Music of Myanmar

Classical traditions The orthodox Theravada Buddhism rejects music as being decadent, but despite this cultural backdrop, the Burmese monarchy, along with the infusion of different regional music styles, created several classical traditions of Burmese music. The oldest of such influences may perhaps come from China, which shares a similar pentatonic musical scale as classical Burmese music. Other influences include Mon music (called or "sounds of the Talaing [Mon]"), particularly in the Mahāgīta (), the complete body of classical Burmese music. A prevailing one is called (), which is essentially a class of Burmese adaptations to songs accompanied with the saung gauk and come from the Ayutthaya kingdom (modern-day Thailand) during the reigns of Bayinnaung (1551–1581) and Hsinbyushin (1753–1776), which brought back a variety of cultural traditions including the Ramayana. Mahagita Translated as "great music" in Pali, the Mahāgīta is an extensive collection of Burmese classical songs called . The collection is divided into several different types of songs including the following: kyo, bwe, , the oldest repertoires; , royal court music; , songs of longing; ; , music that makes horses dance; nat chin, songs used to worship the , Burmese spirits; , music introduced from Ayutthaya, , music adapted from the Mon people and , songs of sorrow. The traditional folk ensemble, typically used in nat pwe (Burmese theatre, art and festivals) is called the hsaing waing (). It is mainly made up of different gongs and drums, as well as other instruments, depending on the nature of performance. The ensemble bears many similarities to other Southeast Asian ensembles, although it incorporates a drum circle not found in similar ensembles. == Popular music ==

, Myanmar, in 2006 Early beginnings Among the surviving recordings of Burmese music from the 1920s are "Hpon Daw Bwe" by obscure female singer Ma Thin, who recorded the song in 1921 with the assistance of British engineer George Dillnutt of His Master's Voice (HMV). Another is a song adaptation of the poem Son Nant Tha Myaing: Sha Pon Gyi, performed by singer Yadana Myit and saung gauk player Taung Dwin U Kyawt for HMV around 1928; Yadana Myit later became a film actress due to her singing career. Western music has gained popularity in Burma since the 1930s. Despite the government's intervention at times, especially during the socialist era, popular Burmese music has seen considerable influence from Western music, which consists of popular Western songs rendered in Burmese and pop music similar to other Asian pop tunes. Pop music emerged in the 1970s and was banned by state-run radio stations. However, many artists circumvented this censorship by producing albums in private studios and releasing them in music production shops. During the socialist era, musicians and artists were subject to censorship by the Press Scrutiny Board and Central Registration Board, as well as laws like the State Protection Law. R Zarni and Sai Sai Kham Leng. 2000s-present When the country's regulations on censorship were loosened in 2000, new pop groups emerged across Myanmar who were able to compose, record and perform original Burmese music. Many pop groups emerged throughout Myanmar, such as Electronic Machine, Playboy, ELF Myanmar and the King. In August 2012, state censorship on music was officially abolished. The only government censorship that remains on music is video censorship. Everyone can, in essence, release whatever they want. This has led many on the newly re-grouped Myanmar Music Association to grapple with the idea of forming a rating system to deal with some 'rude words' in music that may not be appropriate for all ages. After decades underground, a small but enduring punk rock and heavy metal music scene has been increasingly visible in Burma. Modelling many 1970s and '80s classic Western punk bands and Modern Metal. Burmese punk bands and metal bands show a musical defiance that has not been seen before in Burma. Websites that have started up in recent years, such as Myanmar Xbands, have given attention to the Burmese punk scene along with other alternative Burmese music. The site has developed into a hub for artists to display their music to a Burmese and international audience for free download. Most of the Talented Bands Like Last Day of Beethoven, Darkest Tears from My Heart, Fever 109, We Are the Waste, are well known by others because of this website. While other Burmese punk bands like pop punk band Side Effect, turned to raising funds on IndieGoGo, to release their first album. The band just managed to raise enough funds to release their album in May 2012, shortly before their efforts fell short due to international sanctions. However, other popular Burmese punk bands such as No Uturn or Rebel Riot has turned to self-release, releasing their demos on popular download sites such as MySpace and Reverb Nation. ==Musical instruments==

