Mizoram’s folk legend KC Runremsangi this year’s Padma awardee

Mizoram: This year’s Padma Shree awardee from Mizoram, KC Runremsangi, started singing when she was three: that’s when she started learning to speak. As the daughter of a valiant warrior, hunter and protector or as the Mizos call pasaltha, it is no surprise that Runremsangi excelled in folk singing.
She would sing to her father and the community as they celebrated their latest hunting victories. When Mizoram became a Christian state with the introduction of missionaries, she went on to sing in churches and continues to sing even now at the age of 59.
“My father used to sing to me even if I was crying. He was very proud of me. My father was a pasaltha. He used to hunt and when he would celebrate and drink and dance, I would sing for him. He So I was introduced to folk songs from childhood and they have stayed with me till date,” she said.

Runremsangi was born in Keitum, Serchhip district, about four hours away from Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram. It was here that he started singing and gained statewide recognition for his soulful renditions of Mizo folk songs. While she was initially trained by her village elders, as she grew older, she was trained by professional folk singers.
Apart from various state awards, he was earlier awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2017. What makes her awards special is that Runremsangi is the only woman to have won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2017 and the Padma Shree in 2023. In the folk music category from Mizoram.
It was around 9 pm on the night of January 25 when he came to know that his name was included in the list of Padma Shree awards.
“It was Sunday night and we had just returned from church. I changed my clothes and sat in front of the TV. As I was scrolling on my phone, I learned that I had been chosen to receive the Padma Shree award gone. I couldn’t believe it, I asked him if it was real and he said yes, so my tears started falling and I prayed to God that he put me in this place. Even my husband. Tears were flowing,” she said.
She credits the grace of God and the support of her husband for this award.

“Since I was young, till now, I have received God’s mercy. Everything is because of him and I want to thank him. I also got support from my family, especially my husband. He always gave me a voice. encouraged me to exercise and supported me in every way.

It is not only Runremsangi’s soulful rendition of folk songs that speaks of patriotism, but she also shows it through her actions.
If you were to meet him today, you would find him happily sitting on the fourth floor of Mizoram’s Art and Culture Department office. She sits behind a humble office desk that she shares with three other colleagues. In this office, since 1992, she has trained thousands of youth in Mizo folk dance and folk singing. It is his heartfelt desire to revive the art of folk songs and dance among today’s youth and help preserve the ancestral culture. And this is what she has been doing for three decades.
“I joined as a dance instructor in 1992. I started teaching folk dance and singing. More than a thousand youths have been trained under us. I am really interested in my work. I am not good at words. So I may not be able to express it but my work is my greatest passion,” she said.
Today, Runremsangi’s biggest concern is that the new generation will lose touch with ancestral songs, “Our folk songs and dances are very important and the new generation is not familiar enough. Sometimes I think Are they not appreciating it. We have to protect our culture, our dances and our songs.