Lalrinawmi Colvom Lulam

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA will explore the role that the music programmes of the All India Radio Aizawl played in the lives of ordinary people in Mizoram, amid the depressing reality of insurgency and state repression. It aims to problematise simplistic narratives and offer a more nuanced understanding of peace and progress in contemporary discussions. Lalrinawmi Colvom Lulam is the Coordinator for this project. 

Lalrinawmi Colvom Lulam is an independent researcher from Shillong who is currently pursuing her Doctoral Research on the Poetics and Politics of Women’s Voices in Mizo songs at the Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Her interest in community memories, personal histories and cultural responses to political events that have shaped the Mizo communities make her a suitable Coordinator for this Foundation Project by IFA.

During the 20 years of insurgency in Mizoram, from 1966 to 1986, rampant censorship forced people to fall back on the oral nature of their culture to express themselves. News, songs and stories were passed on by word of mouth. All India Radio, Aizawl was established during the Prime ministership of Indira Gandhi in 1966, ostensibly to disseminate ‘genuine’ information to the people. While it was presented as the only reliable mass media that reached every hill and valley in the state, for the people reeling from trauma and oppression, the music programmes offered some respite amid a depressing reality. Through the experience of listening they forged a sense of shared community beyond the terror and propaganda of state and non-state actors unleashed upon them. These music programmes played songs of love, longing, about landscape, nature and passing seasons, and even those with humour, and hope for a better future. On Sundays, especially when curfews prevented people from holding and attending church services, gospel songs were broadcast as well. 

Through in-depth interviews with early and current All India Radio Aizawl announcers, anchors and artists, and detailed conversations with older and contemporary leaders of faith, this project will explore how Mizo people responded to the introduction of All India Radio amid state suppression. It will also access the archival records at the All India Radio, Aizawl and the Mizoram State Archive, as well as the materials around the exhibitions and documentaries produced to commemorate fifty years of AIR, Aizawl in 2016. 

The outcome of this project will be a monograph. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA, along with the final reports, will be a monograph and audiovisual documentation from the field. 

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Research programme by exploring a relatively unexplored aspect of the history of the All India Radio, Aizawl and its relationship to people. 

IFA will ensure that the project is implemented on time and that the funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is complete and deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with the Trustees.

This project is made possible with support from BNP Paribas India.