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That the internet can be a dark dangerous place is something we all know all too well. But once in a while, it sends a positive message around, a message of love, to quote Rich Hall in the song 'The Reverend', a song he wrote about Iggy The Eskimo. This will probably be the most relevant post in our twelve years history and Syd Barrett will not be mentioned once.

Mizoram, India

There appears to be an active Mizo community on the internet. The state of Mizoram lies in the North-Eastern part of India, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh. It has about 1,100,000 citizens (2011 statistics).

After the independence from India (1947) it was not sure if the Lushai Hills would be annexed by Burma, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India or even become an independent country, but in the end, it was incorporated in the union of India, which did not treat it respectfully, to put it euphemistically.

Mizo National Front uprising

For decades there were political and military troubles, with an armed uprising in 1966 and brutal countermeasures from India. Slowly some peaceful agreements were made and since 1987 Mizoram is a state of India, meaning it has its own government.

Iggy the Inuit Mizo

Probably by accident someone of the Mizo community stumbled upon a post of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit. In our obituary for Iggy, we wrote that her ‘Indian’ roots were in Mizoram and not Pakistan as was generally believed.

This was shared on Mizo social networking groups where it was picked up by none other than Iggy’s relatives. It created quite a buzz, went viral and all of a sudden messages arrived on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, asking the Church for more information and pleading us to bring them in contact with Iggy’s siblings. Which obviously, we did.

Isolationism

Contact with Iggy’s parents was lost in February 1966 when Mizoram was plunged into an insurgency, also known as the Mizo National Front uprising. The central Indian government retaliated hard and restricted and censored all information coming in or going out of the district of Mizoram. All letters going through the national postal service were intercepted by the government and either censored or destroyed. As there was no digital communication in those days the Mizoram community was plunged into virtual isolation for nearly three decades.

Contact lost

When the situation normalised the Mizo family branch searched frantically for Iggy’s parents, going through Havant Council, Hampshire (where her parents used to live) and the UK's Ministry of Defence (as her father was in the military), but to no avail.

Four decades later, in 2021, the search was still going on, lead by Iggy's cousin Thana. His mother, now 93 years old, is Iggy’s aunt from his mother’s side.

Iggy’s mother, Angela (or Angelina) Chawngpuii married major Harry Charlton Joyce, a British army officer serving in India during and immediately after India’s independence. They had three children: Evelyn (better known as Iggy), Stephen and Elizabeth Anne.

Laldawngliani

In our obituary from 2017, we revealed Iggy’s indigenous name, but it seems we had it wrong. Iggy told us, years ago, that her name was Laldowliani, but as we couldn’t find any trace of that we simplified it to Laldingliani which seemed more common.

Many of Iggy’s family members have written to us that it is, in fact, Laldawngliani. If we have learned one thing through the ages, it is that one should never ever doubt Iggy. We can hear her roaring laugh, followed by: "I TOLD YOU SO, FELIX!"

Chaltlang

Iggy’s great-grandfather Thangphunga was the chieftain of three villages, including Chaltlang, now a suburb of Aizawl, Mizoram’s capital. The chieftainship was abolished by the Indian government when they annexed Mizoram, which had been an autonomous region before (but ruled by the British after the mid-nineteenth century).

As such Iggy’s family was held in great respect. Iggy’s great-grandmother, Thangpuilali was the daughter of another chieftain, Savunga Sailo.

Iggy’s relatives will have many more tales to tell, but these obviously have to stay in the family. What we can share, and we hope that nobody will mind, are some pictures that were unknown until now.

Most of them will also be published as well, in a better resolution, on our daily Tumblr using the Mizoram tag.

Pictures

All pictures courtesy of Iggy's family, in Mizoram and the UK.

Many thanks to Elizabeth Joyce, Hnamte Thanchungnunga, Noeeeayo (Rinnungi Pachuau), Racheliebe (Chha Dok Mi), Rosang Zuala, Tnama Hnamte, VL Zawni.
The Mizu online community: Ajay dep Thanga, Din Nyy, Elvee milai, Euisoo's left sock, Hmazil, Kima Sailo, Lalrin Liana, Lzi Dora Hmar, Mact mizoram, Mafela ralte, Panjee chhakchhuak, Park Yoongi, Ramtea Zote123, Rinapautu Pautu, Zolad… and all those we may have forgotten.
♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥

Part 6 of our Mizoram newspaper cuttings.

