U Myint Maung
Music of the Saung - Burmese Harp
Seven Seas (Japan) 1978
GXC 5010 (LP) w/obi.
sleeve : EX-(light color-faded)
media : EX+/EX+(some slightly noise)
Released in 1978 as part of the World Ethnic Music Series, supervised by Fumio Koizumi, one of Japan’s leading authorities on ethnomusicology, this album is the first volume focusing on the traditional musical instruments of Burma, now Myanmar. It features solo performances on the Burmese harp, or saung, by U Myint Maung, as well as songs accompanied by the saung. The obi describes it as the only recording of its kind in the world. Made by stretching 15 to 16 silk strings across a naturally curved, boat-shaped wooden branch, the saung produces an exceptionally warm, rustic, and spacious tone, full of depth and character. U Thein Kywe’s singing is also deeply expressive and profoundly moving. A wonderful album throughout, and one that we highly recommend hearing alongside Musical Instruments of Burma, released around the same period.
A5: Yodaya “We Sei Yan Tha”
B2: Mya Man Gigi
B3: Se Se Young