Liberty Ma Mya Yin

Liberty Mya Yin (Burmese: လေဘာတီမြရင်; c. 21 April 1904 – 29 April 1945) was a Burmese anyeint dancer and singer, best known during the pre-World War II period.[1] She gained the moniker "Liberty" from college fans who advocated Burmese independence.[1]

In this Burmese name, the given name is Liberty Ma Mya Yin. There is no family name.
Liberty Mya Yin
Bronze bust at the National Theatre of Mandalay
Born
Mya Yin

c. 21 April 1904
c. Thursday, 8th waxing of Kason 1266 ME[note 1]
Shwephalakan village, Thazi Township, British Burma
Died29 April 1945 (aged 41)
Sunday, 4th waning of Kason 1307 ME
Epya Village, Sintgaing Township, British Burma
NationalityBurmese
Known forBurmese dance, Anyeint
SpouseMahn Nyut U Maung Galay

A bronze bust of Mya Yin stands before the National Theatre of Mandalay.

Life

Mya Yin was born to Po Thit and Nyanyon, who were both traditional dancers, on 21 April, 1904 at Shwepalagan village, Thazi Township (now Wundwin Township), British Burma. She started dancing at age 15. Awba Thaung was one of her contemporaries.

She was secretly married to Mahn Nyut U Maung Galay, a wealthy businessman and MP in the Legislative Council of Burma.

Later career

Mya Yin's popularity was universal, including the general public, government officials and the elite.[2] At one point her anyeint had to be booked and partially paid for a year in advance, and donors needed to choose their days depending on when she was free.[3] Among her admirers were Sir Joseph Augustus Maung Gyi and U Thant.

She performed hundreds of songs; some of the best known were "Tone Kyaw Ma", "U Thawun Kyaung", "Ahlushin" and "Shwe Pyi Soe".[4] She also produced gramophone records, including "Moonlight Glory", "Padonma Shwekyar", "Khint Thabaw", "Maung Maung's Shwekye", "Htin Thalone" and "Okay, Sait Taku Yote Koze".

Death and legacy

Mya Yin died on 29 April 1945 of malaria while fleeing conflict in Burma during World War II.[1]

In recognition of her prominence as a Burmese artist, a bronze statue of her stands before the National Theatre of Mandalay.

Notes
  1. Only Mya Yin's birth year, 1266 ME (16 April 1904 to 15 April 1905), is publicly known. But based on her known death date (4th waning of Kason 1307 ME, or 29 April 1945) and age at death (41), her birth date can be narrowed down to between 16 April 1904 (New Year's Day of 1266 ME) and 2 May 1904 (4th waning of Kason 1266 ME). Furthermore, because her name Mya Yin suggests she was born on Thursday, she was likely born on one of the two Thursdays in the period: 21 April 1904 (8th waxing of Kason 1266 ME) or 28 April 1904 (full moon of Kason 1266 ME).

See also

References
  1. "On This Day | The Day Myanmar Lost Its Most Renowned Anyeint Dancer". The Irrawaddy. 2019-04-29. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  2. Oung, Kin Thida (2007). "A Twentieth Century Burmese Matriarch". Lulu.com. ISBN 9780557102297.
  3. "On This Day | လေဘာတီမမြရင် ကွယ်လွန်ခြင်း". ဧရာဝတီ. 27 April 2019.
  4. "လေဘာတီမောင်ကလေးလို့ မန္တလေးကခေါ်တဲ့သူ". BBC News မြန်မာ (in Burmese).
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