Last but not least: TOI. Wikipedia: The Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest selling English-language daily in the world.

It is the oldest English-language newspaper in India, and the second-oldest Indian newspaper still in circulation, with its first edition published in 1838. It is nicknamed as "The Old Lady of Bori Bunder", and is an Indian "newspaper of record".

Near the beginning of the 20th century, Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, called The Times of India "the leading paper in Asia". In 1991, the BBC ranked The Times of India among the world's six best newspapers.

Chandrima Banerjee published Pink Floyd Muse Iggy 'the Inuit' had Mizo roots.

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TOI+ Pink Floyd muse Iggy 'the Inuit' had Mizo roots
Chandrima Banerjee.

All contact lost during Mizo uprising, one line in fan blog reunites family after 60 years

Whenever Evelyn 'Iggy' Rose was asked about her origins, she would mysteriously refer to "the Himalayas", no more. She was muse to Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett, the naked cover girl of his debut album and his lover. Seen at Jimi Hendrix's UK debut, in an Anthony Stern film, and in a cult British magazine New Musical Express' (NME) feature, her world was one of musicians, artists and psychedelia. When her mixed-race appearance was exoticised in the London of the 'bos, she gave the name "Eskimo" to an NME photographer as a joke and another origin story stuck – Iggy "the Eskimo" or Iggy "the Inuit”. Now, four years after her death, the pieces of the puzzle have finally come together – the charming socialite of the Swinging London was actually from the hills of Mizoram.

"Iggy's Mizo name was Laldawngliani," Rosangzuala, 48, whose great grandmother and Iggy's grandmother were sisters, told TOI. “I had been looking for Iggy and our England family since 2008. I joined Facebook to look for them. But nothing turned up ... Days ago, I saw a post in a local Mizoram Facebook group which mentioned a blog which said Iggy 'the Inuit' might be a Mizo ... If not for Iggy's relationship with Syd Barrett, we might not have found them. I thank Pink Floyd fans for helping us reunite the family." Iggy's mother Chawngpuii and her sisters. One of them, Chawngmawii, is 93 and lives in Kolasib

What Rosangzuala and his family knew, and many did not, was this – Iggy's great-grandfather Thangphunga was a chieftain of three Mizoram villages now consolidated as Chaltlang, and her mother Chawngpuii (her English name was Angela) had married British Army officer Harry Charlton Joyce who was serving in India and had then left for Yemen, followed by England. "Her father was posted with the Royal Engineers," said Rosangzuala. "He was a Major when he married Chawngpuii."

Iggy's great-grandfather Thangphunga was a chieftain of three Mizoram villages

In 1966, what was then the Mizo district and would later become the state of Mizoram was caught in a struggle for autonomy. Letters coming into the state would be examined by the government and, many believe, destroyed. “The last time we received a letter from Iggy's father, he was a Brigadier. After that, all communication stopped."

Around this time, Iggy was attending art school, meeting Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Keith Moon, and attending counterculture concerts like the '14 Hour Technicolour Dream', headlined by Pink Floyd, says the first extensive profile of the socialite by British music journalist Mark Blake in 2011, before she started living with Syd Barrett.

Years passed, and though her family in Mizoram knew about her, they could not figure out how to get in touch with their relatives in England. "Iggy's younger aunt, Chawngmawii, is 93. She lives in Kolasib (along with two of Iggy's first cousins). Iggy's elder aunt used to visit us often but she died years ago. I had promised her I would find them some day," said Rosangzuala. The last place they knew Iggy's parents lived was Havant, so they contacted the Borough Council there. It didn't help. Then, they wrote to the UK's defence ministry, hoping the military ties might throw up a lead. It didn't.

The Facebook post Rosangzuala saw now finally established a trail. It was a single line in a 2017 obituary - she died a day before turning 70 – in a blog called The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit (which replaced “Inuit" with “Mizo" later) which had resurfaced on Facebook: "Iggy's mother, so was confirmed to us, wasn't from Pakistan, but from Mizoram, situated at the North-East of India, sharing borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar."

