Back to Archive
Video

Niese Hiese

Our way of life (What we wear and use)

Details

Singer / Performer

Keniseno , Vithouseno , Roseno

Tribe

Angami

Performer’s Tribe

Angami

Language / Dialect

Tenyidie/Jotsoma

Region / Village

Western Angami/Jotsoma village

Date & Place of Recording

20 March 2025, Jotsoma village

Recorded By

L. D. Miller Pou

Theme of the Song

Historical Song

Occasion of Performance

Festival

Contextual Interpreter

Seyievino Seyietsu

Lyric Transliteration

Niese hiese neiheba hieba

Chüta tiemu nieko rie mome?

Diechü rieta marei utuo-i

Lozie thodi rahou moto me?

English Translation Lyrics

Children honour their forefathers by wearing traditional attires and seek to

understand the ancestral gatherings and customs

Won’t you regret as you leave all these behind/all this will become ours?

We live and we die as the cycle of life

Won’t we all get old and die one day?

Contextual Interpretation

The song is about the cycle of life. How we grow up as a youth and die as we grow old and weary. An address to the forefathers of the use of their traditional wears being passed on to the younger generation. The song reflects on the past of how the older folks carry forward the tradition and the ways that is still carried on the tradition. The song questions the older folks if the age old tradition being carried on is fulfilling or gratifying? But it is only the way of life, replied the older folks, we live on carrying all these traditions and pass on to the next generation as we grow old and pass away.

Additional Note

An addressal to the forefathers of the use of their traditional wears being passed on to the younger generation.

Native Speaker's Additional Contextual Information