Music and Dance of Myanmar
Hsaing Waing ensemble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quZEfCaTyCU
sorry I couldn't find it in add video!
Two Pat Waing, hne (double reed pipe), kyi waing (small gongs), maung hsaing (large gongs), chauk lon pat (tuned drums in the back), si and wa (bell and clapper), vocals, various other hand drums on the right.
Burma
This is a very common ensemble traditionally from Burma. The Pat Waing is made up of 21 drums in a horse shoe shape hand carved and decorated in gold leaf. They're are two of them in this ensemble. The leader in the middle is the famous Kyaw Kyaw Naing. He is known as one of the best pat waing musicians, but also for bringing the hsaing waing ensembles to America. He performed at the Bang on a Can All-Stars in New York City in 2001. This drew a lot of people to recognize and get into this type of music! Music of this ensemble is categorized by its sudden changes of rhythm, meter and shifts in melody and tempo. I also wanted to point out how Kyaw Kyaw is basically the conductor and that none of this music is written down on paper. Everyone is focusing on him to get the new tempos and rhythm switches at exactly the same time. Most of the musicians can see his hands or his eyes to grasp onto these changes quickly since they happen so abruptly! Pretty freaking cool!
This music is really making me confused. There are moments I could almost swear were completely improvised and reacting to everyone else, but then it would be unclear whether the instruments were reacting to the vocalist or visa-versa, and then a completely cohesive moment would happen that made me certain it was planned by everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe periodic vocal exchanges between the instrumentalists make it seem like they are almost debating as they play, but it certainly appears they are enjoying the music.
And I was amused by the fact that the world over, double-reed players will stop playing and immediately start adjusting their reeds.