Music of Burma

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The music of Burma (or Myanmar) has similarities with and is related to many other musical traditions in the region, including Chinese music, Indian music and Thai music. Today, modern pop/rap/rock artists like Sai Sai, Shwe Htike, Khin Phone, and No are popular, especially in big cities.

Traditional music from Burma is melodious, generally without harmony, and usually in 4/4 time (na-yi-se) or 2/4 (wa-let-se) or 8/16 (wa-let-a-myan). There are "the segments combined into patterns, combined into verses, combined into songs [that] make Burmese music a multileveled hierarchical system...The Burmese musician manipulates the various levels of the hierarchy to create the song..." (Becker 1969, p.272)

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[edit] Musical instruments

Musical instruments include 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.[1] Instruments are classified into six groups:

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 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 in order 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.[1]

  • The Usabha tone, produced by the bull
  • The Phevata tone, produced by the horse
  • The Chajja tone, produced by the peacock
  • The Gandhara tone, produced by the goat
  • The Majjhima tone, produced by the crane
  • The Panzama tone, produced by the cuckoo
  • The Nisada tone, produced by the elephant

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 Ma Mya Galay, a queen, Hlaing Hteikhaung Tin, a princess, Myawaddy Mingyi U Sa, a minister, and Nat Shin Naung, King of Taungoo.

Beginning just before World War II, the piano was adapted to the performance of Burmese traditional music, modeling its technique after that of the patala and saung. The best known performer of Burmese piano was Gita Lulin Maung Ko Ko, known as U Ko Ko (1928-2007).[1]

[edit] Western music

Western music gained much popularity in Burma starting from the 1930s. Nowadays the mainly popular form of Western music is Classical, popular with the elderly people who had experienced British occupation. Rock and Punk, with bands like Iron Cross, Emperor and BigBag, are popular between the middle-aged and some groups of youth, but the most dominant form of Western music within the youth groups are hip-hop and rap. There are hip-hop enthusiastics all over Burma with artists such as Yelay,Sai-Sai, and J-me.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Shway Yoe (Sir James George Scott) 1882. The Burman - His Life and Notions. New York: The Norton Library 1963, 317-319. 

[edit] External links

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