Myanmar, no stranger to visitors all over the world. This asia country is well-known for its thousands of golden pagodas and temples built thousand of years ago. This country also owns many featured arts which tourists should not miss if they are adventuring Myanmar in the future.
In general, myanmar culture has been affected by India, Thailand, England for a long time. These are expressed through their many arts bellow.
1.Literature
Because Myanmar has religion in Buddha, its literature also expresses Myanmar life and opinions around the religion. The very first literatures of Myanmar were engraved onto stone in the XI century. Buying a Myanmar book in order to have an over-all understanding of its culture will not cost much of your Myanmar travel budget.
Myanmar literature history is complex. After XV, Myanmar started to have their literatures on papers and saved for a long time. At this time, all the works were about Buddha’s stories with followers. These were even transformed into plays or poems.
To understand about Myanmar literature, we can learn about two periods. The first period was from 1450 to 1750, Pyo exited. Together with Pyo, Myanmar also owned Mongun, Eigyin, Tola and Yadu during this 300 years period. Most topics are about Buddha, the king, the military and the landscapes.
The second period was from after 1750. Yagan began and stories about Mon, India legend and genre of poetry also appeared.
Myanmar literatures in the past were long and mysterious. After 1767, literature were developed and many good stories were written and transformed into plays. The first novel of Myanmar(Burma) is an adaptation of a work of Alexander Dumas “Monte Cristo Earl”.
From XX century, Khitsan movement appeared, many writers with clear and short styles started their work and this kind of movement is still seen in Myanmar until now.
In Myanmar, tourists can find many kinds of literature from poems to novels, lengends,… Many books are also related to Myanmar’s religion. Works of famous writers from all over the world are also sold in many shops and along the streets.
Most of Myanmar writers consider writing is just a way to relax, not their main job. Many of them are teachers and retired officers.
The best Myanmar books must read are Freedom from Fear, the glass palace, from the land of green shosts,…
2. Myanmar traditional plays
Myanmar play is called Zat. In this asia country, Zat is loved by many people. This is about stories of Buddha, how he lived and answered to his followers. There are breaks during a play and it is shown all night long.
Zat is shown in Zat-yone, a kind of wide bamboo stage. Spectators can bring drinks, food with them and sit on their own mats. Zat is shown from late at night and lasts until dawn the next day.
To adventure Myanmar, tourists can also enjoy Yamazat, an adaptaion of Amayana in Myanmar style. One thing very special is that all characters wear masks when acting.
Lakhonnai which means in Palace, is a kind of play from Thailand. It origined from Thailand in the XVI century.
3. Puppetry
Puppetry first appeared in the XVIII. It was said that this kind of art was invented to relax for the King. In old Myanmar society, gender discrimination was very strong, so using puppets was a very good way to express their life. That is why this kind of arts developed in the past.
In a puppet show, the artists have to use many kinds of puppets in different style, colors and they play different characters. The artists must be very skifful in order to control their puppets. To start a puppet show, they have to use up to 28 puppets in characters of king, prince, princess, ghost,…When artists control the puppets, another man and woman will be the voice covers.
This kind of art now is only shown in special occasion, such as in festivals of Myanmar. Other kinds of arts appeal more to visitors and inhabitants, so not many learn this ancient art. If you get to Myanmar at festival time, you can enjoy and get new experience with the puppetry.
4.Dance
Myanmar like dancing and their dance is special. This is one of Burma attractions. They dance in their famous festival, even in the break of plays. Myanmar dances are full of energy, all dancers are happily dancing with their heart and soul. In fact, to dance in Myanmar style, you have to practice many times with very difficult kinds of movement. Your body must be very flexible and skifful.
In Myanmar, girls has their own dress for dancing, all dresses are very polite, descreet, long to the feet. Men and women can not be close when dancing, they have to dance without impacting each other.
Kabyalut is Myanmar traditional dance, which is the first lession for the beginers.
On special cases, visitors can enjoy Yein, a very famous dance of Myanmar. If you are in the north Myanmar travel, which has water festivals, you can see hundreds of dancers perform Yein in their traditinonal dress.
Anyein is famous for its meanings. In this dance, a Lupyetxen will appear and join together with other dancers. It makes spetators relax, laugh and have fun after a hard working day. To enjoy Anyein, tourists will spend about 2 hours from the beginning until the end.
There are many other different dances that we can not list and introduce all in just some pages, they are left for you, eager travellers to come and adventure Myanmar.
5.Music
Myanmar’s Classical Orchestra includes cymba, flutem gongs, bells, trumpets. A set of trumpets up to 21 big ones, 9 samller ones; a set of gongs up to 19 ones. But now they even use many modern instrument from Europe such as Violin, Piano, Guitar,Mandolin,…
On special cases such as in the festival, Sidaw is used the most. This is Myanmar big trumpet. They also use Ozl, Dobat, Bonshay, Bongyi- other kinds of trumpet.
Another famous instrument of Myanmar is Saung-gauk. It has 13 strings. The musician has to sit down to use this instrument. This is used for ancient music of Myanmar.
Minorities of Myanmar also has their own kinds of instrument to entertain. We can mention some of them such as: Oboa, also called Buhne, flute of Kayah,…
6.Art
The art of Myanmar is famous for its beautiful pictures. They draw skiffully their popular temples, Myanmar sites, humans,…Many of the famous pictures in Myanmar are also about Buddha, monks, festivals.
Myanmar is famous for its water colour paintings, oil paintings, color paintings,… Many among them are displayed in exhibitions and considered high quality by many professionals all over the world.
This is a review of Myanmar arts that could help you enjoy, relax, and have the most basic understanding of Myanmar culture. To get more and more experiences, nothing is better than adventuring Myanmar yourself and discover what you still wonder.
