start their musical journey but fizzle out in the long run. From your point of view, what is the reason behind it?

Dümchak: From their point of view, the first reason might be due to egotism as one must remember it’s a band and not a one man show.

Another reason may be due to lack of originality. Patience is also another important aspect to be noted as artistes should not expect a successful overnight story. Coming from a band like Dümchak that is not known by many, we are trying to keep up with this ethic staunchly.

And also finding difficulties in juggling between the band and education. Moreover, there may be many reasons why a band fizzles out or dies down. It’s impossible to speak for all the bands that have been in existence because they must have had their own genuine reasons but one must not compare themselves with others because this will only lead to discouragement and de-motivation. Be confident and love what you do. 

Eastern Mirror: Who is the lyricist of the band or does everyone contribute?

Dümchak: The lyricist of the band is Kilangtemsu, the vocalist of the band. Everyone has their own parts to play in the band and once the skeleton of a song is created, everyone takes home the assignments and comes together again to put in our individual parts to form a song.

Eastern Mirror: Which music genre and artiste do you look up to?

Dümchak: As mentioned above, we like experimenting with different genres of music; likewise we listen to various artistes from different backgrounds and genres. Honorable mentions would be: Plini, John Mayer, 1975, Cong Wong, The Script, One Republic, Dirty Loops, Cold Play, Monuments. From Nagaland: Trance Effect, Polar Lights, and Paradigm Shift, About Us.

Eastern Mirror: Dümchak’s latest song ‘Mask our pain’ was released last year. What’s the meaning behind the song?

Dümchak: The song “Mask our pain” was written by our vocalist, Kilangtemsu amidst the pandemic. The song talks about how regular our lives were repeating the same cycle over again every single day. How often did we pray for a change in our lives, a turn of events to make it livelier and better? The change did come but it wasn’t the change we prayed for. Everyone losing their loved ones, without even getting to say goodbye, like the cold winter freezing everything and putting life to a hold like how the lockdown and quarantine brought upon us. It’s about how we could voice out our sorrows and sadness only through our music because it has the ability to reach the far ends of the Earth. As the lines say, “Now, all I can do is share my music to the world songbirds singing, Morning breaks”. The song is about how everyone tried to hide their pain behind masks, kept supporting one another even if one was suffering internally, how the frontline workers fought for us and how people fought their battles against this dreadful virus. The last line of the song is a hopeful message that a new day begins where everything is subtle, fresh and a new beginning where everything is normal.

Eastern Mirror: Being a new band, what are the challenges faced while trying to make a name in the music industry?

Dümchak: We all know that the making of good music comes with the presence of a healthy musical environment or the support of musicians towards each other. In our context, of course there is support and encouragement from all around but there is a lack of a platform where we can showcase our talents. YouTube is infested by talents all around the world and it’s quite difficult to break through this shell. Everything starts from home and while looking for an opportunity on the internet like YouTube, it’s a better thought to be known by our own people first before others. That being said, the lack of platforms in our niche creates a large loophole for the band. It’s easier to criticise than appreciate and while a few see them, the majority are ready to pin down our efforts. This becomes quite a challenge for us although we already knew the odds beforehand.

Eastern Mirror: Any upcoming projects?

Dümchak: The band has been working on some new songs for the past few months. If all goes well, we will put out our new songs by the end of this year or maybe next year. Hopefully, everyone will find a niche in our musical taste and understand our feelings and emotions through whatever we come up with. And to everyone who has always supported us, we sincerely acknowledge you. We are grateful and humbled for everything.