Walk through Shillong on a weekend evening and you will hear it: a guitar riff from an upstairs window, a church choir rehearsing, a café band covering a classic rock song note for note. People here call their city India's rock capital, and they mean it.
Where the sound comes from
Music is part of how many people in Shillong grow up. Churches have played a big role. Children sing in choirs from an early age, learn to read music and learn to sing in harmony. Many pick up guitar or keyboard soon after. Western music arrived through missionaries, radio and records, and the city took to it.
By the 1970s and 1980s, Shillong had its own rock and blues bands. Young musicians learned songs by Led Zeppelin, the Beatles and Deep Purple by ear, and played them in school halls and local clubs.
In Shillong, a guitar in the corner of the room is as normal as a kettle.
A birthday for Bob Dylan
The best-known tradition is Dylan's Day. Every 24 May, Bob Dylan's birthday, Shillong holds a concert of his songs. Musician Lou Majaw started it in the early 1970s and has led it ever since. Fans of all ages come to sing along. It is one of the longest-running Dylan tributes anywhere, and it has become part of the city's calendar.
Beyond rock
Shillong is not only about rock. In 2010, the Shillong Chamber Choir won the TV show India's Got Talent, which made many people across the country notice the city's music for the first time. Blues bands have toured abroad. Today, young musicians mix rock and pop with Khasi lyrics and traditional instruments like the duitara, a small stringed instrument.
The live scene moves between cafés, colleges, churches and festival stages. Many musicians from the city have also moved to Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, where they play in bands and studios.
How to hear it yourself
- Go around 24 May if you want to catch Dylan's Day.
- Check café listings in Police Bazaar and Laitumkhrah for weekend gigs.
- Listen to a church choir on a Sunday. Many services welcome visitors who sit quietly.
- Ask a local which band to see. Everyone has an opinion, and most of them are good.
