lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

CENSORING THE MUSIC349It’s not just journalists who can fall foul of government censors in Myanmar. Writers offiction, movie makers, performing and visual artists and singers all have to watch out,too. Back in 1988, popular singer Mun Awng, originally from Kachin, was forced into exileafter participating in anti-government demonstrations. His Battle for Peace album wasrecorded in Thailand in the 1990s and he contributed to For the Lady, a 2004 benefit CDin support of Aung San Suu Kyi that also includes tracks by U2 and the Indigo Girls.Rap band 9mm was briefly detained in 2004 for performing political songs writtenby an anonymous prodemocracy group of exiled and local rappers called MyanmarFuture Generations (MFG; www.mmfg.netfirms.com/index2.html).Sometimes the Big Brother tactics of the censors verge on the ridiculous. In 1998 bluessinger Nyi Pu had to rename his debut Everything’s Going to Be Good to Everything’s Good;a few years later, Iron Cross’ Myo Gyi changed his Very Wild Wind album to a tamer Breeze.And when censors wouldn’t go for a literal translation of Eminem’s lyric (‘shake that ass’) inSai Sai’s cover version in 2007, Sai Sai sang ‘shake that water pot’ (o lay, hloke pa ohn!).backing band for the poppier stuff of other singers. One local aficionadoexplains: ‘There’s no competition between a band’s many singers. Theyhelp each other. Our rock singers don’t throw TVs out the windows. Onstage they jump around and all, but offstage they’re very good-natured.’Female singers like Sone Thin Par and actor Htu Aeindra Bo (www.htunaeindrabo.com) win fans for their melodies – and looks – but themost interesting is rapper Phyu Phyu Kyaw Thein, a sort of ‘Sporty Spice’,who has fronted both Iron Cross and Lazy Club. Other rappers includeMin Min Latt’s son, Anega, now busting beats with other big-name rappersBarbu, Myo Kyawt Myaung and heart-throb Sai Sai. Songs oftendeal with gossip, or troubles between parents and kids. Thar Soe is apopular hip-hop singer whose 2007 hit ‘I Like Drums’ merged nat musicwith trance.Yangon is the best place to catch a show; look out for advertisementsin local publications and on billboards and leaflets.LiteratureReligious texts inscribed onto Myanmar’s famous kammawa a (lacqueredscriptures) and parabaik (folding manuscripts) were the first pieces ofliterature as such, and began appearing in the 12th century. Until the1800s, the only other works of ‘literature’ available were royal genealogies,classical poetry and law texts. A Burmese version of the Indian epicRamayana was first written in 1775 by poet U Aung Pyo.The first Myanmar novel Maung Yin Maung Ma Me Ma, an adaptationof The Count of Monte Cristo by James Hla Kyaw, was published in 1904.Eric Blair (aka George Orwell) worked in Myanmar from 1922 to 1927as a policeman, an experience that informed his novel Burmese Days,first published in 1934. Sharply critical of colonial life in the country, it isone of the few English-language books still widely available in Myanmar(unlike Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, political works that are not tothe generals’ tastes).More recently, Myanmar-born Nu Nu Yi Inwa, one of the country’sleading writers with at least 15 novels and over 100 short stories to hername, made the shortlist for the 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize withSmile As They Bow. The story, set at the Taungbyon Festival held nearMandalay, follows an elder gay transvestite medium who fears losing hismuch younger partner to a woman in the heat of the week-long festivities.For other novels in English set in Myanmar see p 290 .AUNG SAN SUU KYIThe U2 song WalkOn from the 2001album All ThatYou Can’t LeaveBehind is aboutand dedicatedto Aung San SuuKyi.ARTS & ARCHITECTURE