Meghalaya rapper Reble rocks Northeast Music Festival with Rahul Gandhi in the crowd

When Meghalaya rapper Reble took the stage at JLN Stadium on Sunday evening, she was performing in a city that had only recently come to know her name — and doing so in front of one of India's most prominent politicians seated just rows away.

The North East Music Festival – Sound Without Conflict arrived in Delhi on February 22 for the first time, bringing together folk, indie, rock and hip-hop rooted in the cultural landscape of northeast India. Held at JLN Stadium (Gate 17), entry was free, and the crowd that turned up made clear there was a real appetite for what the festival was offering.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attended and was photographed interacting with several northeast artists during the evening. The reel cover of one of his social media posts showed him and Reble seated next to each other. Assam Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi was also present, alongside Manipur MP Bimol Akoijam and other leaders — a sign that the event carried significance well beyond the stage.

Reble herself has had a remarkable few months. Born in West Jaintia Hills, she began writing rap lyrics at the age of eleven. She spent years building a following in the northeast before breaking into the national conversation late last year through the Dhurandhar soundtrack. This Ranveer Singh espionage thriller became one of Bollywood's biggest recent grossers.

She has described the project as her first real entry into the Bollywood industry, one that came together almost by chance. Her contributions to tracks such as Naal Nachna and Run Down The City – Monica introduced her sharp, unhurried delivery to a much wider audience. At the festival, she brought exactly that energy to Delhi.

She was far from the only reason to pay attention. The lineup was carefully constructed to represent the breadth of northeast music. Rewben Mashangva opened with folk rhythms drawn from the Naga hills. Borkung Hrangkhawl fused rap and rock in a set that hit hard. The Tetseo Sisters blended pop-punk with folk tradition, and Taba Chake delivered a folk-rock performance that held the crowd through the middle of the evening.

The night closed with Parikrama, joined by Rudy Wallang and Girish Pradhan of GATC, in a blues and hard rock finale that gave the festival the emphatic finish it had been building towards.

Sound Without Conflict is built around a particular idea — that the northeast's music carries within it histories of community, resistance and identity that the rest of the country rarely gets to hear. An interaction segment mid-evening gave artists space to speak as well as perform. The food stalls, community zones and curated spaces around the venue reinforced the sense that this was designed to be a gathering, not just a gig.

For Reble and the artists who shared the stage with her on Sunday, it was a night that made the case plainly: northeast music does not need to wait for a footnote. It is ready for the headline.