1. This History Thread is about the music of resistance in Myanmar (Burma.) This is a brief overview, not including all important bands or songs. It is a multi-ethnic array of many musical styles — put your headphones on & pump up the volume. 🎧 #WhatsHappeninglnMyanmar 🌿 
2. In the independent (often warring) lands that would become Burma, music was created by different cultures, absorbed, captured, traveling. Royal courts sponsored musicians. Resistance to tyrannical rulers was sometimes expressed in subversive, satirical folksongs & chants.
3. Early 20th C. defiance of British colonial rule of Burma was expressed in songs extolling glorious past of Burman (Bamar) ethnic group. “Dobama” by YMB Saya Khin, imprisoned for incitement. Unfortunately some nationalist songs attacked Muslims, Indians. myanmore.com/2020/05/the-st…
4. During WW2 Japanese occupation “Dobama” became Burma national anthem & Japanese marching songs were translated for what became Burma army (Tatmadaw) post-independence. Western military music like bagpipes, fife & drum accompanied ethnic armies rising up to fight the Tatmadaw.
5. Burma was under military rule from 1962. All music was censored. Foreign rock & pop was banned as “cultural pollution.” But it persisted. Beloved ethnic Shan singers Sai Htee Saing (The Wild Ones band) & Sai Sai Mao eventually “sold out” to the regime.
6. As ethnic regions fought Burma military regime in 70s-80s, rock & pop tapes smuggled across borders. Karen, Mon, Kachin & other nationalities produced their own rebel sounds. Zai Moo, a teacher in Muang Tai Army recorded Shan songs with lasting impact.
7. Kachins have long produced revolutionary music. Some was “boy band” style by KIA soldiers. Male & female KIA troops excel in fierce recent dance TikToks. Kachin rock band Blast Jan Pan's protest song was influential in fight vs Myitsone Dam project:
8. Rohingya music from Arakan (western Myanmar) expresses a range of emotions in varied song forms. Tarana lyrics often document events, conveying shared experience, identity: “Tarana songs remind us of the oppression we faced. We listen and cry together.”
9. 80s rock band Medium Wave composed original songs like “Encourage Mi Nge” (now revived as ASSK tribute) which uplifted spirits of 1988 generation political prisoners. Medium Wave members were banned, jailed & in later years were prominent activists.
10. 1988 democracy uprising galvanized by the ultimate “copy thachin” when Naing Myanmar set rousing new Burmese words to Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” producing anthem “Kabar Ma Kyay Bu.” 2021 versions incl. this by Rebecca Saimawii from neighboring Mizoram:
11. When military brutally suppressed 1988 uprising, many young people fled to frontier areas, some forming All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF.) Htoo Ein Thin wrote their marching song “Thway Thitsar.” Currently used in anti-coup protests.
12. Mun Awng, Kachin singer, participated in ’88 uprising, joined ABSDF, recorded “Battle for Peace” in Thailand (cassettes smuggled into Burma), lived in exile. Songs he recorded were sung during 1996 protests. Returned to Myanmar concert stage in 2017.
13. The look & sound of hard rock bands often got them in trouble with the regime during 80s & 90s. Zaw Win Htut (Emperor band) personified rebellion but also recorded w. military. Myanmar megastars Iron Cross (founded 1990) evaded & outlived censorship.
14. Punk rockers stay tough & relevant in Myanmar. Punk bands like Rebel Riot & Kulturshock play underground shows, sing about issues including Rohingya genocide. Punk rockers run mutual aid projects for urban poor. Feb. 11, 2021 RR anti-coup video:
15. Myanmar alt-rock bands incl. The Ants (Shan St.) & @SideEffectBurma made original music, dealt w. SPDC censorship. Side Effect continued to use voice for progressive causes, with songs condemning anti-Muslim violence, toured internationally (SXSW.)
16. Kids who made 2000s Myanmar hip hop happen (incl. Acid, Sai Sai, Thxa Soe, G-Tone, J-me) transcended tech challenges, censorship, even arrest. Gained immense popularity, later some participated in NLD campaigns. Video: Acid’s Yan Yan Chan w. Thxa Soe:
17. Early 2000s women began to claim their place in male-dominated Myanmar music scenes. Feminism flavored Me N Ma Girls pop group; ethnicity too: Chin & Kachin singers of church music background. Y.A.K rappers Thazin & Triple A set out to change hip hop.
18. Karen reggae singer Saw Poe Kwar very involved with peace movement against Myanmar's ongoing wars (but he played at a 2019 rally supporting ASSK Hague defense of military in Rohingya genocide case.) He was one of 1st arrested after Feb. 1, 2021 coup.
19. Responding to Feb. 1, 2021 coup, people of Myanmar have revived 1988 anthems & composed new protest songs. Creativity = resistance. Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) participants take to the streets with “အလိုမရှိ” (“Unwanted” lyrics Than Zin Thway.)
20. Shan St. based art rock band Pink Nation released this song in January 2021 “just before the coup” and in April as the death tool mounted they posted a new video of it with “To all the fallen heroes of Myanmar in Spring Revolution, Rest In Power.” m.facebook.com/pinkn081/video…
21. Anti-coup song "The Dictatorship Must End" for CDM strikers in #Mindat Chin St. May 2021. Probably the most dangerous performance in this thread (note security): resistance in Mindat was met within days of this by Tatmadaw bombardment, then occupation.
22. Musical performers abducted/imprisoned by Myanmar military regime since Feb. 1 coup include Saw Poe Kwar, Po Po, Yotifa (ꓬꓳ-ꓕꓲ-ꓩ), Athen Cho Swe (she was captured when she left her hiding place to see her daughter.) #ReleaseTheDetainees
23. Some sources with more in depth research about various types of Burma (Myanmar) music include: @naomigingold, Andrew Selth, Heather MacLachlan, Soe Thein, @DavBrenner, @JaneMFerguson, Kazi Fahmida Farzana, @SashaIngber, @MyatMonMonMyat, Amporn Jirattikorn.
24/24. My previous Burma History Threads & reports at projectmaje.org. Here's a joyous 2011 video of former political prisoner Ko Lwin (d 2018) of Medium Wave singing a previously banned song. He was a peace activist with a charity for war victims.
correction: in post 3 of this thread, "composed by YMB Saya Khin" should be: "YMB Saya Tin." thanks for noticing that, @twitkz.
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