North East Students’ Festival: Young artistes from NE pay heartfelt tribute to Zubeen Garg, in Delhi

At NESt fest in Delhi, music and emotions took centerstage. Rito Riba captivated the audience while some singers expressed admiration for the late Zubeen Garg.

The magic of music coupled with overwhelming emotions took over everyone present at Talkatora Stadium on Friday, as the two-day North East Students’ Festival (NESt) opened in the Capital. Heartfelt performances from the region were the highlight as many young artistes remembered late singer Zubeen Garg and his influence on their music careers.

Artistes from the Northeast perform at the opening ceremony of NESt festival at Delhi's Talkatora Stadium. (Photo: Sanchit Khanna/HT)

Rito Riba, popular singer from Arunachal Pradesh, enraptured the crowd with his romantic ballads.

This was the eighth edition of the NESt Fest, organised by My Home India, wherein youngsters from across the Northeast travelled to the Capital to perform live.

Singer KL Pamei remembers how he was very young when he first heard Zubeen Garg.

Before taking to stage for his performance at the event, singer KL Pamei, from Nagaland, told us, “Whatever Zubeen da did will live on forever... I consider him one of my inspirations. Being from the North East, he achieved really big heights.”

Singer Dipakshi Kalita opened her performance with Zubeen Garg's song, Mayabini.(Photo: Manav Sharma/HT)

There were also some youngsters like Dipakshi Kalita, a singer from Assam, who dedicated their entire act to the late singer. “Zubeen da ka aura koi match nahi kar sakta. Assam ke liye [unka jana] bahut bada loss hai... I thus chose to open with Mayabini, originally sung by him, and dedicated my performance to him,” Dipakshi said.

Story by Manav Sharma

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