Chin Female Singer signed by US Record Company
24 November 2012: A new album Gone by rising Chin singer Ms Milla Dawt Hniang is to be released nationwide in the US by Tate Publishing & Enterprises, LLC on 8 January next year.
Composed and written in English by the 22-year-old Chin singer, the album is a compilation of heartfelt country genre songs, according to an official website, www.tatepublishing.com.
Ms Milla Dawt Hniang said the record company contacted her following her songs posted on Youtube, according to an interview with the Chinland Post.
“They [Tate Publishing] saw my songs on Youtube and made a record deal with me in February this year. We started recording straight away. I will never forget the moment that I received a call from the company,” added Milla Hniang, who arrived in the US in 2000.
Her music CD is now available to order online and all the songs can be downloaded at a reduced cost ahead of the official release early next year.
Milla said she started getting interested in singing by listening to Mizo songs her father bought from Mizoram State of India while she was about two years old.
“I could sing the Mizo songs by heart even though I didn’t understand their meanings at that time. My parents told me that my interest in singing began from a family worship service while I was little.”
Milla Hniang initially became known, especially among the Chin, for her sensational voice in an album, produced by her brother Morris Siang Lian, in 2007 and another in 2010, both in Hakha Chin.
Besides, her musical talents and songs posted on Youtube and other social network sites such as Facebook attract an increasing number of fans and viewers from the Chin community and beyond.
One of her fans, Pa Lai, comments: “Milla really is a star. She broke through barriers and set such an example for us, the Chin youths. Personally, I am so admired by her talents and mostly perseverance.”
In the Chinland Post interview, Milla said she is working on Christian songs in a Burmese album and plans to release a Christmas album in the future.
At her early age, Milla has suffered from seizure complications despite her intensive treatment at a hospital in Rangoon, Burma for one year.
“I got diagnosed with the Polio disease 3 days before i turned one year old. No one, not even doctors, expected me to live but I’ve been given a second chance to live my life to the fullest. I thank God everyday for my life,” Milla said in her Facebook.
In her message to Chin youths, she stressed the importance of having confidence in one’s ability and of being able to accept rejections and to face obstacles in the way, adding: “Let’s give God the first place in our life!”
Born in Hakha, Chin State to a Christian family of Pu Chan Tlung, from Tlangpi village, and Pi Ngun Zi, from Tlanglo village, both in Thantlang Township, Milla Dawt Hniang is the youngest of four siblings.
The whole family resettled in the US in 2000.
“I completely forgot Hakha Chin while we were in Rangoon. Only after I got to the US was I able to speak and write in my own language again. Speaking our language in a family and holding a family worship service is the best to keep our mother tongue alive,” remarked Milla Dawt Hniang.
Reporting by Thawng Zel Thang
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