Music of Burma

Music

Main article: Music of Burma

Two female musicians play the saung at a performance in Mandalay.
Various types of Burmese music use an array of traditional musical instruments, assembled in an orchestra known as hsaing waing[7] which the Burmese saing saya Kyaw Kyaw Naing has made more widely known in the West. Traditional folk music is atypical in Southeast Asian music, as it is characterised by sudden shifts in rhythm and melody as well as change in texture and timbre.[8] An instrument unique to Burma is the saung-gauk,[7] an arched harp that can be traced to pre-Hittite times.

Classical traditions of Burmese music are found in the Mahagita, an extensive collection of classical songs and are typically divided into indoor and outdoor ensembles. These songs tend to be about various legends in Pali and subsequently in Burmese intermingled with Pali, related to religion or the power and glory of monarchs, and then the natural beauty of the land, forests and the seasons, eventually feminine beauty, love, passion and longing, in addition to folk music sung in the paddy fields. Pop music, both adopted and homegrown, however, dominates the music of Burma today.