Rosangzuala got in touch with the blog post's author. "He was called Felix. He helped us contact Iggy's family in England online," Rosangzuala said. "Iggy's cousin Thana has connected with her brother, Stephen. He has a Mizo name, too."

Many thanks to the Mizoram online community!
♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥

Part 5 of our Mizoram newspaper cuttings.

The Nort-Eastern Chronicle (TNEC) is a Digital Media Agency headquartered in Guwahati, Assam. The Agency is a (NEWS) worthy bytes curator and storytelling medium for the region and the globe! They wrote: Pink Floyd Founding Member Syd Barrett had a relation with Mizoram; All you need to know.

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Pink Floyd Founding Member Syd Barrett had a relation with Mizoram; All you need to know
by Editorial

The past holds many interesting stories, and one such tale brought a Mizo family in contact with their long-lost relative three years after her death. Surprisingly enough, the relative turned out to be Iggy the Eskimo - the Girl who captured the spirit of the '60s.

The one-time girlfriend of Syd Barrett, the founding member of Pink Floyd, happens to be born of a Mizo mother and a British father. She was born as Evelyn Joyce but was most commonly known as 'Iggy the Eskimo' and 'Iggy the Inuit'. Her long dark hair, lovely Asian features, button nose, and baby face captured the eyes of the London public.

As per reports, it has come to light that Iggy Rose had a Mizo mother named Chawngpuii, while Iggy was born somewhere in present-day Pakistan. She did her schooling in India and Aden before moving to England. Her entry into the spotlight was as abrupt as her disappearance from it. Only after the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit launched a mission to bring her back four decades later, they connected with the maternal side of her family in Mizoram.

Iggy's mother had lost contact with her family in 1966 during the Mizos' Uprising. Rosangliana, one of Iggy's relatives in Mizoram, said, "After Mizoram returned to normalcy following the 1986 peace accord, we resumed the search for Iggy's parents, going through Havant Council Hampshire and the UK's Ministry of Defence, but to no avail."

After they came across a post about Iggy on the internet, they managed to connect to her family in London. Her brother and sister were excited to have found the other half of their family. Iggy fan page was rechristened as Iggy the Mizo following the discovery.

Many thanks to the Mizoram online community!
♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥

Part 4 of our Mizoram newspaper cuttings.

TIME8 is a digital news medium from Northeast India, ushering a revolution in terms of news collection, unbiased storytelling and fearless journalism powered by raw energy of youth with the tenacity of seasoned journalists. They offer an extensive newsfeed covering politics, policy, sports, entertainment, fashion, art and wellness and of course, web culture.

And what did they publish about Iggy? Surprise! Pink Floyd’s founding member Syd Barrett’s muse roots discovered in Mizoram.

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Surprise! Pink floyd's founding member Syd Barrett's muse's roots discovered in Mizoram
The one-time girlfriend and love interest of Syd Barrett was born to a Mizo mother and a British father Image by Byron's Muse

Wish You Were Here, Comfortably Numb, Another Brick On The Wall! Do these ring a bell in your ears? If yes, you are right there! And if no, then well, let me reveal to you an astonishing story! These are one of the famous songs of the groundbreaking English rock band named 'Pink Floyd'! The songs that have the musical power to give you goosebumps! Now, let me unearth something for you all to know.

Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett was one of the founding members of the band that was formed in 1965. If you want to know more about this famous man, you can find a great amount of information in the world of the internet but one of the interesting sides of his life was his romantic life. Barrett had relationships with various women. Among them, one of the women named Evelyn "Iggy" Rose (aka "Iggy the Eskimo", "Iggy the Inuit") has a northeastern connection! Yes. You read it right! This is what the story is about.

The one-time girlfriend and love interest of Syd Barrett was born to a Mizo mother and a British father. She was born as Evelyn Joyce but most commonly referred as "Iggy the Eskimo", "Iggy the Inuit", owing to her alleged Inuit (a member of an indigenous people of northern Canada and parts of Greenland and Alaska) heritage.

She passed away at the age of 69 in London in 2017 and right three years after her death, her roots were discovered amidst the hills of Mizoram. How did the discovery happen and unfold? There happens to be a website dedicated to Iggy by her fans where someone from Mizoram stumbled upon a post in the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit website.

