Meet Taba Chake and Anoushka Maskey: Northeast India's next gen of music stars

When Taba Chake finally took to the microphone after two years of the virus-driven closures, the Mumbai-based guitarist and multilingual singer from Arunachal Pradesh said it felt like he was "starting from ‘A'". But, he says, the feeling was still awesome. Echoing his sentiment was singer-songwriter Anoushka Maskey, a Sikkim native, who moved to Mumbai from Bengaluru this January. She hadn't really performed live in over three years until the Prateek Kuhad tour in December 2021, which gave her the confidence to get onstage again and perform for a large crowd.

For decades now, Northeast Indian states, popularly known as the seven sisters, have produced some of the best musicians in the country. Chake and Maskey, along with the likes of Abdon Mech and Lojal - who were all present at the recent Bacardi NH7 Weekender in Pune -represent the next generation of talented acts rising from the region. Their soulful and refreshing tracks have been slowly but steadily reaching a larger audience over the last few years - their packed performances in Pune were proof.

Loss and music during Covid-19 pandemic
Their new work is a culmination of their experiences over two years during the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought a mix of heartbreak and happiness for both artists. Chake lost his very good friend, who had worked with him on many of his most-loved songs. "I wrote the song ‘Aao Chalein' with him and he also helped me with ‘Shaayad', ‘Meri Dastaan', ‘In Waadiyon Mein' and ‘This is The Day' too. It was a really tragic thing to happen during the pandemic."

However, the mix of emotions helped him write and think differently. "I was mostly trying to understand myself in terms of what music I want to do in the future or when I turn 50 or 60 - Will I be doing music or touring and performing or will I be just doing something else like farming," he shares.

It was equally productive for Maskey, who believes her first album wouldn't exist if not for the lockdown. Even though she had to change the release plans for her album because of the pandemic, it all worked out well for her. She shares, "I found inspiration during the lockdown and the entire first album was written during the first three months of it. I was all by myself in my Bengaluru home, unable to meet anybody, not being able to go to my family." The eventual result of this was a fast-growing listener base. It also helped her make a lot of connections online when she interacted with listeners while going live. However, the Sikkim native still loves her live audience, especially because of the response she gets while singing for them and that is why she loved performing at the Weekender, which was organised by the esports company, NODWIN Gaming.

The language of music
Maskey is building on the momentum she has set up in the last two years because this year, she plans to collaborate with a couple of artists who sing in Hindi and add to her repertoire, which has been English songs till now. Ask her if she plans on releasing music in her mother tongue Nepali, and she says, "Right now, it feels like a far-fetched dream to be able to write Nepali because I am fluent in speaking it but when it comes to writing poetry, I am not very well-equipped. And of course you want to do justice to the language when you are writing it, so I would probably need a lot of training from my mother to be able to do a Nepali song," she laughs.

Although it is going to be a while before Maskey writes in her mother language, Chake decided to do it early in his career. The transformation took place in 2006-07 when he was trying to cover songs by other artists and wasn't able to ace it because he wasn't technically an expert. So he decided to simply write his own songs and perform them. The 29-year-old, who hails from the Nyishi tribe in Arunachal Pradesh, explains, "I took that process and started writing in the Nyishi language because I wondered why everyone was running to English and Hindi. I do have my own language, so why am I not singing in my own language?" After that, there was no turning back.

He became the first from Arunachal whose Nyshi songs are out on Spotify and iTunes and are now being heard by people around the world. "It blows my mind," he reacts. It has also led many aspiring teen musicians in his state to give up writing in English and Hindi and write in their language instead, a contribution he is proud to have made.

He introduced a song in the language called ‘No Doma Lo', as a part of his 2019 album, ‘Bombay Dreams'. "The reason why I put my Nyishi song in the album is because if I release it single, no one will know because who will give interest to a different language and if you don't understand means you don't want to listen right?" The song became a part of the album so that people who listen to his English songs, can also listen to my Nyishi songs.

Now, after considerable success, Chake is adding one more language to the mix with the album he is releasing later this year. "The album that is coming this year is going to be a little different. I will be adding one more language that I speak - Assamese, because I do speak that as well, so totally four languages. The songs will be swing-y and a few songs will talk about the pandemic side of the world. I am super excited for it," he adds.

As far as releasing music is concerned, Maskey is also very busy and gave listeners a sneak peek by playing one from the upcoming album at the festival. She explains, "My debut album was ‘Things I saw in a dream' (2020) and the record that is coming out is like an ante-things I saw in a dream. While in that one it was all about trying to stay positive, we will make it through, ‘The search for wild geese' is into the depths of dealing with mental health during the lockdown, struggling to keep your chin up - that kind of stuff. So it is a proper sequel."

Calling Mumbai home
Both artists call Mumbai their home. In fact, the idea of the city was also the inspiration for Chake's first album, after moved here seven years ago. He explains, "When I landed in Mumbai, it was so big - the buildings and everything looked so impossible to me, coming from a small town where there are no buildings, just greenery and mountains. You flying from there (Arunachal) to Mumbai and seeing no trees and big buildings - that pushed me harder to pursue the thing I wanted to - music. That was the moment my song ‘Shaayad' and ‘Meri Dastaan' came because everything seemed so impossible."

Even though Maskey only moved here this January, it was something she has been meaning to do for a while, because Bengaluru was laidback and more in her comfort zone. "Mumbai was a place I used to visit very often and always wanted to live in but it took me probably a lot of time to save up and move here. My motivation to move to Mumbai was the hustle culture. I wanted to be completely immersed in my music and work. I wanted it to beat my ass and wanted it to completely take over because that is what was exactly missing in my life," she concludes.