The Spellbinding Piano of Burma

Amazon.com
In U Yee New's latest release, Bach and Mozart bump right up against Burmese pop and ancient folk music in an extraordinary and personal style unlike anything ever played before. Some songs include chauk lon bak and pat waing (sets of tuned drums) and beautiful vocals. These are the most cohesive and successful tunes, marrying a stricter sense of traditional structure to the pianist's ramblings. An open-minded fan of either Harry Partch or old time string bands might find some powerful common ground here. --Louis Gibson

The Spellbinding Piano of Burma,U Yee Nwe,Shanachie,Asian,Burma,Burmese,Ethnic,Indigenous,Int'l & World Music,Pop,Traditional,World Fusion,World Music

Average customer rating: Beautiful Guardian Of The Islands weirdly beautiful

The Spellbinding Piano of Burma U Yee Nwe Manufacturer: Shanachie ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Myanmar | Far East & Asia | International | Styles | Music General | Far East & Asia | International | Styles | Music General | International | Styles | Music General | International | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: White Elephants & Golden Ducks: Musical Treasures From Burma ASIN: B000005ZAL Release Date: 1998-03-17

Tracks:

1. Beautiful Angels
2. Learning Fundamentals Song
3. Simple Melody
4. The Power Rains Down Upon The Kingdom
5. Piano Improvisation On A Medley
6. Banished To Mae Zar Hill
7. Imminent Rain
8. Guardian Of The Islands
9. The Riverbank Is As Beautiful As A Painting

Amazon.com

In U Yee New's latest release, Bach and Mozart bump right up against Burmese pop and ancient folk music in an extraordinary and personal style unlike anything ever played before. Some songs include chauk lon bak and pat waing (sets of tuned drums) and beautiful vocals. These are the most cohesive and successful tunes, marrying a stricter sense of traditional structure to the pianist's ramblings. An open-minded fan of either Harry Partch or old time string bands might find some powerful common ground here. --Louis Gibson

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Guardian Of The Islands.......2000-04-12

This is a cd that is impossible to describe...well, maybe I could describe it in a superficial way, but I could never do the music justice. This is piano music that you never imagined existed. This is a style of piano playing that is totally outside Western music (and Western ears).

This isn't just piano though, it also includes Burmese percussiona and vocals on some tracks. Make sure you know that this is traditional Burmese music. Although it will not sound at all "traditional" to you. Beautiful and new but not traditional. With so much "world music" being New Agey synthesizer-heavy techno-pop, cd's like this are even more cherished. Aside from the piano being a Western instrument, there is no Western or "popular music" influence on this music at all. This is pure, unadulterated cultural expression through music and it is sure to take you to places your imagination hasn't yet.

If you'd like to musically taste Burma but don't want it to be all piano, I suggest another cd in this same series, it's called WHITE ELEPHANTS AND GOLDEN DUCKS. This cd has tracks by Sandaya U Yee Nwe (the pianist on this cd), and it also has tracks by Burmese mandolinists, acoustic slide guitarists, Burmese Harpists, and various other instruments. Once again... you may know and love Hawaiian-style slide guitar and you may love mandolin, but the Burmese musical masters in this series of cd's have incorporated these "non-traditional" instruments so thoroughly into their musical vocabulary that they are reconfiguring how these instruments can be played. The musical importance of these cd's can't be overstated, they are truly beautiful.

(edited for space january 2007)

weirdly beautiful.......1999-10-07

The only other recording of Burmese piano music I know of was a French disc featuring the legendary Ko Ko. This one's better -- better playing and a much better recording. The way U Yee Nwe takes those ripping, percussive melodies from traditional Burmese saing waing and applies them to the western piano is, well, like the title says, spellbinding.

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