Iggy Rose's Mizo mother named Chawngpuii married a British army officer named Harry Joyce who was serving in the then British-ruled India. Iggy was born somewhere in present-day Pakistan. She was given a native name (Laldawngliani) as well by her mother which stands for 'Gift of Gods', in a language Iggy never spoke.

Before moving to England, she did her schooling in India and Aden. She had a mark in the spotlight. Just the way she made her debut appearance was the similar way she abruptly disappeared from the spotlight scene. It is only when the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit launched a mission to bring her back four decades later, they connected with the maternal side of her family in Mizoram.

In her teenage years, Iggy was known to be a mysterious figure in the 1960's London's music scene. She had remarkable Asian facial features which made her one of the most attractive women in the music industry. She was also known as a 'Flower Child', a synonym for Hippies and she dated the likes of Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and of course, as I mentioned, the most famous, Syd Barrett

Iggy also made a nude appearance on the cover of Syd Barett's solo album 'The Madcap Laughs which made her unforgettable. In April 1967, Iggy joined the counter-culture throng in Alexandra Palace for The 14-Hour Technicolor Dream-"all 14 hours of it!"-where Floyd played a hypnotic set at dawn.

In 1967, Iggy made her film debut in a short documentary titled IN Gear which was screened as a supporting film in cinemas around the country.

In the year 1966, Iggy's mother lost contacts with her family due to the Mizos' uprising. One of Iggy's relatives in Mizoram named Rosangliana said, "After Mizoram returned to normalcy following the 1986 peace accord, we resumed the search for Iggy's parents, going through Havant Council Hampshire and the UK's Ministry of Defence, but to no avail."

A post regarding Iggy was being updated on the internet and after that, her story came into light, they managed to connect to her family in London. Iggy's brother and sister were elated to have discover the other half of their family. Iggy's fan page is given a new name as Iggy the Mizo following the discovery.

Many thanks to the Mizoram online community!
♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥

Part 3 of our Mizoram newspaper cuttings.

ThePrint (in one word) is an Indian online newspaper, based in New Delhi, launched in August 2017 by editor Shekhar Gupta. It is sharply focused on politics and policy, government and governance. Its leadership team includes India’s most experienced and respected journalists with proven track records in the finest news organisations.

Myithili Hazarika wrote: Pink Floyd muse Evelyn ‘Iggy’ Rose had Mizo roots – 4 yrs after her death, the families connect.

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Pink Floyd muse Evelyn ‘Iggy’ Rose had Mizo roots – 4 yrs after her death, the families connect

Evelyn 'Iggy' Rose's mother was from Mizoram who married British Army officer Harry Joyce

New Delhi: A little over three years after her death in 2017, the family of Evelyn 'Iggy' Rosethe enigmatic girlfriend of Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, who appeared on the cover of his album 'The Madcap Laughs' — was able to reconnect with her relatives in Mizoram recently.

Rose's mother was Chawngpuii, a Mizo woman, and her father a British army officer, Harry Joyce. The couple married in Aizawl in 1946. Rose, born a year later, had a Mizo middle name 'Laldawngliani'.

Also known as 'Iggy The Eskimo Girl' or 'Iggy The Innuit', Rose had achieved cult status in the 1960s Swinging London, with her long dark hair and Asian features. Such had been her popularity that there is a fan site in her honour called, 'The Holy Church of Iggy The Innuit (now renamed as 'The Holy Church of Iggy The Mizo').

In an interview to British journalist Mark Blake, Rose had recalled how her father travelled to a "remote village in the Himalayas" where "he met the woman that would become my mother".

But the two families lost touch in 1966 during the Mizo insurgency days.

Rosangliana, one of her relatives in Mizoram, told The Assam Tribune, "After Mizoram returned to normalcy following the 1986 peace accord, we resumed the search for Iggy's parents...but to no avail."

It was only weeks ago that someone from Mizoram stumbled upon a post on her fan site and alerted the family. "A few days later, a guy named Felix (who runs the fan site) gave us information about Iggy's siblings," Rosangliana said, and added: “We have contacted Iggy's brother Stephen and sister Elizabeth.”

Many thanks to the Mizoram online community!
♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥

Part 2 of our Mizoram newspaper cuttings.

