10 Dec In Conversation with: Tonsing Khuraijam
The ‘In Conversation with’ series brings to you the stories of musicians and their musical journeys. Today’s piece features GMI Alum Tonsing Khuraijam.
Enamoured by the reverberating bass drums of marching wedding bands thumping on his chest, and lost in the music of artists like Green Day, Lil Wayne, and Justin Bieber, Tonsing’s love and passion for music can be traced back to his early childhood years in Imphal, Manipur. As a young adult, he set out in pursuit of his growing love for sound, and music, through his study of audio engineering and music technology at Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music (SAM) in Bangalore. Following the completion of his diploma, he broadened his musical horizons through his study of guitar performance at Global Music Institute (GMI).
Caught off guard by the COVID-19 pandemic and a nationwide lockdown in March 2020, Tonsing found himself back in his hometown. Instead of letting the days of nothingness blend into one another, he harnessed his passion for music and got to work. “I had no contacts, nothing, and I had to start from scratch. At GMI I gained a lot of music theory knowledge and I wanted to get into production. I had a spare room, where my Dad built acoustic panels and I made it into a home studio.” Unbeknown to him at the time, he was laying the groundwork for bringing a purposeful entrepreneurial vision to life.
In the process of finding a sense of purpose amidst the uncertainty posed by the pandemic, Tonsing reached out to well-known hip-hop artist Yelhomie from Imphal, Manipur. What began as a ‘dm’ on Instagram, resulted in a collaboration on the track ‘You Never Know’ garnering 500k+ views on YouTube, and 400k+ streams on Spotify. “Everyone liked the track and it was very unexpected. That was my first confirmation that I am doing something right, and I am going in the right direction,” said Tonsing. The success of the track made him a sought after name in the music community in Imphal. “From that first track, word spread and many artists got to know about me. From there on, it was collab after collab. They were reaching out to me through Instagram, and others I knew.” Whilst producing beats on his beats channel Sangai Beats, and crafting tracks for upcoming artists, a larger dream was gaining momentum.
His time at GMI played catalyst to him realising his vision of starting his own record label. “I have always had this dream wanting to build a platform and Global Music Institute played a huge role in shaping my music career. They guided and shaped me to be ready for the world in every aspect not just musically but mentally too. I was more confident in the music I was making and gained a lot of knowledge about the music business side of things. Communicating with other artists became easier too. This is huge for me because I went to GMI as an introvert and came out wanting to be a leader. I’ve had the privilege to study in these prestigious institutes like GMI, and I’m really grateful for it. But there are talents out there who are self-taught and never had the chance to go to such places for whatever reasons. Talents I never knew existed until I worked with them because they never had a proper platform.” Driven by his desire to elevate and empower unheard voices, and deserving talent, Tonsing started his own record label, Thousil Records.
Speaking about the thought-process underpinning this vision, Tonsing said, “the north-east has a lot of talented artists and as a kid growing up, I saw a lot of talented artists. But they never got to make it big, you know. They are never recognised outside the north-east. I want Thousil Records to be this strong support system for these dedicated talents who need it. I want to share the knowledge I got from all these institutes by working with them and helping them in their music career. We called it Thousil Records because we wanted to focus on management, the production, the presentation, educating the artists with our knowledge and the whole process involved in making them the best version of themselves.”
With big goals and even bigger dreams, Thousil Records has three EPs in the pipeline scheduled for release in January, 2022, and a hip-hop show lined up to showcase the new releases. Focussing mainly on indie-pop, indie-rock, and hip-hop, he wants the artists on Thousil Records to reach audiences across the country and grow into one of the largest record labels in India. Soft-spoken, humble, ever so generous, yet steadfast in his mission, he said, “I want to support the artists as much as I can and provide them with everything. They have the skills, and I am using my past experiences to help them in any way I can. While I am reaching these goals, let’s all make great music and enjoy this beautiful journey.”
In-charge of picking artists to work with, to production, marketing, and distribution, Tonsing is currently running a one-man show. Building a strong team to grow with, especially in the thick of a lockdown has been a challenge. “Right now I play the main role because it is right at the start of the record label. I am looking at this for the long run and in terms of fanbase, we haven’t come that far. But in terms of figuring out the industry and understanding how everything works, I have learned a lot. My future plan for Thousil Records is to bring it to Delhi, set up a studio there, and build the scene with the connections I already have. I already see Delhi becoming one of the biggest music hubs in India. I still want to produce and experiment with a lot of different sounds- especially a lot of rock and progressive stuff with other bands.”
Setting up a record label from scratch, and pursuing his passion has been a challenge to say the least, but his conviction in his artform and entrepreneurial vision hasn’t swayed. “There have been many times where I thought of giving up but it’s just the passion and love for this artform that keeps me going. My parents have tried to convince me to get a government job but I believe in my craft and I believe in Thousil Records. I just love the process of producing. It is not much about the destination for me, I just enjoy the journey. At Thousil Records, right now we are just building the base and we don’t have a massive following yet, but it is going to happen. I just believe it.”
Follow Tonsing on Spotify and Youtube.
Written by Senjuti Maitra
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