New Delhi: For over 20 years, Chongtham Vikram Singh lived and breathed music in Delhi. He had started out playing lead guitar in bands back in Manipur, before eventually moving to Delhi, where he took up teaching at the Delhi School of Music. Along the way, he opened his own music school and took students at home, shaping young musicians the same way he had once been shaped.
His mother, Chongtham Ongbi Kamala Devi, is a well-known classical vocalist who sang in Matamgi Manipur, the first Manipuri feature film, back in 1972. He wasn’t just a teacher confined to a classroom, though. Singh performed with the Rock’n’Roots project alongside Rajasthani folk singer Mame Khan and collaborated with several other well-known names across concerts and cultural shows over the years. He is remembered as one of the founding figures of Manipur’s rock music movement, a scene he helped shape long before he made Delhi his home. He was originally from Thangmeiband Lourung Purel Leikai in Imphal West. In Delhi, he kept a low profile, but within the city’s music circles, he was known and respected. Singh came from a family steeped in the arts. His family’s connection to the arts didn’t end there. Singh was also a cousin of Lakshmipriya Devi, the director of Boong, the film that made history this year as the first Indian film to win a BAFTA, taking home the Best Children’s and Family Film award at the 79th British Academy Film Awards.