'' at a performance in Mandalay. Burmese music has a wide variety of musical instruments, including the brass se (which is like a triangle), hne (a kind of oboe) and bamboo wa, as well as the well-known saung, a boat-shaped harp. The Burmese harp is of special significance. It dates back to the 9th century, though it has changed quite a bit since then, expanding, for example, from three strings to sixteen. During the Konbaung period (1752–1885), courtly musicians included Queen Ma Mya Galay, Princess Hlaing Hteikhaung Tin, Minister Myawaddy Mingyi U Sa, and King Nat Shin Naung of Taungoo. Burmese musical instruments are traditionally classified into five classes, called pyissin turiya (): • Kyei () - brass instruments • Thayei () - leather-covered drums • Kyo () - string instruments • Lei () - wind instruments • Letkhok () - percussion instruments Tuning These instruments are played in a musical scale consisting of seven tones, each associated with an animal that is said to be the producer of the tone. Each tone can be played raised, lowered or natural (corresponding to sharp, flat or natural), resulting in a possible twenty-one combinations. The pat waing drum circle, for example, consists of twenty-one drums, one tuned to each tone in each possible combination, and the saing saya (maestro) sits in the middle using various parts of his hands to strike the drums to produce a melody. The kyi waing is the gong circle strung up in the same fashion and the gongs are struck with a knobbed stick and in accompaniment to the pat waing. • Kyay nin (ကြေးနင်း) - brass gong • Kyay naung (ကြေးနောင်) - small brass gong • Maung (မောင်း) - brass gong • Kyay si (ကြေးစည်) - triangular gong • Chu si (ခြူစည်) - jingle-like gong • Kyauk si (ကျောက်စည်) - circular brass gong • Maung saing (မောင်းဆိုင်း) - a graduated series of brass gongs • Khaunglaung (ခေါင်းလောင်း) - brass bells • Thanlwin (သံလွင်) - small brass cymbals • Pha si (ဖားစည်) - bronze drums used in Mon, Karen, and Kayah music Kyo instruments Kyo or string instruments in the Burmese musical repertoire include the following: • Saung (စောင်း) - the traditional Burmese arched harp • Mi gyaung (မိကျောင်) - plucked zither in Mon music • Don min (ဒုံမင်း) - plucked zither Thaye instruments Thaye or leather instruments primarily consist of percussive-type drums used in folk ensembles, including: • Ozi (အိုးစည်) - open-ended drum with a long body • Dobat (ဒိုးပတ်) - short drum slung from the neck when played • Byaw (ဗြော) - long drum • Bongyi (ဗုံကြီး) - medium-sized long drum commonly used in folk music • Bonto (ဗုံတို) - short drum • Bonshay (ဗုံရှည်) - long drum carried with a rope round the neck • Si (စခွန့်) - big drum • Sito (စည်တို) - short drum • Sakhun (စခွန့်) - double-headed drum on a stand • Patwaing (ပတ်ဝိုင်း) - drum circle • Chauklonpat (ခြောက်လုံးပတ်) - drum ensemble consisting of six graduated drums Lei instruments The lei or wind instruments include: • Hne (နှဲ) - oboe • Palwe (ပလွေ) - flute • Khayu thin (နှဲ) - conch shell • Bado (ပတိုး) - trumpet of an animal horn or conch shell • Khaya (ခရာ) - trumpet-shaped wind instrument • Nyin (ငြင်း) • Phetleik (ဖက်လိပ်) Letkhok instruments The letkhok or percussion instruments are the least numerous, and include: • Wa letkhok (ဝါးလက်ခုပ်) - bamboo clappers • Ton wa - wooden gong or bamboo for timing and bamboo clappers ==See also==