IndiaTimes (IT) is a portal that seems to be linked to the newspaper The Times of India (TOI), published by Times Internet Limited and powered by Indiatimes Lifestyle Network. It has an elaborate article titled: Pink Floyd’s Muse Iggy ‘The Inuit’ Was Reportedly From The Hills Of Mizoram, written by Basit Aijaz.

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Pink Floyd’s Muse Iggy ‘The Inuit’ Was Reportedly From The Hills Of Mizoram
Basit Aijaz

Highlights

* Now, four years after her death, it has all come together the charming socialite was from the hills of Mizoram.

* It was reported that Iggy's great-grandfather Thangphunga was a chieftain of three Mizoram villages now consolidated as Chaltlang.

* It all, though, falls into place with this revelation - her mother Chawngpuii (her English name was Angela) had married British Army officer Harry Charlton Joyce who was serving in India and had then left for Yemen, followed by England.

Evelyn 'Iggy' Rose, a friend, a model and possible love interest of Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett graced the scene of his debut album in the 1960s.

Her figure has always engulfed in mystery and whenever Iggy was requested about her origins, she would mysteriously confer with "the Himalayas”. There has always been an interest in her origins.

While her looks attracted attention, it was her personality that charmed the London Scene. When her mixed-race appearance was exoticised in the London of the '60s, she gave the name "Eskimo" to a photographer as a joke and another origin story stuck, Iggy "the Inuit".

Now, four years after her death, it has all come together - the charming socialite was from the hills of Mizoram.

"Iggy's Mizo title was Laldawngliani,” Rosangzuala, 48, whose grandmother and Iggy's grandmother had been sisters, told The Times of India.

"I had been looking for Iggy and our England family since 2008. I joined Facebook to look for them. But nothing turned up... Days ago, I saw a post in a local Mizoram Facebook group which mentioned a blog which said Iggy 'the Inuit might be a Mizo ... If not for Iggy's relationship with Syd Barrett, we might not have found them. I thank Pink Floyd fans for helping us reunite the family," Rosangzuala said.

It was reported that Iggy's great-grandfather Thangphunga was a chieftain of three Mizoram villages now consolidated as Chaltlang.

It all, though, falls into place with this revelation - her mother Chawngpuii (her English name was Angela) had married British Army officer Harry Charlton Joyce who was serving in India and had then left for Yemen, followed by England.

"Her father was posted with the Royal Engineers. He was a Major when he married Chawngpuii," Rosangzuala added.

In 1966, what was then the Mizo district and would later become the state of Mizoram was caught in a struggle for autonomy. Letters coming into the state would be censored by the government and, many believe, destroyed.

"The last time we received a letter from Iggy's father, he was a Brigadier. After that, all communication stopped.” Around this time, Iggy was attending art school, meeting some iconic pop stars of the time - Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Keith Moon.

She was also attending counterculture concerts like the '14 Hour Technicolour Dream', headlined by Pink Floyd, says the first extensive profile of the socialite by British music journalist Mark Blake in 2011, before she started living with Syd Barrett.

While years passed and though her family in Mizoram knew about her, they could not figure out how to get in touch with their relatives in England.

It was only through the Facebook post that Rosangzuala saw that finally established a trail. It was a single line in a 2017 obituary - she died a day before turning 70 - in a blog called The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit (which replaced “Inuit” with “Mizo" later) which had resurfaced on Facebook

Many thanks to the Mizoram online community!
♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥

On the end of May 2021 the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit was consulted by a visitor from Mizoram who found it interesting enough to share on a Facebook group.

There it was picked up by an Indian relative of Iggy. The Mizo branch had lost contact with the English family members in the sixties, when there had been a military conflict between India and Mizoram freedom fighters.

In the aftermath of the conflict the Indian government censored all letters to and from Mizoram and communication was lost between Iggy’s mother and her family in north-east India.

So imagine the emotions from Iggy’s nephews and nieces when they found out that, perhaps, after a half-century gap they could get in contact again with their long-lost family, living in Great-Britain.

In Mizo circles the Holy Church went viral and the Reverend was contacted by quite a few people. You can read about it in Family Reunion.

Meanwhile the Indian press got hold of the news and in the next few posts we will highlight some of these articles.

The Northeast Today is a digital portal and they had a news snippet on Twitter. Unfortunately we couldn’t track down the article.

