Academy Myanmar Pyi Kyauk Sein Ensemble
Yangon U Win Hlaing Dance Group
Myin Pyu Shin (Lord of the White Horse)

This video presents excerpts of a performance representing a nat pwe (ceremony for the nat spirits) held by a group of mediums from Yangon led by U Win Hlaing and musicians led by the Master Pyi Kyauk Sein. The musicians are all masters and leaders of their respective ensembles gathered especially for this occasion. They accompany the rite and dances of the Nat Kadaw (mediums) that are “entered” by the various spirits of the nat during the ceremony. Writes Lorenzo Chiarofonte in the introductory note to this event that in Myanmar the cult of local spirits (nat) is strictly interwoven with the daily life of the people both in the villages and in urban settings. Devotees pray and call upon the Thounze Khunna Min (the official pantheon of the 37 nat) asking for help in obtaining good health and economic improvement. The nat kadaw, considered as “brides” and “dancers of the spirits” play an important mediating role, connecting the human and supernatural world during the nat pwe, a ceremony in which the nat are recalled and asked to dance and provide their advice, “entering” the body of the medium. Necessary support to this rite is the musical ensemble hsaing waing made mainly of melodic percussions. Leader is the pat waing, with 21 tuned drums hung on a circular frame, accompanied by two gong-chime instruments (kyi waing e maung hsaing) and by a shawm (hnay). Besides this melodic section there are the large drum pat ma, the chauk lon pat made of six tuned drums, the sidaw with drums beaten with sticks, linkwin cymbals conferring rhythmic liveliness, and the sung voice invoking the spirits and telling their feats.
In this excerpt Zaw Win Naing embodies Myin Pyu Shin, the Lord of the White Horse, protector spirit of the villages, who came on stage dressed in his regal vestments. The dance is introduced by the ‘pat waing’ imitating the sound of a horse riding: the ensemble follows the drum circle, playing an increasingly fast and interwoven rhythm. Together with the drums and the gongs, the shawm hnay, with high-pitch sound dominating above the rest of the ensemble, performs the melody playing lively accents in which also the galloping of the horse can be heard, as the music for each nat specifically characterizes the identity of that spirit.
This event, part of the cycle named ‘Music and Rite’, was organized by the Intercultural Institute for Comparative Music Studies of Fondazione Giorgio Cini, after a research, and with the scientific advice of Lorenzo Chiarofonte, in cooperation with Nay Win Htun of the Gitameit School of music of Yangon, and the Department of Philosophy and Heritage, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

Academy Myanmar Pyi Kyauk Sein Ensemble: Pyi Kyauk Sein (director), Aung Soe, Hla Myaing, Kyaw Kyaw Lin, Kyaw San Hlin, Min Han, Zaw Win Naing, Zin Min Htike.

Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venezia, 17 November 2017
Video: Beppe Drago

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