|
Burmese music has slowly started to come out of the closet. The confinements faced by it in last few decades had made new generations unaware of beautiful Burmese music. This tiny Asian nation has given world a very distinct musical heritage. You won’t find anything like this in other places. Whether, its instruments or tunes, originality and class are what separate Burmese music from other forms of music. However, we still don’t know much about Burmese music because of its political isolation. But the neighboring countries like India, china and Thailand have definitely contributed in the evolution of Burmese music.
The original tribal groups of Burma have given the instruments used in all genres of music. That makes the instruments so unique. Among the popular musical instruments, brass, saung, sandaya and ne has attained privileged positions in its musical tradition. Saung is known for its boat like shape whereas brass has a triangular form. Musicians in Burma call Sandaya as their piano. This is in existence since ages and yet very popular. The recent hits given by Burmese music include sai sai and No apart from Mahagita and thachin gyi. The later one is a collection of royal music whereas former is a beautiful collector’s edition of Burmese classical music.
Plethora of musical instruments is used in composition of melodious Burmese music. Instruments like Lei, Patala, Kyey, Thaye, Let Khoke, Kyo etc have given its people songs that can always be hummed. The original ethnic groups are largely credited to develop the instruments and soulful tunes.
Interestingly, Burmese music has yet to be affected by popularity of western music. Indigenous music is still the preferred genre. The melody produced by Burmese artists is mesmerizing. The country has given several legendary names of musical arena. Some of them are, Mar Mar Aye, Bo Sein and legendary Tonte Theintan. Sai Sai, Shwe Htike, Khin Phone, and No are the current favorites.
|
