Kingdom Hum (Bhutan) in Guwahati Gig Reviewed

Reviewed by : Upasana Sharma

The evening of 4th December, 2011 was marked by the flowing vocals and skilled instrumentation of Kingdom Hum, a 6-piece group from the mountains of Bhutan, fronted by vocalist Kuenga Tenzin Dorji. 

Spot on covers and impressive originals did much to excite the crowd which grew as we progressed further into the gig. Organized by the Government of India for improving Inter Cultural and Social relations, one would hardly expect a rock n' roll band to propagate such an initiative. 

But we were pleasantly surprised by the band, the members of which wore traditional clothing and in contrast played pure rock! Pretty soon the crowd was swaying to the perfect melodies that were being doled out by the skilled instrumentalists. It was to be noted that the bass and drums were very strong. Other instruments included rhythm guitar, lead guitar, flute, harmonica and two indigenous instruments that we're not quite sure what they’re called. 

Their performance featured some self-composed originals in English as well as Dzongkha(National Language of Bhutan) in addition to well known classics like Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild, Back in Black and Highway to Hell by AC/DC and Sweet Home Alabama by Lynnyrd Skynnyrd among others. 

P.S: Ignore, the UM team talking part.


An interesting thing they did that pleased the audience was that they replaced the word “Alabama” with “Guwahati” which really got everyone out of their seats! Once they began playing covers, howls and screams of joy were to be expected by the crowd. Towards the end, they incorporated Vande Mataram into one of their songs and slowly moulded it into the tune of their own National song. 

It was an energy filled evening which ended with a last original song. We were pleasantly surprised to see the members execute with finesse on various instruments; including four among them perform highly impressive vocals, with rapping on a few numbers! 

What made us even bigger fans of them was the fact that they were ever obliging and extremely polite and humble. It showed through the duration of their gig, which lasted a good 60 minutes. Definitely an evening (and band) to remember.