Musicians to hit streets on March 17 with their objectives

GANGTOK, March 10: Organization of Musicians and Artistes of Sikkim (OMAS) on Sunday introduced itself as a body aiming to serve as a bridge between the State government and Sikkimese talents in music, performing arts and associated creative activities. The organization is debuting in public domain with its aims and objectives on March 17 with a rally at Gangtok.

The proposed rally to be attended by around 200 odd musicians, artistes and stakeholders in creative and entertainment sector will carry the dual message for peace in Sikkim and urge the people to support local artistes and talents, said the OMAS adhoc executive members.

Noted singer Neha Pradhan is the president of OMAS with Tshering Lepcha as general secretary, Tseten Lhamu Bhutia as spokesperson, Robin Gurung as creative head and Sonam Gyaltsen Bhutia as project manager. They were nominated into the OMAS adhoc executive body during a meeting of local musicians and artistes yesterday.

Interacting with the media here at Press Club of Sikkim, the OMAS functionaries spoke about the lack of a forum where the issues of Sikkimese musicians and artistes can be placed and resolved. “OMAS seeks to address this gap and would be serving as a bridge between our talents and the State government. We want to be a platform for all our talents”, they said.

It was explained that any person engaged in music, acting, modeling, dancing, writing, photography and other activities related with performing acts and creativity can be a member of OMAS. “We will be keeping a database of all artistes and musicians and manage their careers. The organization aims to place the problems faced our talents before appropriate agencies for readdressal and would work to create more opportunities for our talents”, the executive members said.

The OMAS is planning to organize an international music festival sometime later this year to promote Sikkim as a music-loving State. Activities like workshops in photography, filmmaking and other pursuits are also being planned by the organization after getting registration formalities done with the State government.

Before all these activities, OMAS is making preparations for holding a rally in Gangtok on March 17 to promote its founding objectives“We are asking all our members and those liking our aims to join the rally. We want the participants to come with their guitars and join the rally”, said OMAS president Neha. The organization has lined up two songs, ‘One Love’ by Bob Marley and ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ by Bob Dylan, to be sung during the rally.