Uttam Mayanglambam

Uttam Mayanglambam, or Uttam as he is popularly known as, is a face of the new age Meiteilon popular music. Though most of his fans in Manipur is unaware of his genre, he fixes the genre of his music to Fusion-Progressive Rock. He presently resides at Kwakeithel Moirang Purel Leikai. Born to Mr Mayamglangbam Mani Singh and Mrs. Mayanglangbam-ongbi Binokumari Devi at Sugnu Khaidem Leikai, he has been surrounded by music from his early days. Uttam's mother, grandfather and his uncle are "note sankritan" artists. His other two uncles Hirachand and ShyamKanhai are hindustani classical vocalists. He learnt Hindustani classicals from these two uncles. His father, possibly the only one in the family who is not into active arts, wanted his son to be an engineer or get into administrative services. Uttam did not get into engineering line, and he was sent to Pune for higher studies. He graduated and completed his masters in arts in 2003. In this course of time, he has learnt to play the guitar too. Despite his traditional upbringing in music, he also listened to popular singers of Manipur and the western rock acts out of which he idolizes Sanaton, Black Sabbath, Dio, Judas Priest, Bon Jovi and GnR. Unaware to his parents and even to himself, he seems to have unconsciously chosen his calling as the music. Uttam's rock journey probably started when he heard and liked "Temple of the King" by the "Rainbow" while still in standard VIII. He has been part of singing competition since standard III till he completed his XII, and it seems that the stage fright was conquered a long time ago. Druva of "Holy Rider" influenced him to hard rock music. Uttam says "my influences are my family and friends". Uttam, as a solo artist, has a unique style of music and performance which is a blend of his traditional upbringing and his many western influences. He has been in the music circuit of Manipur for quite some time. He was part of bands such as Dracula, Lily Chinks, Romie Band and Eeeriema. He worked on his own compositions as a solo artist and came out with the debut, Lamdam Tamna, in 2005. His singing style blended with traditional war cries and instruments backed by powerful lyrics sets fire in the hearts of the audience in every stage he performed. Uttam carved a place for himself in the Manipuri rock scene and Manipuri Matam Eesei world. After performing some big concerts, Uttam formed the Uttam Band in the same year and gave his first gig at BOAT in 2005, with a strong crowd attending it. With this band, Uttam has performed more than 100 shows in a short period of time in and outside Manipur.