24 bands across the country will perform at Hornbill International Rock Contest, 10 days to go

Kohima: At least 24 bands across the country will vie for the forthcoming Hornbill International Rock Contest (HIRC) 2018 as part of Hornbill Festival of Nagaland.

Four bands from Nagaland and 20 visiting bands have been selected through the audition conducted on Saturday last.

Altogether, 10 local bands and 44 visiting teams registered for the audition.

Selected bands from Nagaland include; UDX (Dimapur), Since 90’s (Dimapur), Yellow Beacon (Dimapur) and Switchblade (Kohima).

The selected 20 outside bands include; Moongphali (Delhi), Vishnu (West Bengal), Snuffer (Assam), Skvi (Mizoram), Perfect Strangers (Bangalore), Her Illegal Practice (Sikkim), Vikrit (Jharkhand), Tripp Pilots (Mumbai), Kroashia (Mizoram), Meraki (Kolkata), Granite Yard (Sikkim), Ambush (Assam), Tyrrhenian (Assam), Lost Icons (New Delhi), Rongbin the secret realm (Assam) , Quiet battle (Meghalaya), Looking glass (Maharastra), Existence (Jharkhand), Pralaya (West Bengal) and Highway 69 (Jharkhand).

Earlier, Music Task Force (MTF) and LiveNow Events through a press conference at Regional Centre of Excellence for Music & Performing Arts (RCEMPA) at Jotsoma, informed that Hornbill International Rock Contest (HIRC) and Hornbill Music Festival will take place from December 1 to 10 at Agri Expo site Dimapur.

The rock contest will start from December 5 till December 8.

Hornbill International Music Festival will also commence from December 1 till December 10.

The music festival will be marked by the performance by local musicians. Winning bands of Mini Hornbill festivals at district and the sub-divisional level will also be given the opportunity to perform.

As per a media report, the Nagaland Government had also announced that it will be launching Tourist Police unit in the wake of rising footfalls of both foreign and domestic tourists to the popular annual Hornbill Festival at Kisama and the formal launching will be done by Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio tentatively on November 23.

Earlier, speaking at the inaugural programme for orientation of tourist police personnel at the Police Headquarters of Nagaland Director General of Police T J Longkumer called upon the Tourist Police personnel not only to be proactive but also well equipped with the knowledge of the Naga culture, so that they would be able to give proper information to the tourists. The DGP while addressing a Training programme for Tourist Police said “Let us show to the world that we care for tourists and ensure their safety and memorable stay in Nagaland.”

Also, Sonia Singh, IGP (Range) of Nagaland Police said that the Tourist Police unit will have a total strength of 73 with 50 women personnel (15th Indian Reserve Battalion) and 23 male personnel (District Executive Force of Kohima). She said Tourist Police has been necessitated to protect and serve the tourists, to build up the confidence of tourists, to create hassle-free and memorable stay, to avoid any harassment to the tourists and to help the tourists on matters relating to passport, VISA, currency exchange. The Tourist Police personnel will be deployed in the Railway Station and Airport in Dimapur, at Chumukedima Check Gate and 12 sectors in Kohima. There will also be reception counters at Airport and Railway station in Dimapur. There will be integrated control room including grievance redress mechanism. 24-hour Control Room has been activated and shall be manned by 12 dedicated police personnel and tourism officer. Singh said that to facilitate the peaceful stay of tourists, SOS call app will be linked with the control room.