The traditional music of Burma
written by Ingo Stoevesandt

In the same century when the first predecessors of Angkor started the Khmer empire the great city of Pagan manifested in 849.
Even sooner, in the year 802, thirtyfive Pyu and Mon musicians were sent to the Chinese kings court where they were welcomed and raised a lot of attention with their music and dance professions.
Also, the most famous of Burmese instruments, the “Burmese Harp” is sometimes compared to Mesopotamian instruments and believed to be imported via old trade routes between India and China.
If we keep in mind that ethnicities like the Karen do produce bronze drums like of the DongSon culture until today, we become aware that  in this country we really face another link back into the deep history of Southeast Asia.

Of course this article cannot provide a catalogue of all musical traditions, especially the rich diversity of ethnic groups in Burma has to be neglected as further research has to be done in the future. This article is divided into subchapters as follows:

Page 3:    A historical overview
Page 4:    The ensemble + chamber music
Page 5:    The vocal music
Page 6:    The musical theory: scales and modes
Page 7:    Theatre and dance traditions
Page 8:    Tendencies

Besides this traditions, modern Burmese music knows a huge market for popular music, mainly influenced by Thai and Indian pop music but sung in Burmese language. Sometimes, famous Western pop artists (like Madonna) get re-interpreted by Burmese vocalists and dancers.
In festive occasions, all modern acts get supported by at least four big walls of loudspeakers, turning up the sound as loud as possible, and somehow most Burmese audiences are more than used to a very distorted sound...

For pictures, descriptions and videos of the musical instruments and ensembles described in the article above please visit the instruments section.

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