The Assam Tribune, so says Wikipedia, is an Indian English daily newspaper published from Guwahati and Dibrugarh, Assam. With over 700,000 copies of current circulation and a readership of over 3 million, it is the highest circulated English daily in northeastern India.

They published the article Iggy the Inuit found to have roots in Mizoram, written by Zodin Sanga.

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Iggy the Inuit found to have roots in Mizoram
ZODIN SANGA

A Mizo family in Aizawl found their long lost relative, three years after her death, and she turned out to be Pink Floyd's founding member Syd Barrett's one-time girlfriend who achieved cult status in the 'Swinging London' during the late 1960s.

The woman with Mizo links is none other than Evelyn 'Iggy' Rose (born Evelyn Joyce), most commonly referred to as 'Iggy the Eskimo' and 'Iggy the Inuit', owing to her alleged Inuit heritage.

However, someone from Mizoram stumbled upon a post in the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit - a website dedicated to Iggy by her fans. The discovery came three years after Iggy died in London at the age of 69 in 2017.

Now, it has come to light that Iggy Rose had a Mizo mother named Chawngpuii, who had married British army officer Harry Joyce who was serving in the then British-ruled India. Chawngpuii gave her first child a Mizo middle name 'LaIdawngliani'.

Iggy's maternal greatgrandfather Thangphunga was the chieftain of three villages, including Chaltlang, now a part of Aizawl.

The marriage took place in Aizawl in 1946. Iggy was born a year later somewhere in present-day Pakistan.

She attended school in India and Aden, before moving to England. As a teenager, Iggy became a mysterious figure in the 1960s London's music scene. With her long dark hair and lovely Asian features, she became one of the most attractive Flower Children', synonym for Hippies, dating the likes of Eric Clapton, Keith Richards of Rolling Stones, and most famously Syd Barrett.

It was her nude appearance on the cover of Syd Barrett's solo album The Madcap Laughs that made her most memorable.

Iggy gained notoriety by appearing in a newsreel shot at Granny Takes a Trip and in Melody Maker, demonstrating a new dance. She then disappeared from the scene as abruptly as she appeared, believed to be married to a rich man and lived a reclusive life.

Almost four decades later, the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit launched a mission to find Iggy and bring her back to the spotlight. The mission was accomplised, and also helped Iggy's maternal relatives in Mizoram discover who they had been searching for.

Rosangliana, one of Iggy's relatives in Mizoram, said they lost contact with Iggy's mother in 1966 when Mizoram plunged into an insurgency, also known as the Mizos' Uprising.

The Government of India restricted and censored all information coming in or going out of Mizoram, then a district under Assam. All letters going through the national postal service were intercepted by the Government and either censored or destroyed.

"After Mizoram returned to normalcy following the 1986 peace accord, we resumed the search for Iggy's parents, going through Havant Council, Hampshire (where her parents used to live) and the UK's Ministry of Defence (as her father was in the military), but to no avail," Rosangliana said.

A few weeks back, the family was informed when someone came across this post about Iggy on the internet.

"We immediately wrote to the website seeking more details about Iggy and her family in London," Rosangliana said.

"A few days later, a guy from London named Felix got back to us, giving us information about Iggy's siblings - a brother and a sister who still live in England.

"We have contacted Iggy's brother Stephen and her sister Elizabeth. They were so excited to find us," he said.

Iggy's 93-year-old aunt Chawngmawii is still alive and lives with her children in Kolasib in northern Mizoram.

After the discovery of her Mizo roots, the fan page Iggy The Inuit was was rechristened as Iggy The Mizo.

Many thanks to the Mizoram online community!
♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥

The Times Of India, the oldest English-language newspaper in India, posted a follow-up article about Iggy’s Mizo roots. The first article was called Pink Floyd Muse Iggy 'the Inuit' had Mizo roots and can be found here: Iggy takes India by Storm #6.

For the follow-up journalist Chandrima Banerjee contacted Iggy's sister Elizabeth and none other than yours truly, the Reverend of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit.

Elizabeth is planning to visit Mizoram and meet her family over there…

I’ve never been to India. I’m going to visit my relatives in Mizoram with my partner Rob next year, depending on the Covid-19 situation, obviously, I’m really buzzed about it.

