Mahāgīta

Kyo, bwe, and thachingan songs are considered to constitute the oldest parts of the Mahāgīta repertoire, and served as the main court music before the Konbaung dynasty.[4][1] The earliest genre of kyo songs date to the late Kingdom of Ava era. Kyo, which literally means "string," were used as repertoire to teach traditional classical singing and the saung.[5] The oldest songs of the kyo genre are the "Three Barge Songs," which describe a king's passage up the Irrawaddy River to Tagaung in c. 1370, have variously been dated to the late Toungoo period (1531-1752).[6] The "Three Barge Songs" include "Phaung Ngin Kyo," (ဖောင်ငင်ကြိုး) played as the barge is towed out; "Phaung La Kyo," (ဖောင်လားကြိုး) played as the royal barge is underway; and "Phaung Saik Kyo," (ဖောင်စိုက်ကြိုး), played when the barge makes port.[7]

Bwe songs honor the king, while thachingan songs honor the Buddha or the king as a protector of the Śāsana.[6] Both genres date to the Konbaung dynasty, c. 1738. Myawaddy Mingyi U Sa was the most prominent composer of songs in the bwe and thachingan genres.[6]

Patpyo songs were popular in the late Konbaung dynasty, and are the most numerous in the corpus.[6][2] These songs have a rhythmic foundation resembling drum beats, and require the highest level of performance technique and knowledge.[6] Ledwethankhat songs constitute a minor genre, and are characteristically sharp and active, with fast, short rhythms.[6] These songs are always followed by myingin songs traditionally performed at equestrian, martial arts, and archery events.[6]

Bawle songs, which are plaintive songs, date to the 1800s; the earliest song, "Sein Chu Kya Naung" (စိန်ခြူးကြာညောင်), composed by a Konbaung princess to persuade her husband to return to her side, was composed after 1838.[6]

From the 1910s to the 1950s, with the advent of British colonial rule in Burma, a new genre of traditional music, variously called khit haung (ခေတ်ဟောင်း; lit. 'old era'), hnaung khit (နှောင်းခေတ်, lit. 'late era'), and kala paw (ကာလပေါ်, lit. 'current [era]') emerged.[8] While the roots of this genre lie in the pre-colonial court tradition, compositions from this genre gradually incorporated Western musical instruments (e.g., the piano, guitar, banjo, etc.) and foreign musical influences in terms of melody, tunings, and rhythm (e.g., harmony in thirds, accented rhythm in vocals), which did not adhere to the strict rules of the royal court musical tradition. From the 1920s to the 1940s, the introduction of recording technology created a sizable local market for khit haung music. The Ministry of Information completed the first volume of khit haung music transcriptions in 1999.[8] The Burmese government MRTV publishes multi-volume written compilation of songs from this genre.[9][10]

The Mahāgīta has faced challenges with preservation. The oral tradition remains the primary mode of musical transmission.[8] In the 1990s, the Burmse government, under the Ministry of Information, began to standardise and notate the entire repertoire of classical Burmese music.[8] However, this approach has been limited by the Western notation system, which cannot capture the flexibility of Burmese rhythm, the two-part style, and a loose floating rhythmic organisation, including free-style embellishments, all of which distinguish traditional Burmese music from other musical traditions in the region (e.g., Thailand, China, India).[8]

The piano, called sandaya (Burmese: စန္ဒရား), was introduced to the Burmese musical repertoire during the mid-19th century Konbaung dynasty, first as a gift by the Italian ambassador to King Mindon Min.[14] The instrument was quickly indigenized by Burmese court musicians and uses a novel playing technique adapted to play Mahāgīta compositions.[14][15] Burmese musicians use a "technique of interlocked fingering with both hands extending a single melodic line allowed for agogic embellishment, fleeting grace notes in syncopated spirals around a steady underlying beat found in the bell and clapper time keepers."[14] This playing technique is based on the two-mallet technique of the pattala, a bamboo xylophone, and the two-hand technique of the pat waing, a drum circle.[16] By contrast, Western playing styles feature melody with the right hand, and supporting harmonies with the left hand.[15] The Burmese technique allows for very rapid playing, enabling musicians to layer complex and distinct ornamentations, which evoke the expressive techniques used in traditional Burmese singing.[15][14] The Burmese style is characterized by prominent use of virtuosity and ornamentation, with alternating sections of free and fixed, but flexible, rhythm.[16] Prominent Burmese pianists often prefix their name with the honorific 'Sandaya' (e.g., Sandayar Hla Htut and Sandayar Chit Swe).