Burmese Music History

Burmese Music

In the 500 AD, a group of people called the Tibeto-Burman came to what is called present day Myanmar. As they gained power they built a civilization based on Hinduism and Buddhist. They also built a city call Pagan which later became the capital city of their kingdom. This period of time is often called the Golden Age of Burma. During this time, Buddhism became a major religion in Burma. The kings of the Pagan Dynasty built many Buddhist shrines and pagodas. This period of time lasted for around 150 years until the Mongol invaders arrived. The culture of Myanmar is heavily influenced by the culture India. This includes the food that we eat (which is mostly curry), they style of cloth and the religion (Buddhist and Hinduism).

These drum circle uses seven short drums that produce different pitches to provide a greater variety of sounds for the audience. They create short "thumps" when the musician taps on them. The instrument is made up of 19 (traditionally), or 21(after 1920) tuned drums with heights ranging from about 13 to 41 cm, tied from a circular wooden rack or stand with the player in the middle. Since there is a lot of those drums they add a lot of texture to the musical piece as well.

Kyey

The Kyey instruments are metal instruments used in Burmese traditional music that have different functions in music. They are similar to the typical cymbals other South East Asian instrument. Individually, gongs are called Kyey Naung (brass gong), Maung (gong), Wa Maung (gong) or Teta Maung (gong) depending on their sizes. But when the maung gongs are assembled together they are called ci wain or maun sain. Like the Thaye they can be tied up to a wooden frame and produce different sounds. The tempo of this instrument is very fast and its Dynamis is also very

They are the instrument that normally heard at the beginning of the performance. Once they start other instruments will gradually come in. Examples of a Let Khoke is Cymbal. These brass cymbals are also used in other culture such as Thailand (from persinol experience). Similar to the Kyey Se it create a very high pitch noise with a pretty long duration lasting for 5-10 seconds, as long as nobody stops them by touching them. Patala

The Patala made up of 24 bamboo plates, starting with the lowest pitch on the players left side and the highest pitch on the player’s right side. To play it the musician hits the plates with two mallets. Unlike the western Xylophone the plates which is metal creating an echo or a ring after a note has been played the Patala make quick short . This instruments has a very fast tempo meaning that there are rarely pauses between each notes.

Example of Burmese Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGFtQR9eE1Q

This piece of music is a very traditional music played during the Pagan period. In this piece there is the Myanmar harp, xylophone, slide guitar and piano, it is performed by Asia Society - New York in 2003. The musicians playing the Myanmar harp is Sein Nyunt Hlaing, Xylophone is U Sein Kalar, Slide is MannYarPyah Sayar Tin and the Piani is played by Sandaya Aung-Win.