Elizabeth also mentions a few things we didn’t know. Iggy was born in Rawalpindi (Pakistan), her brother Stephen in Dhaka (Bangladesh).

If you want to know what the Reverend had to say, you’ll need to consult Chandrima Banerjee’s article: Pink Floyd muse Iggy’s English & Mizo families to reunite after 60 years (URL: Times of India).

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Floyd muse Iggy's English & Mizo families to reunite after 60 years

Her name, Laldawngliani, was known only to a chosen few. She had not seen her family in faraway Mizoram since she was a child. And the few memories she had of the time she spent there were, perhaps, coloured by distance and imagination - like the time a cat in her garden she wanted to pet turned out to be a tiger. Evelyn "Iggy" Rose, counterculture cover girl of the London of the '60s, had locked away her link to India for as long as she lived. But now, brought together by a blog post, the English and Mizo families of Iggy Rose, who had been sundered apart for six decades by the Mizo rebellion, will finally meet.

"I don't know how to adequately describe what it's like to reconnect with my Mizo family. It's an amazing experience. This is a very emotional time for me," Elizabeth Joyce, Iggy's sister, told TOI. "I've never been to India. I'm going to visit my relatives in Mizoram with my partner Rob next year, depending on the Covid-19 situation, obviously. I'm really buzzed about it."

Elizabeth is 62 now, having retired after years documenting artefacts in museums. "Our parents met at the end of the Second World War, when our father was in the army and stationed in Mizoram — then, the Lushai Hills. He was a Major at the time. They have happy memories of that period in their lives. Father said it was a very beautiful and fascinating region. He seemed to have been struck by the remoteness of the place," said Elizabeth. She was born at Worthing, Sussex, in England and does not have a Mizo name. "Evelyn Laldawngliani was born in Rawalpindi (Pakistan) on 12 December, 1947. (Our brother) Stephen Lalungmuana was born in Dhaka (Bangladesh) in January 1949."

For about three weeks now, Mizo social media groups have been bustling with the "discovery" that the muse to Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett had roots in the hill state. The blog from which this emerged, 'The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit', had posted a single line about it in 2017, which someone from Mizoram chanced upon, posted on local social media and it blew up. Someone got in touch with the blog's author and it turned out Iggy's mother, Chawngpuii, was Mizo.

"Basically, this was confirmed to me by a family member, after Iggy had passed away. During her life, we just said she was from the Himalayas or Pakistan as we didn't have a more accurate description. Iggy had always been very discreet about her roots... Apparently the family was attacked during one of the disturbances and they had to flee the country. I don't know where and when this happened. Iggy's father was a British army man and as such a symbol of the oppressor ... Iggy was of the opinion that this wasn't something that should be known to the outside world," Felix Atagong, 61, who runs the blog, told TOI. "Iggy only spoke scarcely about India, but that was perhaps because she was a toddler when living there. There is only the anecdote how she wanted to pet the cat in the garden that actually was a tiger. But I'm not certain how truthful that story is. It's typically Iggy though."

The two sides of the family lost touch in the '60s. "After the Mizoram disturbance, we lost contact with them. Due to the insurgency, there was a lot of problem," Rosangzuala, 48, an extended family member, told TOI. "Six decades later, because of the internet, we found them."

Just as mysterious as her origin story was the coda to Iggy's '60s life. "For decades, nothing was known about her, apart from the fact that she was nicknamed Iggy the Eskimo and that she had been living with Syd for about two weeks. After the sleeve picture (on Barrett's debut album, 'The Madcap Laughs') had been taken, she disappeared out of his life and nobody knew what had become of her, after 1970," Atagong, who started his blog in 2008 and had been in touch with Iggy since 2010, said. But she didn't exactly disappear. "There was no social media in the '60s, so it appeared that Iggy simply vanished while she was literally just a few blocks away, socialising with people from underground circles - musicians, actors, photographers, movie makers. Unfortunately, this mostly stayed undocumented," he added. "After a while, the psychedelic free ride' days were over and in the mid-'70s, she looked for a job on a horse farm where she met her husband. They moved to a little village where she lived for the rest of her life."

