Four Nightingales, One Tune

Singing in Nagaland's Li tradition and Chokri language, the Tetseo Sisters make folk music that resonates far beyond the region

- By SAMIYA CHOPRA

The four Tetseo Sisters grew up listening to The Beatles and ABBA. But it were the folk songs of Nagaland that created a special bond.

During periods of political unrest in Kohima, their father would turn up the radio so folk music would drown out the sound of gunshots. “That's how music became a refuge for us,” says Mutsevelu Tetseo, also known as Mercy, the eldest of the four. Their growing attachment to music became so deep that, as children, they played a Tati—a traditional Naga string instrument; this one fashioned out of an Amul milk carton.

Today, Mercy, Azine, Kuvelu, and Alune carry forward their native, collective inheritance by singing in the Li tradition and in their mother tongue Naga Chokri. Their goal is to focus on both documenting and presenting traditional Naga folk to the world, and discover what can be unlocked with creativity. Their music blends Naga folk with contemporary pop sensibilities, creating a fusion that is rooted yet accessible.