Hope Academy held its annual inter-school rock beat contest – Melomania 5th Edition on October 21, 2023 at Hope Academy Campus, Chumukedima.
Pastor Robert Kikon of Father House Church started the event by invoking God’s blessing.
In this steam-winding battle, The Maple Tree bagged the coveted title of the best band and was accoladed with a cash prize of 50,000, while Hope Maverick emerged as the runner up and walked away with a cash prize of 30,000.
While, Asangla Oungh of Hope Maverick was awarded the Best Vocalist, Wungrito of Hope Academy Best Drummer, Limachen Jamir of The Maple Tree was Awarded as the best Bassist and SYmon Neikha of The Maple Tree was awarded as the best Guitarist The bands vying in the contest were from Hollotoli, The Maple Tree, MGM Higher Secondary school, Holy Cross Higher Secondary and two bands from the host School, Hope Academy.
Melomania was started in the year 2019 with an aim to cater to school students with a platform to express their music skills. Principal Hope Academy, Sashila Ozukum, in her welcome address highlighted that besides music, Melomania is also a platform to inculcate discipline, team work, confidence, and leadership quality in students, while simultaneously aming to build closeness across different schools.
Renowned artist Alobo Naga graced the event as the guest of honour, along with Dreams and Wishes, a metal band from Nagaland to adjudicate the Contest. Dreams and Wishes also electrified the stage with their 3 original songs. Alobo Naga, in his speech shared the concern that though we have many talents in Nagaland, we lack in professionalism and work ethics. He motivated the students present to strive for excellence in order to attain professionalism and to value preparedness and punctuality.
The school also acknowledged the motivation given to students by the various Sponsor partners: CASE Construction (1st Prize), Oriental Mart (2nd Prize), Truly Bangkok (Best Vocalist), Mathemagic Hub, Abacus (Best Bassist), PAWF Nagaland (Best Drummer) and Sitangshu sen, LIC Advisor (Best Guitarist)
Besides music, the ambience of the campus also bustled with food stalls and delicacies, and students of the participating schools convened the arena to shout out for their bands.