FIFA World Cup 2026: Shakira's Dai Dai meets its match in Meghalaya's traditional Phawar music in India

It is not Shakira's Dai Dai that sets the ball rolling every day at the organised and impromptu fan parks screening the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches in Meghalaya.

In the country's most football-crazy state, folk music is the fuel for the passion for the beautiful game, especially a particular traditional music of the Khasi people, an ethnic population in the North-East, called phawar.

Sung for decades in Khasi villages during local football matches and archery competitions across the North-Eastern state, Phawar is a music utilised by rival fans to tease one another.

With Meghalaya's football fans divided in their allegiance to football powerhouses like Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Spain in the absence of India at the FIFA World Cup, phawar has become an effective tool to cheer their favourite teams, pushing Dai Dai to the background.

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Phawar to the people

"Phawar is spontaneous like the blues," explains Kit Shangpliang, the frontman of Shillong-based folk-fusion band Summersalt. "It is a perfect combination of wit, humour and sarcasm. It's very creative," adds the Meghalaya musician.

In the Khasi language, phawar means a chant. It also translates as a rhyming couplet. It is easy for football fans to sing phawar because the melody and rhythm are culturally preset in traditional music.

"You just need to put new lyrics, which can be in the form of satire, comment or question. They can be political or social. The subject matter is very broad," says Kit, whose band created the anthem, Hoi Kiw, for the Indian Super League (ISL) season four years ago.

The Northeast's culture of watching a football match is embedded in Hoi Kiw, a Khasi folk-song-driven music, which roughly translates into 'mount up' in the Khasi language.

Meghalaya is the country's most football crazy state, a status achieved through the powerful connection between the sport and the community (Photo: Kit Shangpliang)

"Football games in Meghalaya, which has two of the wettest places on earth — Cherrapunji and Mawsynram — are often played in thick fog. The players can't see the ball or each other. It's very entertaining and hilarious. There is a lot of verbal communication between the players. They have to use their sixth sense to play," says Kit, whose band had one of its songs featured in the 2016 Bollywood film Rock On 2.

Folk songs express identity

"Traditional music is vital to our culture. It is our identity as a people," says Khasi musician Mebanlamphang Lyngdoh, who teaches traditional music at Shillong's Martin Luther Christian University. Thus, traditional music resonates in football, one of the most powerful influences in the state.

Mebanlamphang gives a few examples of phawar, the satire and sarcasm of which pokes at contemporary politics. "The vote in today's world/Were bought with the money/Friends please wisely examine/Because a fish head might be more costly," reads one. "If the MLA betrayed/They don't care/But if their lover betrayed/They feel mad and sad," goes another.

Fast emerging as a major nerve centre of football in the country with a state football league and a premier league in the capital Shillong, Meghalaya has rolled out a FIFA-style fan park in Shillong for the first time at the ongoing World Cup.

Located near the home ground of Shillong's Lajong FC, one of the major football clubs in the country, the Chief Minister's World Cup Fan Park, packing giant screens, is a state government initiative reflecting the football fever gripping the state.

The state government has built a World Cup Fan Park in Shillong this year, reflecting the popularity of the beautiful game (Photo: Mebanlamphang Lyngdoh)

"The atmosphere inside the fan park is electrifying," says Pradip Kurbah, a National Award-winning filmmaker based in Shillong. "A few days ago, Shillong witnessed a massive procession taken out by the Messi Fan Club in the capital," he adds.

Most of the football superstars like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe have their own fan clubs in the state, but many discerning followers of the beautiful game in Meghalaya decided to support Japan at the World Cup this year, an indication of growing maturity among football fans in the state.

"This time I became a fan of Japan because of the skill and tenacity they showed in their matches," says Kit, a long-time Brazil fan who helped his band compose the anthem for the North-East Olympics held in Shillong in November last year.

"Football has a powerful connection with the community in Meghalaya," says Pradip, whose new feature film, Ha Lyngkha Bneng (The Elysian Field), in the Khasi language, won the Best Film and Best Director awards at the Moscow International Film Festival last year.

Meghalaya is also building what is touted as the country's largest football stadium in Mawkhanu in the East Khasi Hills district, about 40 km from Shillong. When completed, the stadium will have a seating capacity of 40,000 and adhere to FIFA standards.

The state's passion for football is reflected in the Meghalaya State League, which had 33 teams this year. Shillong's Nongkseh Sports Social and Cultural Club, a nearly six-decade-old club, won the 2026 State League competition, which concluded last month.