An IT manager who started the blog for a lark, Felix, too, is now deeply invested in this family reunion. "I'm a geek who takes his Pink Floyd-Syd Barrett-Iggy the Eskimo fandom too seriously.... Since I was eight, I wanted to be a writer or a journalist like Tintin and I feel a blog is the exact medium for that. And from time to time it is really worthwhile, like now with the reunion of the Iggy family," he said. “I care more for this family reunion than for a new Pink Floyd record. I regard this as the most important event that happened on my blog, next to the discovery' of Iggy herself."

Many thanks to: Chandrima Banerjee and the Mizoram online community!
♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥

Rod Harrod

It passed by as a fait-divers. On the third of December Rod Harrod died in his home village of Dinas Powys in South Wales. Many people, especially those in Floydian spheres, will not recognise him.

In the early days of the Church, when we were still looking for Iggy, we had an agreeable conversation with Rod about the heydays of The Cromwellian and the other clubs Iggy used to frequent. Rod Harrod was the man who - more or less – discovered Jimi Hendrix and who gave him a first chance to play at the Scotch of St James Club in London. To read a bit more about Rod Harrod you can go to these early Church archives: Rod Harrod remembers The Crom and The Style Council.

Loudersound wrote an article about Jimi Hendrix’s first show, available here: The inside story of Jimi Hendrix's first UK show, by the man who made it happen.

Our condolences to the family, relatives and friends of Rod.

2021

Twenty twenty one was a lousy weird year, with – unfortunately – also a few deceases closer to the Floydian home. The Church also had a few good moments, even something we could call the highlight in our thirteen years existence.

All of these have been illustrated on our Tumblr sister blog … and here is our annual overview:

Anonymous, Ajay Dep Thanga, Antonio Jesús Reyes, APH, Asdf35, Barbara, Basit Aijaz, Chandrima Banerjee, Din Nyy, Eleonora Siatoni, Elizabeth Joyce, Elvee Milai, Euisoo's left sock, Göran Nyström, Gregory Taylor, Hallucalation, Hmazil, Hnamte Thanchungnunga, Julian Palacios, Kevin Arnold, Kima Sailo, Lalrin Liana, Lzi Dora Hmar, Mact Mizoram, Mafela Ralte, Mark Blake, Matthew Cheney, Mick Brown, Myithili Hazarika, Noeeeayo (Rinnungi Pachuau), Panjee Chhakchhuak, Park Yoongi, Psych62, Racheliebe (Chha Dok Mi), Ramtea Zote123, Rich Hall, Rinapautu Pautu, Rob Chapman, Rontoon, Rosang Zuala, Roy Alan Ethridge, Stash Klossowski de Rola, Stephen Coates, Swanlee, Syd Wonder, Tnama Hnamte, VL Zawni, Wolfpack, Younglight, Zodin Sanga, Zolad.

♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥

A couple of weeks ago, we received a pretty cryptic message from Iggy’s Mizo branch.

Thank you so much once again, the unthinkable has indeed become a reality.

For those not in the know, a short reminder.

Iggy was always vague about the roots on her mother’s side. It was believed that her Asian relatives were from Pakistan. It was revealed shortly after her death that her mother was from Mizoram, a state in the North Eastern Region of India.

In the late 1950s, a famine (also known as Mautâm) broke out. It was badly followed up by the Indian government. This led to the 1966 Mizo National Front uprising with a declaration of independence. The Indian air force retaliated with airstrikes, and the armed conflict was soon over. However, it took two decades before the 1986 Mizoram Peace Accord was signed.

The Indian government isolated Mizoram during the insurgency by intercepting all communication with the outside world. Letters were censored and/or destroyed.

When communication was finally restored, Iggy’s parents had moved, and the Mizoram branch couldn’t locate them any more.

Fast-forward to June 2021, when an article from The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit (or one of its counterparts on Tumblr, Facebook, or Instagram) was intercepted by someone in the Mizoram internet community.

Family relations were restored, but, due to the pandemic, visits were not possible. Until now... Thana Hnamte messaged us the following.

A family reunion did take place right in the hills of Mizoram. My cousin Stephen and his wife visited us on a journey of discovery from 26 February to 9 March. We had a wonderful yet emotional family get-together, made possible by your innocuous Facebook post.

Here is a picture of that family reunion.

Iggy is probably watching them from the heavens.

Many thanks to: Thana Hnamte and the family members from Mizoram and England. Pictures: Mimi Hnamte.
♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