Music Matters Live – a music festival supporting independent artists around the world – will feature four acts from Nagaland in the segment, MadeIN Nagaland, on Oct 3 at CQ @ Clarke Quay.
The organising team said that the showcase is an initiative of the Government of Nagaland and the Northeast state’s Task Force for Music and Arts, with a larger vision of taking contemporary Naga music to the world.
“Nagaland is perhaps unique in India in having a dedicated mission to nurture its contemporary music ecosystem, and we felt Music Matters, with its international network and industry reach, was the right platform to collaborate with,” said the organisers.
The festival’s 21st edition is just in time for the Grand Prix season and continues to have all its concerts be free entry. The festival has previously featured other regional spotlight sets like Sounds Australia, but this is the first time they have a Northeast Indian focused set.
The four artists in MadeIN Nagaland include Street Stories, Moko Koza, Shau Evans, and The Gluttones.
Moko Koza is a multilingual rapper, who infuses his indigenous Naga identity into his music. He has won several regional awards for his work, like the Nagaland Governor’s Award for Distinction in the Field of Music in 2025, as well as headlined the stages of Bangkok’s Northeast Music Festival and the Hornbill Music Festival in India.
“In my set, I mix both English and my own dialect, Nagamese. There’s a song called Naga Manu, which means people of Nagaland in our language. I want to stress on this one a little bit in my performance and share a little bit of our music to the rest of the world, to Singapore,” said Mr Mvuko Koza, the man behind the artist.
Shau Evans has the smooth vintage style and reverb embedded in his vocals and production. One of the newer acts in the line-up, his influences on retro artists and sound design is evident in his song Dream Girl, which transports audiences to a 1950s American high school dance.
Street Stories is a noughties-style punk trio that was founded in 2010. Their short but sweet track, Left Me On Read, encapsulates the band’s humour and rocking sound in all of its one minute 16 seconds runtime.
“It’s a great opportunity for us that we are getting to do something like this; usually we are not the kind of band or do the kind of music that represents the music from Nagaland. Regardless, we are very proud to present what we have from where we come from,” said Mr Pezo Kronu, one of the band members.
The Gluttones are a synthy, pop-rock band and like the name of their debut album, they aim to represent the “Modern Naga” identity. Their songs like Up All Night and For You are reminiscent of the height of late 2010s pop music.
Other Indian origin acts include: Australian folk-singer Reuben De Melo, who was born in Goa, Indo-Fijian Australian trap singer-songwriter SAHXL, and Chennai-based indie rock artist Sunflower Tape Machine.
Music Matters Live is taking place on four nights from Oct 2 to Oct 4 and Oct 7. The concerts will take place at multiple stages and locations in Clarke Quay. You can find out more about the line-up and timings at branded.live.
