About
The Tetseo Sisters are a quartet of sisters from Kohima, Nagaland, Mütsevelü (Mercy), Azine (Azi), Kuvelü (Kuku) and Alüne (Lulu), devoted to the vocal folk music of their Chakhesang Naga tribe. Singing Li, the traditional folk songs of their people, in the Chokri dialect, they have performed since childhood and are widely regarded as cultural ambassadors of Nagaland and the Northeast.
Trained in the traditional Li of the Chakhesang tribe by parents deeply involved in Nagaland's cultural revival, the Tetseo Sisters have performed since they were children and are credited with helping start the folk-fusion movement in the state. They launched their debut album Li Chapter One: The Beginning at the Hornbill Festival in 2011, followed by the EP A Slice of Li (2019) and singles such as Zizone and Hiyo, and have taken their music to South Korea, China, the United States, the United Kingdom and Thailand. Honoured with Nagaland's Governor's Award for Excellence in Music (2018) and a Best Folk/Fusion Act award, they see their work as a mission to preserve the Chokri language and the Li tradition.
The artistry
The Tetseo Sisters' music is built on the a cappella harmonies of Li, the Chokri Naga folk song, often accompanied by the age-old one-stringed tati (heka libuh), and interwoven with storytelling. Their songs, celebrating nature, community, work and the life of the hills, move between pure traditional Li and folk-fusion originals, carrying the sound of the Naga hills, and the Chokri language itself, to audiences far beyond the Northeast.
[Atlas Perspective] The Tetseo Sisters are the leading ambassadors of Naga folk music and a rare, authentic voice from the Northeast on national and international stages. For festivals, heritage initiatives and cultural-diplomacy programmes seeking genuine, endangered-tradition folk, they are an outstanding choice.
The Tetseo Sisters have brought the Li folk tradition of the Chakhesang Naga, and the Chokri language, to national and international audiences, helping preserve an endangered oral tradition and reshape how the rest of India perceives Naga music and culture. They are pioneers of Naga folk-fusion and among Nagaland's foremost cultural exports.