89–year old Manipuri ballad singer to perform at intertiol meet

New Delhi, January 23: Eighty–nine–year old renowned ballad singer meirakpam Ibemni, a recipient of Padma Shri from Manipur, will present Khongjom Parva at the 3–day Kathakar–Intertiol Storytellers Festival to be held at the Amphitheatre of Indira Gandhi tiol Centre for the Arts, Janpath here.

The festival to be organized by the Indira Gandhi tiol Centre for the Arts and Nivesh will commence from 30 January.  The first day of the festival will witness a Panel Discussion on storytelling preservation and techniques which will be followed by the stories from the Silk Route of Mongolia by Sarah Rundle of United Kingdom; Villupattu by Prof. Vettavarayan Cultural troupe from Tamil du of India; and the Firebird and other stories from Russia and Eastern Europe and The Three Swords – a Scandivian folktale by Emily Parish from United Kingdom.

The last day will have the presentation of African folktales by Godfrey Duncan from United Kingdom;  Love – a recycling tale by Daniel Hall from Hungary;  Khongjom Parba by Padma Shri recipient meirakpam Ibemni Devi from  Manipur ;and African folktales by Godfrey Duncan from United Kingdom. Morning Sessions are being held from 9 am to 12:30 pm during the festival for school children.

 meirakpam Ibemni Devi was born in July 1926 at Wangkhei Ningthempukhri Mapal to Kshetrimayum ningol Kei Devi and Khumanthem Chaoba Singh, a noted exponent of Khongjom Parba. She started learning traditiol Manipuri music at the age of six under the tutelage of Guru Yumm tum Singh, a known singer of ta Sangeet. Besides ta Sangeet, she also learnt other genres of Manipuri music.