The Popular Music of Myanmar
Myanmar’s popular music is one of mystique, intrigue, yet also familiarity. There are few articles written on the country and the music that is listened to in the country. The primary focus on any search for “Music of Myanmar” or “Music of Burma” is one that speaks of the infamous copy song. Before discussing even the most basic of Burmese pop — the copy song — we will need to dive straight into political climate of this relatively poor South East Asian nation.
Censorship, Internet, and Smartphones in Myanmar
Censorship is extremely common and prevalent throughout the entire country, with the main newspaper — “The New Light of Myanmar” — including political, economic, and social objectives for the country. The New Light of Myanmar has been around since 1914, a time when the coutnry was known as British Burma. Since Myanmar’s military rule starting in 1962, the country has been under extreme censorship from newspaper, internet, and even smartphone usage. With regards to the internet (and collectively, music), EVERY lyric must be sent to the censorship board. Only if it is given the OK, can the album (or even single song) be released. Now, logically one would think that with the advent of smartphones it would be much simpler for someone to release a song onto YouTube without going through this censorship fiasco. Enter the next problem with local music production, income. Myanmar’s income is low, and smartphones are still in their infancy. In order to even access the internet using a smartphone, you’ll need to pay per time used. Even despite this low income, NPR reports that smartphones are expected to explode throughout the country.
The Infamous Myanmar Copy Song
A quick Google search for any sort of pop music of the country will display a number of articles. They all have one thing in common, they all will speak of the infamous copy song. These songs have been recreated from scratch, instruments, rewritten lyrics, and sometimes even brand new music videos. A majority of the copy songs in Myanmar are from Western pop music, but non Western music is also copied. Most Burmese artists who are exclusively copy artists will never be seen live outside of their country due to copyright laws. Imagine hearing an artist trying to make their living in the United States by simply copying other’s songs (without any rights to do so). Not going to happen.
The Creation of an Identity
From nearly all of the listening that I have done, a few things remains consistent throughout the entire product. In about 99% of the Burmese pop music videos, there is going to be some sort of lyrics that appear on the bottom of the screen with karoake going on. The second being that the music video is going to actually tell a story, unlike most music videos I have seen recently in the United States. Both of this reminds me of Thai pop music, except the karoake.
Two major radios exist in Myanmar — Yangon City FM and Shwe FM. Both are located in the ex-capital city of Yangon / Rangoon. From what I gather, Yangon City FM is the older one. Some videos and VCD’s have been released are titled with certain anniversaries, and my research seems to show that Yangon City FM is about thirteen years old, while Shwe FM is about six years old. Eight to teen years ago, posts were available online that would say (ironically) Yangon City FM does not pay royalties and most of their anniversary VCD’s are pirated.
The video embedded above perfectly displays both of these. Ye Lay is one of the most “famous” artists in the Burmese Pop Scene. This song is from EIGHT years ago, and if you do decide to search for it you will see absolutely nothing. Yet there is half a million views. There are other songs by Ye Lay which sound very similar, but most are rap / hip hop. As Western viewers and listeners, we are not used to seeing an advertisement this prominent in a music video. There are other music videos from Myanmar that are sponsored by Alexandre Chrstie (a watch manufacture), APM Construction Group, or even Gold Roast Coffee.
A Young, Female Fronted Musical Revolution
Female artists are particularly popular due to one songwriting style that has lost focus in the United States (and to some extent, other Western cultures) — the Duet. Duet’s are famous in Bollywood movies and music, Thai lakorn music, and older American romantic music. Duets are also popular in Myanmar but taking on a different form more akin to modern Western pop. Duets in Myanmar that involve both a female and male singer will typically (but not always) contain a male rapper and female singer. One of the more popular pop videos is a live performance from Sandi and ၾသရသ (I can’t find a translation for this name).
Other videos from this same album (ခမ္းခမ္းနားနား ႏွစ္ဆယ့္ငါး Album) exist and can be found via a Youtube search. The same male singer exists in others, again with a female singer, however many more youth focused songs are not like this.
Youth focused songs may contain some broken English with much younger singers. Similar to other South East Asian nations, these music videos are filmed in a high school or a university. This allows the adolescent to relate more predominately to the video, song, and lyrical content. Who doesn’t remember teenage angst or unrequited love in popular music at some point in their life? Some popular artists include Bunny Phyo, Hlwan Paing, and Bobby Soxer. Many of these artists have sung in duets or group songs.
Three popular female artists currently in Myanmar include Po Po, Mi Sandi, and Bobby Soxer. Po Po’s style is a more pop rock style, Mi Sandi has a rap/electro pop style, and Bobby Soxer has transferred into a more electro pop style too. Rather than go in depth about each artist, have a listen for yourself.
Debts Paid by the Internet
Thanks to the internet, Westerners can listen to music from Myanmar that previously was never released outside of Myanmar. Many of these websites are now defunct, or have not been updated in years. However, there is one standout site, MyanmarMP3.net. MyanmarMP3 is the current “leader” in the ability to listen to music from Myanmar. Many of the songs (but not all) can be found on the homepage. Other websites are no longer updated or look extremely sketchy to the point where you wouldn’t want to visit it. The last unfortunate piece of the Myanmar Mp3 webspace is the lack of “quality”. Many downloads or streams are either mono (if it is a live performance) or in 128kbp/s that it is not a full representation of all the sounds being played. Some tracks do not even have artists, or albums associated to them. Other websites offer downloads for each track individually.
A Light for a New Hope
Despite the lack of websites, there is one major website that deserves thanks outside of MyanmarMp3.net. Youtube, and the uploaders hard at work on their respective channels. The biggest thanks to the ability to even listen to a piece of the spectrum from Myanmar goes to Po Po Spring, yadanar10, Myanmar Music Lover, MTVMyanmar Fan, Myanmar QeQo (no longer updated), and Eric Kim. You are the true heroes, shining a light onto a previously dark country.
What’s Next for Myanmar Pop Music?
This section is all speculation, but my belief is that the future will include music videos that are better produced, higher quality recordings, and a more aggressive electronic sound. Nearly every song with a synthesizer in it sounds as though it was a standard patch in a VST for FL Studio, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, most videos look as though nothing was planned out and include some terrible angles and lighting. That will most likely change as the country opens up, and a move away from the love song will produce some of the most intriguing pop music in South East Asia. Thingyan (water festival) songs and albums will always be there, and these relics of the past will always be the pillars of foundation for the pop music of Myanmar.
