Lou Majaw

Lou Majaw (born 1947) is a performing artist from Shillong in the North-Eastern India and is renowned for his Bob Dylan tribute shows and his lyrics.[3]

[1][2]

Lou Majaw
Majaw performing in 2011.
Background information
Born	1947
Origin	Khasi
Genres	Rock, Folk rockBlues
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)	Guitar, vocals

Born to a poor family, the Majaws could not afford a guitar or a radio. In a friend's house he was introduced to the music of Bill Haley and Elvis Presley, and taught himself the guitar as most boys and girls did in those days. His mother sent him to a boarding school where his love for music grew. Majaw then moved on to Kolkata (Calcutta) where he sang in bars and pubs for various groups such as the Dynamite Boys, Vanguards, Supersound Factory, and Blood and Thunder, The Meghalaya Love Project. In 1966, Lou was introduced to Bob Dylan's work. Inspired by his music, he later organized a "Dylan's birthday concert" in Shillong on 24 May 1972.[4] Since then he has organized the concert each year on 24 May to pay obeisance to Dylan, with the shows generating national and international interest.[5]

On 24 May 2011, Lou Majaw(pronounced Lu Majao) celebrated the 70th birthday of Bob Dylan with a grand concert with one band each from 8 states of North East India. The bands were- Hip Pocket (Kolkata), Alive (Sikkim), D'luzion (Assam), Swraijak (Tripura), Evenflow (Mizoram), Cleave(Manipur), Incipit(Nagaland), Symmetry Clan(Arunachal Pradesh) and Midnight Garden Factor(Meghalaya).[6]

On 24 October 2016, Lou Majaw was awarded with the 4th Dr Bhupen Hazarika Award[7] by the Governor of Assam for his contribution to music.Moreover, ‘

On a pleasant evening on the 4th of February 2023, the sprawling verandahs of India Club, one of the most popular haunts of the who’s who in Guwahati witnessedthe unveiling of a new documentary celebrating the life of the iconic musician Lou Majaw. The documentary, called ‘The Platinum Gong’ is a labour of love and passion directed by the well known theatre artist, writer and musician, Sattyakee Dcom Bhuyan and produced by Dipak Chandra Das.[8]The Platinum Gong’, which is essentially a celebration of one of India’s longest serving rock and roll artists, one can witness Lou Majaw’s importance to the development of a rock and roll culture in India through the tributes he receives from some of India’s foremost rock musicians. While the documentary is slated to be released on the internet for the wider public soon, the director Sattyakee Dcom Bhuyan says “ We intend to upload the film on platforms such as YouTube in the near future. However, at the moment our plans involving the documentary include sending it to various film festivals all over the country. Once that process is done, we will make sure that ‘The Platinum Gong’ is available for everyone to watch on multiple streaming sites on the internet.”